Andrew Neel

Andrew Neel was an American filmmaker, grandson of the iconic visual artist Alice Neel. Neel attended Columbia University, graduating from there in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in film studies. Shortly after graduating, he formed SeeThink Films along with Tom Davis, Luke Meyer, and Ethan Palmer; SeeThink produced his feature films. Neel also wrote and directed short film Billy528 in 2001. His first feature length documentary film Darkon (2006), which he wrote and directed, was released in 2006. It followed a group of live action role-playing gamers based in Baltimore, Maryland, and received almost universal acclaim. Neel followed his success with a documentary about his grandmother, fittingly titled Alice Neel (2007). He collaborated with French filmmaker Michael Auder on a documentary/narrative feature hybrid loosely based on Auder's life, entitled The Feature (2008). The film received mixed reviews. Neel's documentary chronicling a group of conspiracy theorists and their beliefs, New World Order (2009), received a similar response. His next written/directorial effort, King Kelly (2012), was his first feature narrative, and followed a teenage girl gaining celebrity through webcam stripteases; it was shot almost entirely on cellphone cameras. Neel's follow-up, another narrative film entitled Goat (2016), received mostly positive praise for its depiction of fraternity hazing rituals, and was his first film to include known actors in its cast.