FILMMAKER BIO: Derek Hallquist

Derek Hallquist “achieves the images that will make my movie cinematic”, said filmmaker Eugene Jarecki; “his shooting style is breathtaking”.

Derek has been behind the camera his entire adult life. After his debut footage aired on WCAX when he was just 14 years old, Derek committed his life to filmmaking. He went on to attend the Multimedia Program at Green Mountain Technology and Career Center in Hyde Park, VT. It was there that he received a VSAC scholarship to attend Emerson College in Boston, MA.

At Emerson, Derek studied Filmmaking and Photography and it was there that he learned not only the technical skills, but he gained the ability to conceive a story visually and produce it for the screen. His senior year, he won the Best Advanced Film Evvy (Emerson’s annual Awards showcase) for his short film, “Ruthless”.

Derek’s Emerson connections led him to Los Angeles, CA where he began his professional career as a camera operator for numerous television shows on networks such as Discovery, Travel and TLC. After four years in LA and his first season as a Director of Photography on My First Home, he decided he missed the Green Mountains. Derek moved back to Vermont where he founded his production company, Green River Pictures, LLC, and it is in Burlington that he has rekindled his love for journalism and documentary.

Derek was quickly scooped-up by filmmaker Eugene Jarecki to work as a Camera Operator and Director of Photography on his films. Derek was involved with Freakonomics, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2010 and Reagan, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2011. Derek was Director of Photography for The House I Live In, which won the 2012 Grand Jury Prize for US Documentary.

In 2011, he premiered his short Documentary The Opiate Effect at the Vermont International Film Festival. It has gone on to air all over Maine on MPBN, shown in over 50 schools on the east coast and used in Rehab Clinics around the nation.

Derek is producing and directing a feature documentary about energy. The project goes deep into the issues surrounding how we generate and transmit our electricity. Through the eyes of his father, David Hallquist, CEO of Vermont Electric Coop., he captures the story behind the grid, energy politics and public ignorance in regards electricity. The project is currently titled Power To The People.

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Green River Pictures, LLC

Founded by Derek Hallquist in 2009, GRPVT (Green River Pictures, LLC) has produced award-winning videos around social justice issues. The company also produces stunning, cinematic work for local businesses. The work of GRPVT is based in non-fiction.