Biography
Kathryn Ann Bigelow (born November 27, 1951) is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark (1987), the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break (1991), the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water (2000) and the war drama The Hurt Locker (2008). The Hurt Locker won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Picture, won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, and was nominated for the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Drama. With The Hurt Locker, Bigelow became the f...
Known For
Complete Filmography

A House of Dynamite
2025
Director, Producer
When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

Esther's Choice
2020
Thanks
Esther, a film composer going through a dry spell, moves in with her boyfriend Michael only to find out that he still keeps his Ex-girlfriend's belong...

Triple Frontier
2019
Executive Producer
Struggling to make ends meet, former special ops soldiers reunite for a high-stakes heist: stealing $75 million from a South American drug lord.

Detroit
2017
Director, Producer
A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest citizens' uprisings in the history of the United States.

The Protectors
2017
Director
A short VR documentary exposing the dangerous and grueling reality faced by rangers protecting African elephants from ivory poachers. Over 30,000 Afri...

Mogadishu, Minnesota
2016
Executive Producer
A drama about a Somali family living in Minneapolis.

Cartel Land
2015
Executive Producer
In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," shepherds a citizen uprising against the Knights Tem...
Last Days
2014
Director
A short animated documentary film about the decline of African elephant populations due to the illegal ivory trade.

And the Oscar Goes To...
2014
as Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy ...

Zero Dark Thirty
2012
Director, Producer
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the ...
The Miraculous Year
2010
Director
A chronicle of a New York family as seen through the eyes of a charming yet self-destructive Broadway composer.

Beyond Melodrama: Kathryn Bigelow on Douglas Sirk
2009
as Interviewee
Kathryn Bigelow talks about the work of film director Douglas Sirk.

The Hurt Locker
2008
Director, Producer
During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his wo...

Mission Zero
2007
Director
Pirelli Film's second promotional short, starring Uma Thurman and directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

Living in Darkness
2002
as Herself
A documentary featuring the cast and crew of "Near Dark" reminiscing about the film's production.

K-19: The Widowmaker
2002
Producer, Director
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

The Weight of Water
2000
Director
A newspaper photographer researches an 1873 double homicide and finds her own life paralleling that of a witness who survived the tragic ordeal.

Eye of God
1997
Thanks
A small Oklahoma town is stripped of its innocence when one of its boys turns up mute and bloodied by the lakeside. Unable to tell his story, the loca...

Undertow
1996
Writer
After his car breaks down, Jack seeks shelter, lost in a thunderstorm in a remote shack in the woods. He finds himself held at gunpoint by a deranged ...

Strange Days
1995
Director
Former policeman Lenny Nero has moved into a more lucrative trade: the illegal sale of virtual reality-like recordings that allow users to experience ...

Cinefile: Reel Women
1995
as Self
Interviews with women directors working in Hollywood and Europe in the early 1990s, exploring the opportunities and obstacles that face them. A progra...

Point Break
1991
Director
In Los Angeles, a gang of bank robbers who call themselves The Ex-Presidents commit their crimes while wearing masks of Reagan, Carter, Nixon and John...

Blue Steel
1990
Director, Writer
Rookie cop Megan Turner orders a burglar to drop his gun. He whirls to shoot. Too late. Turner fires, killing him instantly. When someone lifts the as...

Near Dark
1987
Screenplay, Director
A farm boy reluctantly becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part of a band of vampires who roam the highways in stolen ...

Touched by the Hand of God
1987
Director
The concept of this promo directed by Kathryn Bigelow was proposed by New Order's manager Rob Gretton, who was inspired by the clichés of the videos o...

The Loveless
1984
Director, Writer
Trouble ensues when a motorcycle gang stops in a small southern town while heading to the races at Daytona.

Born in Flames
1983
as Newspaper Editor
In near-future New York, ten years after the “social-democratic war of liberation,” diverse groups of women organize a feminist uprising as equality r...
Bored
1979
Writer, Cinematography
Boredom in New York City.
Altered to Suit
1979
Editor
"The mise-en-scene, the whole story, takes place in one location, the artist's studio. A delicate psychological allegory on 'a day in the life of' anc...

The Set-Up
1978
Director
The Set-Up is Kathryn Bigelow's student film at Columbia about the exploration of 'why violence in cinematic form is so seductive'. It featured two me...

Regrouping
1976
as Self
In this experimental film, Borden explores the dynamics among the members of a woman’s group. As she interviews people who know them, such as Joan Jon...

Prisoner's Dilemma
1974
as Worker
A two-part tape of a video performance done on January 22, 1974, at 112 Greene Street (as part of the Video Performance Exhibition), structured on a p...
Done To
1974
"Done To" (sometimes called "It Is, Done To") consists of simple camera frames which are silent and/or unconnected to a complex soundtrack running par...