Brendan Davis is a Paris-based writer, director, producer, and composer specializing in cross-cultural film and music projects.

ACTIVE PROJECTS:

Producer, International Troublemakers (US):
Currently developing Paris-based feature MY FAVORITE SEASON with writer-director-producer Larry Sullivan and his company International Troublemakers, with producer-cinematographer Naeem Seirafi and executive producer Jonathan Garrison.

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Founder, Malkuth Film (US/France):

ONE SHOT
Feature film (in development, 2026)
Paris, France / London, England
Written by & to be Directed by Brendan Davis

A struggling British writer and his French wife agree to help close friends conceive a child the old-fashioned way, an intimate decision that draws them into a dangerous relationship with a powerful woman who could turn their generosity into a public scandal.

“The Unwinding”
Short film (2023)
London, England
Written & Directed by Brendan Davis
TRT 25:00
Currently being developed as a feature film set in Newcastle.

A brilliant widower isolated by grief begins forming an unlikely friendship with a young Chinese delivery girl, forcing his closest friend to confront a heartbreaking question: when comforting illusions become the only thing keeping someone alive, is it kindness to take them away?

Produced by Roger King for 200 Media Ltd, UK and Brendan Davis, Susan Qin Davis, and Naeem Seirafi for Malkuth Film. Executive Producer: Stan Ruszkowski, Ruszkowski Entertainment.

Winner: Best Picture, 2023 Multi Dimension Independent Film Festival
Honorable Mention, 2023 Vienna International Film Awards
Official Selection, 2023 Cinematography & Photography Awards
Finalist, 2023 New York Cinematography Awards, 2023 European Cinematography Awards
Nominee, Best Short Film, 2025 Liverpool Indie Awards

“Dirt Track Honeymoon”
Short film (2025)
Directed by Brendan Davis
Written by Stan Ruszkowski, Seth Slick, and Brendan Davis
Producers: Seth Slick, Jordan Brown, Jason Dolan, Naeem Seirafi, Brendan Davis
Executive Producer: Stan Ruszkowski / Ruszkowski Entertainment

We shot a short film / music video for Dirt Track Honeymoon in Atlanta in October 2024. The short features an original song that I wrote of the same name, and produced with Alex Buhlig, with vocals by Indigo Wylde and drums by Ricky Shenkman. I returned to Paris to edit and mix the film, now available on YouTube. The film stars Drew Waters, Coby Connell, Jonathan Ludwikowski, Artemis, Mabel Thomas, and Emily Topper.

Following the recent passing of creator-executive producer Stan Ruszkowski, the short film now remains as the completed standalone work from the planned feature project..

“Chinagirl”
Written & Created By Brendan Davis
Originally a 1-hr drama series, currently being re-developed as a feature film set in Paris

Finalist, 2021 Oaxaca Film Fest
Quarterfinalist, 2023 Screencraft TV Pilot Script Competition
Quarterfinalist, 2023 Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards

A struggling entrepreneur enlists a compromised young woman to help him expand his business into China, with unintended global consequences.

CHINAGIRL is a character-driven drama set at the intersection of personal ambition and geopolitics.

The film follows Jason Harris, a driven but emotionally scarred American entrepreneur in Paris, trying to broker a life-changing deal with Chinese partners. His translator and partner, a brilliant Hong Kong-raised British woman fluent in Mandarin, is more than she appears—carrying with her the ghosts of a politically volatile legacy that could upend their personal and professional lives.

As their connection deepens, the stakes rise: what began as a bold business play becomes a tense moral and emotional reckoning. With powerful forces closing in from both sides of the globe, Chinagirl explores ambition, trust, trauma, and the cost of crossing borders—personal and political alike.

Etcetera:
I’ve previously been a moderator or panelist for events produced by Horasis (horasis.org), most recently making the case for a UBI in the US at the 2021 Horasis Extraordinary Meeting.

And I’m also a reformed podcast host-producer, 300+ hours including -
Creator / Co-Founder / Host / EP, “How China Works” podcast (w / me and co-host / EP Yingying Li). Previously: “If I Knew You Better”, “Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom” (all shows retired, but the archives are on YouTube.)

Please CONTACT ME via the form here if you find you’d like to. Cheers.

Bio:

Brendan Davis – Writer, Director, Producer, Composer

Brendan Davis is an American writer, director, producer, and composer based in Paris. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has worked across independent film, international television, documentary, and music - building a body of work that moves fluidly between the United States, Europe, Asia, and beyond.

As a producer, Davis has been involved in films premiering, competing, or winning at Toronto, Berlin, and Sundance Hong Kong. His producing credits include Deadgirl, Born to Dance, Life With Fiona, and Metamorphosis. In 2013, he produced the first Los Angeles-based season of Jia Pian You Yue (The Best), a Chinese television hit, bringing the production to Hollywood with participants including Stan Lee, Justin Lin, M. Night Shyamalan, and Sean Astin.

His engagement with the Chinese film industry is deep and long. As Chairman of Adamas Film International in Beijing, a faculty member at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, and a guest lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy, he spent years operating at the intersection of Chinese and American filmmaking during a significant period of expansion for both. He co-created and hosted the How China Works podcast and consultancy alongside Yingying Li, and made numerous media appearances on the subject. In December 2019, he was recognized as a Distinguished Foreign Expert by the Beijing Global Talent Exchange Association, a distinction he held as an advisor to the organization through 2024.

His expertise in cross-cultural media has brought him to platforms beyond film. Davis has spoken at Stanford University and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and has participated in multiple Horasis Global Meetings - moderating panels on China's Belt & Road Initiative, global multilateralism, and India's modernization.

As a documentary filmmaker, Davis wrote and directed Yibin: An Elemental Journey for CCTV in China, and produced Crazyhot - a feature documentary directed by Eric Raine chronicling a five-year global expedition into the world of the ultra-hot chili pepper.

As a writer-director, Davis has developed a voice centered on psychological tension, cultural displacement, and the weight of choices made under pressure. His British short film The Unwinding - a 25-minute proof of concept for a feature in development - has accumulated over 850,000 views and earned a strong audience response, with sustained calls for the feature. His short Dirt Track Honeymoon is a different animal entirely: raucous, warm, and rooted in the specific textures of his native Atlanta.

A long-term resident of France, Davis holds a talent passport supported by the CNC - the French national film center - a status extended to a small number of foreign filmmakers working within the French industry. He is currently developing One Shot, a character-driven drama set in Paris and London conceived as a Franco-British co-production, as well as the feature adaptation of The Unwinding. He is producing My Favorite Season, a Paris-set feature in the world of high fashion, for International Troublemakers, and is in development on The Bishop's Man - an adaptation of Lynden MacIntyre's best-selling novel - with filmmaker Babak Payami (Secret Ballot, 752 Is Not A Number) attached to direct in Nova Scotia.

He is the founder of Malkuth Film and lives outside Paris with his wife and daughter.

IMDb: Brendan Davis

“Dirt Track Honeymoon” short film / music video - Atlanta, Georgia 2024