Ellie Kealey
Ellie is an experienced producer, videographer, and photographer with over 16 years of work across Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and East Africa. Her work spans documentary production, humanitarian storytelling, and editorial content, with a strong focus on human rights and women’s issues, particularly in contexts of conflict and displacement.
Most recently, Ellie has worked as a video producer and editor for Human Rights Watch, where she helped bring critical global issues to light through impactful visual storytelling. Previously, she spent four years based in Afghanistan and two years in Beirut, documenting complex social issues for international news outlets and humanitarian organisations, as well as contributing to feature-length documentaries.
In addition to her fieldwork, Ellie regularly conducts workshops and delivers talks on photography and filmmaking. Her sessions cover a range of topics, including media production in developing contexts, women’s rights, and the challenges of working in humanitarian and conflict environments.
CLIENTS INCLUDE:
Human Rights Watch, UNODC, UNICEF, UN-Habitat, WFP, WFP-USA, MSF, USAID, Oxfam GB, Mott MacDonald; AJ+,Tigernest Films, British Council, Guardian Newspaper, MEDAIR, The Times London, HealthProm, ARETE Stories, The Laura Flanders Show, Afghanaid, SKL International, At-Work Productions, NAEC, YWCA, Catholic Relief Services, Medicine du Monde, British Snowboard Team, Marie Claire France, Mountain to Mountain, Rugby World, CBS, GIZ, Financial News London, UK Adidas, Nokia, T-Mobile, Barclays Bank, Reuters, CRS, Turquoise Mountain Foundation, Roshan Telecom.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS:
“Ellie managed to collect some very powerful pictures and extremely touching video testimonies in the Burundian refugee camp where we work. Ellie is a door opener, always positive and easy going…and has a spark in her eyes! I would definitely be happy to work with her again and highly recommend her”. Louise Annaud, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“Ellie produced great work in very challenging circumstances. She was good humoured throughout and a pleasure to work with”. Tim Irwin, UNICEF.
EXHIBITIONS:
2017-2018 ‘Migration’; Polaroid Photographic Exhibition and book featuring eight independent photographers documenting different ideas on migration. Ellie Kealey’s polaroids captured in Gaza in May 2017 focus on what reality is like for people living under nearly 50 years of Occupation. Exhibited in London, Leicester and Paris.
2014 HealthProm, solo Photographic Exhibition, exhibiting 90 pictures from contracted work in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan & Afghanistan. Chocolate Factory, London.
2014 PHO.TO Ambiente – Inside Lab, Photographic Exhibition. Turin, Italy 2014 The Troubadour, solo Photographic Exhibition. ‘Motherhood & Survival in remote Afghanistan.’
London 2011 & 2012 Bloomsbury Art Fair, Photographic Exhibition. London 2010 Aschiana, Photographic Exhibition, London
DOCUMENTARIES:
Afghan Cycles, World Premier Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto 2018. Feature length documentary that tells the story of brave Afghan women who challenge gender barriers and put their lives at risk for the simple pleasure of riding a bicycle. Afghanistan.
RocKabul, Argus Tigernest Film Production. World Premier Rotterdam Film Festival 2018. Feature length documentary featuring a heavy metal band based in Kabul, Afghanistan.
At-Work Productions: Including Kabul at Work; Afghanistan at Work; Kyiv at Work, Gaza at Work. Small video vignettes of people living and working in areas of conflict and post conflict.
BOOKS:
Washing The Dust From Our Hearts, Poetry and prose from writers of Afghan Women’s Writing Project; front cover. Published 2015.
Streets of Afghanistan, by Shannon Galpin, multiple images used in book publication. Published 2013