Writer / Director · Photographer · Austin, Texas
A witness who learned to step into the frame. Three careers — technology, photography, cinema — converging into a singular, uncompromising directorial voice.
A Michigan Yankee who made Austin home in 1978, David Lykes Keenan is deep into his third career as a writer/director. After riding the city's tech boom and building a software company in 1986 — later sold in 2020 — he shifted his lens entirely.
His Kickstarter-funded street photography book FAIR WITNESS (2014) defined his visual philosophy: a voyeur who finally stepped into the light. His short Bodies of Water (2018), starring Ellar Coltrane, screened at 18 festivals worldwide.
Now, with Tiny, Texas shot in Spring 2025 and slated for a 2026 release, and two bold feature scripts in development, Keenan is fully committed to the frame.
The camera was always a confession before it became a craft. These bodies of work form the visual DNA that flows through every frame of the films.
In my street photography — from the voyeuristic distance of FAIR WITNESS to the startling three-foot intimacy of LOOK At Me — I discovered that the lens is never just a tool. It is a confession.
My films are the natural evolution of that still work. They are monographs in motion. By prioritizing negative space, deep shadows, and the raw texture of a vintage lens, I don't just depict characters — I see the world through their specific, traumatized, yet hopeful perspective.
Every story I tell is about the moment the FAIR WITNESS finally decides to step into the light, put down the shield, and learn that the water isn't just where we drown — it's where we are reborn.
Available for financing conversations, screenwriting and co-production discussions, and festival placement opportunites. Tiny, Texas in 2026 with much more to come — Learning to Swim and EX-PAT are both seeking investment and creative collaborators.