Lewis Rapkin is an eight time Emmy nominated director, editor, producer, and composer whose work focuses on authentic, character driven stories that illuminate broader social, cultural, and political forces.
He recently produced the hybrid documentary Four Down, executive produced by Snoop Dogg and Mark Wahlberg, combining large scale action filmmaking with intimate documentary storytelling. His directorial work has screened at major international festivals including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca. His short film VIVIR premiered at Cannes and won the Nespresso Talents U.S. Grand Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival. His debut feature documentary, Live From Tokyo, which explored the underground music scene in Japan’s capital, was described by one journalist as a “Koyaanisqatsi for an internet generation” and was distributed globally across six continents.
As an editor, Rapkin has contributed to a wide range of acclaimed documentary projects about leading artists and cultural figures. His credits include Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present for HBO, winner of Peabody and Emmy Awards, Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace for PBS, which won the Special Jury Prize at SXSW, Twyla Tharp Moves, Citizen Ashe for CNN and HBO, and Rem Koolhaas: Countryside, The Future for the Guggenheim Museum. He has also worked on projects for HBO, Paramount+, Vox, PBS, BBC, MTV, The New York Times, and A&E. Rapkin was part of the founding team at VICE News, helping to shape its editorial and visual identity.
Music plays a central role in his filmmaking practice. He often composes original scores for his projects, including Automatic On The Road, created in collaboration with Dolby Laboratories and Google as one of the first documentary scores conceived and mixed in Dolby Atmos spatial audio.
