Natalie Shmuel Pro

Natalie Shmuel is a NYC-based Unit Stills Photographer for film & TV. She shoots behind the scenes and promo stills for features, shorts and documentaries.

Natalie is also a seasoned Archival Producer conducting archive research and rights clearances for both fiction and non-fiction. She worked on a variety of documentaries that were independent, as well as those produced by network productions such as A+E, MSNBC, EPIX and PBS. Natalie is currently working with CNN’s Original Series doc programming at Warner Bros Discovery on a full slate of projects. Our most recent broadcast premiere was a docu-series titled TV On The Edge, where each episode identifies a different TV moment – whether from a sitcom, a drama, or a live event – as an entry point to examine salient and deep themes about our culture.

Natalie recently completed work on a documentary feature that premiered at the 2024 DOC NYC festival titled Harley Flanagan: Wired for Chaos directed by Rex Miller. From his harsh childhood in the burnt-out Lower East Side, musician Harley Flanagan burst onto the punk music scene at age 11 as drummer for his aunt’s band, the Stimulators. The founder of the Cro-Mags tells his inconceivable story, with interviews with hard rockers and icons like Flea, Ice-T, Henry Rollins, and Michael Imperioli. Featuring gritty footage of NYC’s downtown 1970s and ’80s music scene, this passionate film showcases Harley’s against-the-odds transformation from chaos to peace, driven by music, family, and personal growth.

Natalie’s past work includes a 6-hour docu-series for the HISTORY channel by A+E titled The American Presidency with Bill Clinton. Executive produced and hosted by former President Bill Clinton, it explores how American presidents throughout our history - during particular moments of crisis - helped to promote, and sometimes delay, the creation of a more perfect union.

Natalie’s work tends to specialize in narratives that address social justice issues and underrepresented history, having worked over the years on projects with influential filmmakers including Stanley Nelson, Laurens Grant and Thomas Allen Harris. Natalie collaborated with Academy member Thomas Allen Harris on multiple projects, including his Emmy award-winning feature documentary Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People - a Sundance 2014 premiere film that explores for the first time how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. Natalie was also an Archival and Associate Producer for a Third World Newsreel feature directed by Konrad Aderer titled Resistance at Tule Lake, exposing the hidden historical archives and never-before-seen imagery of the Japanese-American experience during WWII mass incarceration in the US.

Natalie immerses in film theory and cinema history, and has a keen eye for film aesthetics in scripted narratives. She recently produced her first feature film Sleepyhead - starring Lillo Brancato as the lead, along with Paul Malignaggi and Slug. She is currently finishing up a short film that will premiere and screen in festivals throughout 2025.

As an avid photographer, Natalie organized grassroots activism coalitions and direct actions for several policy reforms with a camera in hand. Natalie’s photo series documenting New York's cannabis reform movement and community actions have been featured in various publications, including VICE News, Buzzfeed and NY City Lens.

Natalie holds an M.A. in Cinema Studies from NYU Tisch, and a B.A. cum laude in Film Studies and Psychology from Queens College.