---
name: "David France"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/david-france"
fi1m_id: "david-france"
imdb_id: "nm0289800"
tmdb_id: 930684
wikidata_id: "Q5233788"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "25 February 1959"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-10-10T05:06:34.327021+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# David France

## Identity

David France

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/david-france
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** david-france
- **IMDb ID:** nm0289800
- **TMDB ID:** 930684
- **Wikidata ID:** Q5233788
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_France_(writer/filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5233788, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0289800/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/930684

Producer and director. Born 25 February 1959 in United States.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 25 February 1959, United States
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_France_(writer/filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5233788, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0289800/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/930684

## Coming up

- *Testing Testing Sandi Bachom* (2026-10-15), Director

## Biography

David France is an American filmmaker, director, writer and producer. He is also an investigative journalist and non-fiction author, and has worked as a contributing editor for New York magazine and a senior editor at Newsweek.

His directorial credits include the documentaries *How to Survive a Plague* (2012), *The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson* (2017) and *Welcome to Chechnya* (2020). He co-directed, wrote and produced *Free Leonard Peltier* (2025) with Jesse Short Bull.

France was born in 1959 in the United States and studied at Kalamazoo College. His work has received Academy Award, Emmy and Peabody nominations, among other honours.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, freeleonardfilm.com, variety.com, wikidata.org.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Free Leonard Peltier* (2025), Fi1m 57, Producer, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/free-leonard-peltier.md)

## Complete filmography (13)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Testing Testing Sandi Bachom* (2026), Director, Producer
- *Free Leonard Peltier* (2025), Director, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/free-leonard-peltier.md)
- *It's Okay* (2024), Director
- *Queendom* (2023), Executive Producer
- *How to Survive a Pandemic* (2022), Director, Writer
- *Welcome to Chechnya* (2020), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *Cubby* (2019), Executive Producer
- *The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson* (2017), Director, Writer
- *AWOL* (2017), Co-Executive Producer
- *How to Survive a Plague* (2012), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Our Fathers* (2005), Book
- *The Bumblebee Flies Anyway* (2000), as Richard Snow
- *Storyville* (1997), series, Director

## Gallery

- ![David France](https://film.one/media/person/1002145/gallery-2a949c9dd00f.jpg) David France — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814105448310%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Portrait of artist David France. (2023)](https://film.one/media/person/1002145/gallery-b8bcc88766f8.jpg) Portrait of artist David France. (2023) — Tureen Parlour, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/David-France-Portrait.jpg/1280px-David-France-Portrait.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![David France and Joy Tomchin accept the Peabody Award for "How to Survive a Plague" (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/1002145/gallery-ec22a247857a.jpg) David France and Joy Tomchin accept the Peabody Award for "How to Survive a Plague" (2014) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814105448210%29.jpg/1280px-Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814105448210%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Joy Tomchin (left) and David France (right) at the 73rd Annual Peabody Awards (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/1002145/gallery-1b25be6bb406.jpg) Joy Tomchin (left) and David France (right) at the 73rd Annual Peabody Awards (2014) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814269511906%29.jpg/1280px-Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814269511906%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![David France](https://film.one/media/person/1002145/gallery-8415484971f9.jpg) David France — Image via TMDB
- ![Joy Tomchin and David France at the 73rd Annual Peabody Awards (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/1002145/gallery-611e85e83fdc.jpg) Joy Tomchin and David France at the 73rd Annual Peabody Awards (2014) — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814289296131%29.jpg/1280px-Joy_Tomchin_-_David_France_%2814289296131%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won

- Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant 2018: Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant (won)
- Baillie Gifford Prize 2017: Baillie Gifford Prize (won), for *How to Survive a Plague*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/david-france