Lizzie Borden was born in Detroit, Michigan. After receiving a BFA in art history at Wellesley College, she moved to New York, where she wrote for Artforum magazine and enlisted art-world friends such as Kathryn Bigelow, Eric Bogosian and Adele Bertei to appear in her film, Born in Flames, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award. Born in Flames was restored by the Anthology Film Archives in 2016 and has been screened worldwide. Over the years it has appeared in over 100 film festivals and has been written about extensively, called by New Yorker critic Richard Brody “a feminist masterpiece.”
Lizzie Borden was born in Detroit, Michigan. After receiving a BFA in art history at Wellesley College, she moved to New York, where she wrote for Artforum magazine and enlisted art-world friends such as Kathryn Bigelow, Eric Bogosian and Adele Bertei to appear in her film, Born in Flames, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award. Born in Flames was restored by the Anthology Film Archives in 2016 and has been screened worldwide. Over the years it has appeared in over 100 film festivals and has been written about extensively, called by New Yorker critic Richard Brody “a feminist masterpiece.”
Borden also wrote, directed, and produced the successful and controversial independent fiction film Working Girls, depicting the day of a prostitute in a midtown New York brothel, which premiered in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. It won Best Feature at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Miramax Films. Borden has, over the years, directed various TV episodes. Her script about Bob Marley, Rebels, is in pre-production. Her film about freedom of choice, Rialto, set in the 1950’s, which she wrote and will direct, is also in pre-production. She is developing a limited series about the art world and is editing stories by strippers for a book, Honey on a Razor.
Mark Cousins is an Irish-Scottish director and writer. His films include: The First Movie, about children in Iraq; The Story of Film: An Odyssey, a new history of cinema; Life May Be, which he co-directed with Iranian Mani Akbari; Atomic, about the nuclear age; and The Eyes of Orson Welles. They have premiered in Cannes, Berlin, Sundance and Venice film festivals and have won the Prix Italia, the Stanley Kubrick Award and many other prizes.
Mark Cousins is an Irish-Scottish director and writer. His films include: The First Movie, about children in Iraq; The Story of Film: An Odyssey, a new history of cinema; Life May Be, which he co-directed with Iranian Mani Akbari; Atomic, about the nuclear age; and The Eyes of Orson Welles. They have premiered in Cannes, Berlin, Sundance and Venice film festivals and have won the Prix Italia, the Stanley Kubrick Award and many other prizes.
Mark’s books include Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary, The Story of Film and The Story of Looking. They have been published around the world. He has collaborated with Tilda Swinton on innovative film events, and tried to find new, passionate, ways to explore his themes: looking, cities, cinema, childhood, and recovery.
He has devised film seasons around the world, is a patron of the Edinburgh International Film Festival and a board member of Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival. He has walked across Los Angeles, Moscow, Beijing, London, Paris, Berlin, Dakar and Mexico City. He once drove from Scotland to India, and loves night swimming!
Winner of the Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody Awards, Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer and film distributor. Her directorial work includes the historical drama Selma, the criminal justice documentary 13TH and Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, which made her the highest-grossing black woman director in American box office history. Based on the infamous case of The Central Park Five, her next project, When They See Us was released worldwide on Netflix in May 2019. Currently, she is overseeing production on her critically-acclaimed TV series Queen Sugar, her new CBS limited series The Red Line, and the OWN series Cherish the Day.
Winner of the Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody Awards, Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer and film distributor. Her directorial work includes the historical drama Selma, the criminal justice documentary 13TH and Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, which made her the highest-grossing black woman director in American box office history. Based on the infamous case of The Central Park Five, her next project, When They See Us was released worldwide on Netflix in May 2019. Currently, she is overseeing production on her critically-acclaimed TV series Queen Sugar, her new CBS limited series The Red Line, and the OWN series Cherish the Day.
Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival's Best Director Prize for her micro-budget film Middle of Nowhere, DuVernay amplifies the work of people of color and women of all kinds through her non-profit film collective ARRAY, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. DuVernay sits on the advisory board of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and chairs the Prada Diversity Council. She is based in Los Angeles, California.
Nicole Holofcener has written and directed six films. Her most recent was Enough Said starring James Gandolfini and Julia Louis Dreyfus, and The Land of Steady Habits starring Ben Mendelsohn. She has directed numerous television shows and wrote the screenplay for Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Currently she is working on an original project and co-writing the script for The Last Duel to be directed by Ridley Scott.
