Dan Partland is a renowned Documentary Producer and Director for Film & Television, with a career spanning over two decades. He has won the Emmy for Best Nonfiction Series twice and been twice nominated for Nonfiction Producer of the Year by the Producers Guild of America.
Partland began his career in film, apprenticing with Albert Maysles, a pioneer of cinema verité, before launching his own independent film collective, OTHER PICTURES (OPIX),in New York. At OPIX, he produced numerous independent features, both scripted and documentary.
Notable projects from this period include WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and THE BALLAD OF RAMBLIN' JACK, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was recognized as a genre-defining film in the 1st Person Documentary space.
In 2000, Partland collaborated with RJ Cutler to create the groundbreaking 13-part documentary series AMERICAN HIGH, for which he won the Emmy for Best Non-Fiction Series. The series used an authentic cinema verité process, embedding with high school students in suburban Chicago for a year.
Partland went on to produce numerous documentary series, including A&E's INTERVENTION, for which he was Executive Producer & Showrunner for 14 seasons. INTERVENTION has been credited with popularizing the concept of compassionate interventions, redefining the existing narratives on drug abuse, and moving the national discussion of addiction from one of a law enforcement crisis to one of a public health crisis.
Partland's passion for historical documentaries began with his work as the Showrunner and a Director of the award-winning CNN series, THE SIXTIES. He later launched the production company, DOC SHOP, which produced the Netflix Series, AFFLICTED, the archival series AMERICAN STYLE for CNN, and the host-led documentary series AMERICAN RACE for TNT.
In 2020, Partland independently produced and directed #UNFIT: The Psychology of Donald Trump, a deep-dive into the psychology of the 45th President and the rise of authoritarianism in the United States. The film quietly became iTunes' best-selling documentary of all time.
In 2022, Partland was tapped by Rob Reiner to direct a feature documentary about the current rise of Christian Nationalism in the United States. Joining forces with New York Times columnist Katherine Stewart, the film, GOD & COUNTRY, explores the history of American Christianity and its role in our civic and cultural identity.
Partland is currently in post-production on a feature-doc entitled, #UNTRUTH, a second installment in a series of works about the current threats to democracy.
