Brent Sumner
Executive Producer
Educated at Brooks Institute of Photography with an emphasis in film, Brent Sumner is a Santa Barbara documentary filmmaker who has worked on numerous productions through his company Studio 8 for nearly twenty years in locations ranging from California to Australia to Russia. His work as a cinematographer, editor, and director has ranged from reality network television to PBS programs to various documentaries based on local interests. Sumner received a Gold Medal at the International Film Awards for cinematography and editing a documentary featuring Robert Duvall. Inspired by a scuba diving accident at Santa Cruz Island nearly a decade ago, Brent turned his camera towards California’s Channel Islands, ultimately creating a three-part PBS series revealing the human history of the islands, West of the West: Tales from California’s Channel Islands. In his most challenging but rewarding endeavor to date, Sumner edited a feature documentary featuring James Cameron and David Attenborough recounting the life of Mike deGruy, famed Marine biologist and filmmaker. Opening the Santa Barbara Film Festival in 2019, Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy was well received by critics, with Sumner recognized by the Hollywood Reporter; “The tightly paced doc (editing by Brent Sumner) covers a good deal of ground in a swift 80 minutes.” Now distributed by Gravitas Ventures and playing on Apple TV.