Nicole Holofcener has written and directed six films. Her most recent was Enough Said starring James Gandolfini and Julia Louis Dreyfus, and The Land of Steady Habits starring Ben Mendelsohn. She has directed numerous television shows and wrote the screenplay for Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Currently she is working on an original project and co-writing the script for The Last Duel to be directed by Ridley Scott.
Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson Is Dead premiered at this year’s 2020 Sundance and won the Jury Prize for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling. Her previous film, Cameraperson, named New York Times ‘Top Ten Films of 2016’ was shortlisted for the Academy Award and is part of The Criterion Collection.
Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson Is Dead premiered at this year’s 2020 Sundance and won the Jury Prize for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling. Her previous film, Cameraperson, named New York Times ‘Top Ten Films of 2016’ was shortlisted for the Academy Award and is part of The Criterion Collection.
Her short, The Above was nominated for the IDA’s ‘Best Short Award’ for 2016. Her camerawork appears in Academy Award winner Citizenfour, Academy nominated The Invisible War, and Cannes Winner Fahrenheit 9/11. She’s been invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers and is one of the 4% of women in their membership.
Wanuri Kahiu is a filmmaker, speaker, and science fiction writer. Her short award-winning science fiction film Pumzi (2009) about futuristic Africa premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2010) and received international acclaim. In 2018, Kahiu’s award-winning film Rafiki, was the first Kenyan film to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival and has since won multiple awards across the world.
Wanuri Kahiu is a filmmaker, speaker, and science fiction writer. Her short award-winning science fiction film Pumzi (2009) about futuristic Africa premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2010) and received international acclaim. In 2018, Kahiu’s award-winning film Rafiki, was the first Kenyan film to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival and has since won multiple awards across the world.
Kahiu is a cultural leader for the World Economic Forum and regularly attends DAVOS to advocate for Freedom of Expression and the need for AFROBUBBLEGUM – the creation and curation of fun, fierce, and frivolous African images. Kahiu is currently working with Viola Davis to adapt Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed for Amazon Studios and was named Time‘s 100 Next in 2019.
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award-winning (Harlan County USA and American Dream), nine-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker. Heading up Cabin Creek Films in New York City, Barbara is a director and producer of documentaries, scripted films, episodic television and commercials. Her most recent work is Desert One about the US Special Ops daring mission during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019.
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award-winning (Harlan County USA and American Dream), nine-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker. Heading up Cabin Creek Films in New York City, Barbara is a director and producer of documentaries, scripted films, episodic television and commercials. Her most recent work is Desert One about the US Special Ops daring mission during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019.
Other films include This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (Sundance 2017); Miss Sharon Jones! (2015 Toronto International Film Festival/2017 Emmy Nomination); Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation (2014); Running from Crazy (Sundance 2013/2014 Emmy nomination); The Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2014); Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson (1993 Emmy nomination for Directing); and Wild Man Blues(Winner, National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary 1998).
In 1991, Harlan County USA was named to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress and designated an American Film Classic. Harlan County USA was restored and preserved by the Women’s Preservation Fund and the Academy Film Archive and featured as part of the Sundance Collection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. The Criterion Collection released a DVD of Harlan County USA in 2006.
Mira Nair is an Academy-Award nominated director best known for her visually dense films that pulsate with life. Her debut feature, Salaam Bombay! (1988), garnered over 25 awards, including the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. Her successes include Mississippi Masala (1991), Monsoon Wedding (2001), which won the Golden Lion, Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013) and Queen of Katwe (2016).
Mira Nair is an Academy-Award nominated director best known for her visually dense films that pulsate with life. Her debut feature, Salaam Bombay! (1988), garnered over 25 awards, including the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. Her successes include Mississippi Masala (1991), Monsoon Wedding (2001), which won the Golden Lion, Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013) and Queen of Katwe (2016).
Nair has recently returned to her roots in theatre - a stage musical of her acclaimed film Monsoon Wedding sold-out at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in 2017 and opens at London’s Roundhouse Theatre in Summer 2021. Nair has just completed directing a six-hour series of Vikram Seth’s magnum opus A Suitable Boy for BBC and Netflix.
An activist by nature, Nair founded Salaam Balak Trust for Indian street children in 1999, and Maisha Film Lab in East Africa in 2004, a free school to train film makers in the African continent. In 2012, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour for her work in arts and culture.
