Courtney Fathom Sell

Courtney Sell was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1985. He is a director, writer, producer and composer known for his prolific documentary and experimental film career. Over the years, his films and writing have been featured in Filmmaker Magazine, indieWIRE and many other publications. Leaving film school after his first semester at age 19, Sell began traveling the country making documentaries with a Hi8 camera. Commonly utilizing the people and places he found himself surrounded by as subjects, Sell's collection of portraits are extremely personal. His award-winning debut documentary "No Place Like Home" regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was discussed on the daytime talk show Ellen and his short doc "My Dying Day" about his Father's battle with cancer was released soon afterward. In 2010, Sell co-directed the award winning short documentary "The Hole" regarding a mysterious neighborhood in New York City which was featured in Newsweek Magazine. He made several short comedies between 2011-2014 using various lo-fi techniques such as creating his own video filters. His 2016 psychological horror film "Don't Let the Devil in" marked the final performance of actor Conrad Brooks (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Ed Wood). In 2017, Sell returned to the documentary genre as well as concentrating on the creation of many experimental films. Much of his work has been archived at the New York Film-makers Coop as well as the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. In 2019, his entire twenty-year spanning collection of early documentaries was officially released on VOD. He has directed music videos for such bands and artists as JD Pinkus, Zeena Schreck, Priest, Xiu Xiu, The Gentleman Losers, Henry Wolfe and more. Sell has given numerous lectures on the subject of documentary filmmaking at the Philosophical Research Society and through their online school, he taught a course entitled "The Cultivation of the Creative Spirit through Film". In 2024, Sell became a certified "End-of-Life Companion".