Documentary Filmmaker

Iona
Horton

Geologist turned filmmaker, following invisible supply chains to find the stories nobody's telling.

View Films
Iona Horton
Pulitzer Center Fellow
MS Journalism, Columbia University
MEarthSci Earth Sciences, University of Oxford
Board Member, International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative

Where Science
Meets Story

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.

The Work

In Development

Workers planting pernambuco seedlings in a nursery in Brazil's Atlantic Forest

Feature Documentary

Heartwood

The fight to save pernambuco and restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest.

Iona Horton surrounded by butterflies in a breeding facility

Feature Documentary

The Butterfly Breeders

The global live butterfly trade and the communities and habitats it sustains.

Micro Shorts

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.

Press & Festivals

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Top 10 Finalist · Best Short Documentary

One of the premier documentary festivals in the United States, held annually in Missoula, Montana.

Columbia DocFest '25

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Selected for Columbia's annual showcase of documentary work from emerging and established filmmakers.

Pulitzer Center Fellow

Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

A fellowship supporting impactful journalism and documentary work on underreported global issues.

DC Environmental Film Festival

Emerging Filmmakers Showcase

Washington DC’s premier festival dedicated to environmental storytelling and advocacy through film.

Santiago Wild Festival

Nominated · Chronicles of the Land Competition

Chile’s international wildlife and environmental film festival, celebrating stories of conservation and the natural world.

DuPont / Judy F. Crichton Award

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.

Let's Talk

For film inquiries, festival screenings, press, or collaborations - reach out below.

ionahortonfilms@gmail.com

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