Kimberly Peirce staked her place as a writer and director of singular vision and craft with her unflinching debut feature, Boys Don't Cry, which earned numerous honors including Oscar nominations for Hilary Swank and co-star Chloë Sevigny, and an Oscar win for Swank. Peirce subsequently co-wrote and directed Stop-Loss, an emotionally penetrating drama inspired by her brother’s military service in Iraq. In 2013 she directed a masterful remake of Carrie that won the People’s Choice Award. In television, Kimberly has directed acclaimed episodes of American Crime, Turn, Halt and Catch Fire, Manhattan, Six, I Love Dick, Dear White People, P-Valley, and Kidding. She is Executive Producer and Director of Impact at A&E.
Kimberly Peirce staked her place as a writer and director of singular vision and craft with her unflinching debut feature, Boys Don't Cry, which earned numerous honors including Oscar nominations for Hilary Swank and co-star Chloë Sevigny, and an Oscar win for Swank. Peirce subsequently co-wrote and directed Stop-Loss, an emotionally penetrating drama inspired by her brother’s military service in Iraq. In 2013 she directed a masterful remake of Carrie that won the People’s Choice Award. In television, Kimberly has directed acclaimed episodes of American Crime, Turn, Halt and Catch Fire, Manhattan, Six, I Love Dick, Dear White People, P-Valley, and Kidding. She is Executive Producer and Director of Impact at A&E.
She is next directing two films in a trilogy - Untitled butch femme romantic, sex comedy - a classic love story that is heartbreakingly funny, boldly sexual and achingly real and Untitled Father story. A tireless activist for human and civil rights, Kimberly a proud Governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures and head of the Diversity Committee, an Executive Board member of the DGA, and a founding member of ReFrame, an industry-wide effort to end discrimination against women and people of color. She is a member of Time’s Up and the WGA.
In 2020, Boys Don't Cry was inducted into the Library of Congress and named “a National Treasure.” Peirce screened the movie and lectured throughout the country and the world.
Sabiha Sumar is a multiple award-winning filmmaker and a Sundance alumnus. As writer, director and producer she has made narrative features as well as documentaries. Her most notable films are Who Will Cast the First Stone, Silent Waters, Dinner with the President and Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent. She produced the Academy Award and Emmy winner Saving Face.
Sabiha Sumar is a multiple award-winning filmmaker and a Sundance alumnus. As writer, director and producer she has made narrative features as well as documentaries. Her most notable films are Who Will Cast the First Stone, Silent Waters, Dinner with the President and Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent. She produced the Academy Award and Emmy winner Saving Face.
Her works have screened at major film festivals such as Sundance, TIFF, MoMa, Locarno and BFI LFF. A large part of Sabiha’s films have been commissioned by ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel, Arte and 3Sat as well as BBC Films, Channel 4, PBS and HBO. Silent Waters won 17 international awards worldwide including the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival. Currently she is creating a multicultural, international series set in London, Mumbai and Dubai titled Ordinary, Extraordinary.
Claudia Weill produced and directed her first feature, Girlfriends in 1979 which she sold to Warner Brothers after winning multiple awards at Cannes, Filmex and Sundance. In 2019, it was acquired by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry and by the Criterion Collection. Her second feature, It's My Turn, for Columbia Pictures with Michael Douglas and Jill Clayburgh, won her the Donatello (European Oscar for Best New Director). She began in film by shooting and directing documentaries - notably, the Academy Award-nominated The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir, with Shirley MacLaine, about the first American Womens’ Delegation to China in 1973 and the multi-award-winning doc, Joyce at 34 with Joyce Chopra (Criterion).
Claudia Weill produced and directed her first feature, Girlfriends in 1979 which she sold to Warner Brothers after winning multiple awards at Cannes, Filmex and Sundance. In 2019, it was acquired by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry and by the Criterion Collection. Her second feature, It's My Turn, for Columbia Pictures with Michael Douglas and Jill Clayburgh, won her the Donatello (European Oscar for Best New Director). She began in film by shooting and directing documentaries - notably, the Academy Award-nominated The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir, with Shirley MacLaine, about the first American Womens’ Delegation to China in 1973 and the multi-award-winning doc, Joyce at 34 with Joyce Chopra (Criterion).
In television, she has directed for the HBO series Girls, thirtysomething (winning Emmy and Humanitas Awards for her work), My So-Called Life, as well as Face of Stranger, starring Gena Rowlands in an Emmy-winning role, and 20 short films for Sesame Street that are still on the air. She has also worked extensively as a theatre director.
Ms. Weill has taught Film and TV Directing for many years at USC, the New School, Columbia School of the Arts and Sarah Lawrence College among others and regularly mentors writers and directors. She and Elaine May were the 3rd and 4th women admitted to the Academy as directors in 1981, over 30 years after Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino.