Dean’s first feature film was Prince of Broadway, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 22, 2008. He produced and co-wrote the film with director Sean Baker, setting off a string of collaborations between the two. It received accolades at film festivals in the U.S. and internationally, and Dean and Baker shared a nomination for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2009 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
In 2011, Dean produced Kinyarwanda, set during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award. It was also nominated for three NAACP Image Awards in 2011, including Outstanding Inde- pendent Motion Picture. Kinyarwanda also placed 6th on Roger Ebert’s “Best Films of 2011.”
Dean’s third feature Tangerine follows a transgender sex-worker who discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her. The film was shot using three iPhone 5S smartphones and received praise for its groundbreaking filmmaking techniques. It had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015, and was released
Darren Dean
on July 10, 2015 through Magnolia Pictures. Tangerine won awards at the Film Independent Spirits Awards, GLAAD Media Awards, Gotham Award, Austin Film Critics Association, Dublin Film Critics’ Circle, Mar Del Plata Film Festival and got a nomination for the Audience Award Best of Next! at the Sundance Film Festival.
Dean then executive-produced The Florida Project, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the U.S. on October 6, 2017, by A24. William Dafoe earned Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA Awards, and SAG Awards. The Film won countless awards at several Festivals, to include: AFI Awards (Movie of The Year), Austin Film Critics Association, Cinema Eye Honors Awards, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. Moreover, The Florida Project was nominated at numerous Festivals, such as Film Independent Spirit Awards and Gotham Awards.
In 2019, Dean produced the drama film, The Short History of The Long Road. Its world premiere was at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it received a nomination for Best Narrative Feature, as well as a Jury Mention for Best Screenplay. Next, Dean signed on to produce Premature, a romantic drama film directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green. The film received rave reviews upon its premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and earned a NEXT Innovator Award nomination.
Most recently, Dean produced The Infiltrators, which was the winner of the Audience Award: NEXT at the Sundance Film Festival, where it also earned the NEXT Innovator Award. The film ran in the SXSW Festival Favorites section, received the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature.