David Garrett Byars

David Garrett Byars is a documentary filmmaker who approaches nonfiction as both observation and craft, with a strong emphasis on visual storytelling. His work spans character-driven documentaries and formally inventive films, united by a belief in the emotional and narrative power of images. He made his directorial debut with No Man’s Land (Mountainfilm 2017; Tribeca, Independent Lens), a documentary about the 2016 militia occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Byars also produced and shot Massacre River (Mountainfilm 2019; Hot Docs, PBS), former Mountainfilm Festival Director Suzan Beraza’s film about statelessness in the Dominican Republic. He directed Public Trust and We the Power (Mountainfilm 2021), exploring public lands and energy systems. Byars is the director of Gladice (Mountainfilm 2026). His recent work includes The Shit-Thropocene (Mountainfilm 2024), a mock anthropological investigation into why everything has gone to shit, and Inaccessible, with additional films slated for release.