Thomas Niles

Thomas uses his craft to draw a deeper, more personal, and intimate side out of the films he edits. He first came to prominence with the kinetic Baltimore dirt bike documentary 12 O’CLOCK BOYS, which premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival, won Best Emerging Artist at Hot Docs 2013, and was featured on Paste Magazine’s 100 Best Documentaries of All Time. He also cut the Sundance Award-winning nonfiction short GHOSTS OF SUGAR LAND. Produced by Field of Vision, it went on to be distributed by Netflix, a Cinema Eye Honor winner, and a part of the 2020 Oscars shortlist. Thomas’s first narrative feature, HARKA, about an illegal gas-selling merchant in Tunisia, premiered at Cannes 2022, winning the award for best performance for its lead actor, Adam Bessa.

His latest film, THE BODY POLITIC, was funded through an ITVS grant by PBS and premiered in competition at the 2023 Sheffield Film Festival. He is the editor of NIGHT SCHOOL, directed by Emmy Award-winning director Andrew Cohen, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and went on to win the Grand Prize and Audience Choice Award at the 2016 Heartland Film Festival. Other documentary projects include KAREN DALTON: IN MY OWN TIME, executive produced by Wim Wenders, and PHANTOM COWBOYS, which premiered in competition at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and won best Documentary Feature at the 2018 Lighthouse International Film Festival, 2018 Sidewalk Film Festival, and 2018 New Hampshire Film Festival.