Judith Dwan Hallet

Judith Dwan Hallet was born Judith Ann Dwan in 1941 in San Francisco, California. Her father, Robert Dwan, was a radio and television producer, director and writer including for You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx (1947–1961).[1][2] Her mother, Lois Smith Dwan, was a restaurant critic for The Los Angeles Times.[3]

Hallet graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she specialized in filmmaking her senior year.[4] While a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia teaching English as Second Language (1964-1966), Hallet co-directed her first hour-long documentary film in French on The Berber Villages of Southern Tunisia.[5] After returning to the United States, she did graduate studies in film at The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)[6] and married Stanley Ira Hallet, an architect and professor of architecture.[7] Hallet moved to Salt Lake City where she made several short documentary films with her husband. In 1971, she received a Master of Arts degree in French from the University of Utah.[4]

In 1971, Hallet's husband Stanley Hallet accepted a Fulbright lectureship to the Department of Architecture at Kabul University in Afghanistan. While there Hallet and her husband made two documentaries, The Painted Truck and The Nomads of Badakhshan. These films are still widely shown and have become classics for the Afghan Diaspora living in the United States and Europe because they depict Afghanistan before recent wars ravaged the country.[5][8][9][10]

After returning from Afghanistan, Hallet accepted a job as a documentary filmmaker and producer/reporter for KUTV, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah. During her 14 years at KUTV, Hallet produced over 100 short films and 25 long form documentaries. The subjects were extremely varied and included the documentaries Buckaroos, Navajo Hopi Land Dispute, and A Very Special Dance.[11][5]

After moving to Washington DC, Hallet worked for National Geographic Television’s weekly show, National Geographic Explorer, as the Senior Producer supervising over 60 documentaries as well as producing and directing four of her own including The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall, Gauchos, and El Dorado Gold.[8][11]

After leaving National Geographic in 1991, Hallet produced and directed 17 hour-long documentary films through her own company, Judith Dwan Hallet Productions, Inc. Again her films were diverse from The American Buffalo Battling Back to Witness to Hope: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II to Moby-Dick and Lords of the Garden (on a tribe in Western Papua New Guinea).[8][11][10][12]

Numerous newspaper and magazine articles describe and review Hallet's films.[13]

Hallet was producer and director of the following films, unless noted.[14][15]

• Discovering Tunisian Cuisine. Co-authored with Raoudha Guellali Ben Taarit and Hasna Trabelsi. Spirit of Place/Spirit of Design, 2019. ISBN 978-1-7923-1830-6.

• From Groucho to Gauchos: Adventures of a Documentary Filmmaker. Spirit of Place/Spirit of Design, 2022. ISBN 979-8-3507-0418-1.

Awards for specific films are in the Filmography section.

• Woman of Vision Award for Creative Excellence, 1995, Women in Film & Video, Washington DC[16] (Also known as the Women in Film & Video-DC Women of Vision Awards)
• Mayor’s Art Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, 2001, Washington DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities[8]
• Emmy for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession in the Last 25 years, 2008, The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences[9]
• Around the World on Film with Judy Dwan Hallet, 2013, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.[17]
• An Evening with Judith Dwan Hallet, 2013, National Press Club, Washington, D.C.[18]
• March Filmmaker of the Month Award, 2015, District of Columbia Office of Motion Picture & Television Development[5]

Hallet’s films and videos are archived at The University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections.[19] Hallet's papers and journals are archived in the same Library.[20]

• Judith Dwan Hallet at IMDb
• Zoom Presentation to the Southwest Public Library in Southwest Harbor, Maine on Discovering Tunisian Cuisine, 2022
• The Magical Melting Pot Podcast: A conversation between host Michelle Greenwald and Hallet on Discovering Tunisian Cuisine, 2021