D.W. Thomas

D.W. Thomas comes from a family of working artists, ensconced in the piñon-peppered foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico. She learned the power of storytelling listening stories of the border towns in southwest Texas-how Poncho Villa stole her family's horses for his revolutionary army, or of her grandmother growing up barefoot in the high desert. In high school, D.W. became fascinated with plays like The Crucible and Marat Sade, and she threw herself into acting. At 17, she bought her first video camera and made the short film He Left Me for a Freshman, which won the Audience Choice Award at the Santa Fe Three-Minute Film Festival. D.W. soon fell in love with the work of Australian director, Baz Luhrmann. Strictly Ballroom swept her off her feet, and she swooned over Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet. In an interview, she recalled this moment: "I was captivated with how alive his films felt, the wry humor, poignancy and creative editing." Upon graduating high school, she packed her bags and moved to Sydney, Australia to study film. After completing her program, D.W. moved to Los Angeles where she found work as an assistant editor for Allan Holzman, who had directed and edited Roger Corman's vaunted works. She got her first editing job with Cineville, editing the documentary Hoop Reality, and began her 20-year career as a film editor. While producing and editing featurettes for studios including NBC, Disney, Marvel, and Pixar, D.W. continued directing short films such as In Grain, which won "Best Film" at the Santa Fe Three-Minute Film Festival, and Hey, FiBi!, which was an Official Selection of the LA Shorts International Film Festival. Her feature directorial debut Too Late (2021) was released in select theaters and is available streaming on-demand, as of this writing. Eddie Pasa of DC Filmdom called it "darkly and hilariously funny, a hell of a ... comedic punch [that] first-time director D.W. Thomas times perfectly." Sergio Burstein, LA Times called it "one of the most interesting 'indie' offerings so far this year."