J.P. Sniadecki is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker whose films explore the relationship between people and their environment. Born in 1981 in Chicago, Illinois, Sniadecki grew up in the Midwest and attended the University of Chicago, where he received his BA in Cinema and Media Studies in 2003.
In 2005, Sniadecki co-founded the Chicago-based documentary collective, the Chicago Documentary Collective, which has since produced several award-winning films. His first feature-length documentary, Foreign Parts (2010), was an exploration of a junkyard in Queens, New York. The film received critical acclaim and won several awards, including a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Sniadecki's next feature-length documentary, People's Park (2012), followed a group of people living in a park in Chengdu, China. The film was praised for its intimate portrayal of life in a rapidly changing China and was named one of the best films of 2012 by Film Comment magazine.
In 2014, Sniadecki released his third feature-length documentary, The Iron Ministry. The film is a portrait of China's railway system and the people who use it, and won the best documentary award at the Locarno International Film Festival.
Sniadecki's other works include the short films Jiseul (2012), which won the Grand Prize at the Seoul International Film Festival, and Chaos (2017), which was an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival. He has also been a cinematographer for a number of other documentaries, including the Academy Award-nominated Last Men in Aleppo (2017).
Sniadecki's documentaries are known for their immersive and often intimate approach to their subjects, and have gained him international recognition. He continues to explore global issues through his work, and is currently in production on his fourth feature-length documentary.
