Nicole Mackinlay Hahn is an artist and filmmaker based in New York. She began her film career by borrowing her little brother’s pixel vision camera in the eighth grade to film friends during school. Her artistic interests have always been centered in bringing the voice and humanity of her subjects into sharper focus. Her naturalistic approach across diverse communities around the world have established her as a premiere director of film / content for the art, design, and entertainment fields.

Nicole has worked extensively in Africa, shooting in twelve countries for her interactive installation project concerning workers in the garment industry. The resulting MIRROR/AFRICA installation was featured in Barney’s New York, the New Museum, and the London College of Fashion. Her continued interest in the lives of workers led to THE WELCOME TABLE PROJECT, commissioned by Louverture Films and Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), Nicole directed a series of short film portraits which maps the labor chain of workers in the food industry, and which was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival/Interactive. For the last few years, Nicole has been directing, filming, and editing exclusive short films with U2. Recently her short film, BURKINA, PRINCESS YENNENGA featuring a series of intimate portraits of a group of Burkinabé women, made its worldwide premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Nicole directed her first feature documentary, Hardihood, in 2001, which examines the passion, courage, and audacity behind women in extreme sports, as well as producing and shooting the ESPN X Games. She created a Clif Bar commercial for the Tour De France, and collaborations on multiple films with Clif Bar & Co. quickly followed, as did partnerships on philanthropic video collaborations with Product(RED), Breast Cancer Fund, Every Mother Counts, and the ONE Campaign.

Her cinematography has attracted major feature doc interest and she recently finished shooting THE SHADOW WORLD, about the international arms trade, by award-winning director and artist Johan Grimonprez. She also provided additional cinematography for the feature documentary THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein. Nicole received her BFA from the School of Art and Design at Alfred University concentrating in Print Media, Video Arts, and is the recipient of the Vinal Haven Press and Kala Fellowships. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally, UK’s Center For Contemporary Art and The Natural World, with prints available at the Lazarides Gallery in London.