Documentary Filmmaker
Geologist turned filmmaker, following invisible supply chains to find the stories nobody's telling.
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Iona Horton is a British documentary filmmaker, born in Hong Kong and based in New York. She holds an MEarthSci in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University, where she specialized in documentary film.
Before picking up a camera, she spent seven years as a sustainability consultant, tracking how materials move through global supply chains and what happens when they reach their end of life.
Her work explores the invisible systems connecting humanity to the natural world - from the endangered wood inside every violin bow to the global butterfly trade nobody knows exists. She finds these stories the same way every time: a chance encounter reveals a hidden world, and she follows the thread.
She believes the environmental movement has been selling sacrifice for too long - that the sustainable future needs to be made so exciting, so beautiful, and so obviously worth building that people sprint toward it. Her films, writing, and public speaking are all in service of that vision.
She is a Pulitzer Center Fellow, the founder of Carsaig Productions, and has been invited to join the board of the International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative.
Co-directed with Luisa Barone
Deep in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest grows pernambuco – a rare tree whose wood makes the world’s finest stringed instrument bows. The Final Bow follows master bowmaker Christophe Landon, celebrated cellist Coleman Itzkoff, and Brazilian conservationists caught in a fight over the fate of this tree.
The film weaves together the clash of international regulation, local conservation, and artistic necessity – a story about beauty, loss, and the invisible supply chains behind the things we love.
Screened across North & South America
Feature Documentary
Heartwood
The fight to save pernambuco and restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest.
Feature Documentary
The Butterfly Breeders
The global live butterfly trade and the communities and habitats it sustains.
Micro Short
Harumi's Flowers
A Japanese couple balance creativity and happiness with the financial realities of their Brooklyn dried flower business.
Micro Short
Risking It All on a Requiem
A Brooklyn-based conductor risks bankruptcy to make classical music concerts popular with young people.
Top 10 Finalist · Best Short Documentary
One of the premier documentary festivals in the United States, held annually in Missoula, Montana.
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Selected for Columbia's annual showcase of documentary work from emerging and established filmmakers.
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
A fellowship supporting impactful journalism and documentary work on underreported global issues.
Emerging Filmmakers Showcase
Washington DC’s premier festival dedicated to environmental storytelling and advocacy through film.
Nominated · Chronicles of the Land Competition
Chile’s international wildlife and environmental film festival, celebrating stories of conservation and the natural world.
Columbia University
Honors documentary work that encapsulates hard-hitting journalism, excellence in long-form narrative and visual storytelling, and historical perspective on issues concerning American culture.
For film inquiries, festival screenings, press, or collaborations - reach out below.