Storytelling with compassion and curiosity.
About
Backbone Films is a documentary production company with a history of thought-provoking work and a record of respected collaborations. With experience ranging from pre-production through distribution, Backbone Films produces work-for-hire as well as original, independent content.
Hillary Bachelder is an award-winning documentary director, shooter, and editor based in Taos, New Mexico.
Previously Hillary spent 13 years in Chicago, where she began her career with the renowned social issue documentary production company Kartemquin Films. At Kartemquin, Hillary was the former Director of Production, with credits on over a dozen of the company’s critically acclaimed films and series including the Emmy-award-winning Trials of Muhammad Ali, POV’s Raising Bertie, and Oscar-nominated Minding the Gap.
After founding Backbone Films in 2016, Hillary went on to earn cinematography credits on films such as The Dilemma of Desire, which premiered at South by Southwest in 2020, Frontline’s American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil, and the award-winning Any Given Day. Her editing work includes Frontline’s Emmy and Peabody-nominee American Reckoning, National Geographic’s Emmy-award-winning The Flagmakers, and an Edward R Murrow award-winning New York Times collaboration.
Hillary is the director, shooter, and editor of the critically-acclaimed feature documentary Represent, which premiered in over 60 theaters across the country and broadcast nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens in October 2020.
