Kat Whalen is an independent filmmaker based in New York. Originally from Wyoming, she was awarded Yale University’s top artistic prize for her work in filmmaking and animation while an undergraduate.
She attended the NYU Graduate Film program as a Dean’s Fellow, graduating in 2015. Since then, she has produced miniature units for Todd Haynes’s ‘Wonderstruck’ and for Marielle Heller’s ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.’ Most recently, she was co-producer and 2nd Unit Director on HBO’s ‘Succession’. She joined the DGA in 2022.
Her thesis film ‘Bird Dog’ had its international premiere in competition at the 2017 Clermont- Ferrand Film Festival, and she directed ‘Dale’s House’, a horror-comedy pilot that premiered at SXSW in 2021.
Named for her grandfather’s ranch in eastern Montana, Bar-Oh-W Films is the production company she uses for her own projects. Her personal work examines memory and mental health against the shifting face of the American West and the development of western mythology.