Meghan Shea

Meghan Shea is a filmmaker with a focus in healthcare, social issues and the arts. She produces and directs films that leverage the power of storytelling to create social change. As the founder of Persistent Productions, she oversees their documentary projects and social impact campaigns working with partner institutions, socially minded businesses, and artists to create meaningful and impactful stories. She produces content for broadcast, streaming, and educational distribution.

Her most recent work, How I Live, looks at the survival gap in global childhood cancer. It screened at The United Nations General Assembly and went on to win Best Director at The Chambal International Film Festival and Best Feature at the Fisheye Film Festival.

Other films in her portfolio include; Under the Turban, a feature documentary about Sikhism which premiered at the United Nations Film Festival, In the Spirit of Laxmi, a film about wildlife preservation which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, went on to win Best Documentary Short at The Gold Coast Film Festival and screen at numerous festivals worldwide.

Meghan has a BA and MFA from The George Washington University. While pursing her master’s degree she was the graduate fellow for the International Arts and Culture Cohort of The ESJ Women’s Leadership Program, and in 2020 she was awarded the EJS Leadership Award.

Meghan Shea is a director & producer of documentary films and is a co-founder of Persistent Productions (P2), a production company with offices in Boston and Singapore. Meghan draws from a background in the arts to create films that build narratives from diverse viewpoints and that seek to improve understanding across cultures. Her work focuses on both national and international social issues and the arts. She produces content for broadcast, streaming, and educational distribution.

Meghan began her documentary career working for Washington Media Associates as a researcher. From there Meghan went on to work at numerous documentary companies in the US and abroad gaining experience as a producer and then as a director. Her most recent work, “How I Live”, is an arts and science collaboration which looks at childhood cancer and is told through patient centered stories in 5 countries. The film screened at The United Nations General Assembly and went on to win Best Director at The Chambal International Film Festival and Best Feature at the United Kingdom’s Fisheye Film Festival. It was selected as one of the 15 finalists for the World Health Organization’s Health for All Film Festival.

Her documentary portfolio also includes: Under the Turban, a documentary that examines contemporary and historic influences on the Sikh religion, it premiered at The United Nations Film Festival; In the Spirit of Laxmi, a film about a naturalist who rewilds a leopard in Rajasthan, India which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, went on to win Best Short Documentary at The Gold Coast Film Festival, and to screen at numerous festivals around the world.

Meghan trained in Visual and Fine Arts, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Master’s in Fine Arts from The George Washington University. While pursuing her Master’s degree she was the fellow for the International Arts and Culture Cohort of The ESJ Women’s Leadership Program. Meghan spent the last 15 summers in Paris teaching a multidisciplinary humanities class on Modernism for The George Washington University. Meghan co-developed and co-taught the class with dance Professor Mary Buckley; the course looked at how Modernism was articulated across various artforms at the beginning of the 20th century. Interested in cross cultural education and the role that arts play in greater cultural understanding, Meghan has taught documentary film at The TUMO Center for Creative Technologies in Yerevan, Armenia, and a documentary production class at Lungtenzampa Secondary School in Thimphu, Bhutan. She has been a visiting lecturer at numerous Universities in the US.