Film > Documentary Archives

Tiffany Shlain

Honored by Newsweek as one of their “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, author, and founder of the Webby Awards.

Nise Bulelwa Malange

South African writer, documentary filmmaker, artist and activist

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Oscar-winning Pakistani documentary filmmaker

A poet and playwright, she was a co-founder of the literary group Rueca and a television screenwriter. She adapted and wrote the screenplays for the films Memorias de un revolucionario and Ronda revolucionaria. She contributed to América, the journal of the University of Mexico, and Taller Poético.

Dawn Porter

Despite having directed or produced more than a dozen documentaries, Dawn Porter did not begin her career thinking she’d end up in film.

Jeni Thornley

Australian documentary filmmaker

Nanfu Wang

A 2020 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant winner, Nanfu Wang uses film to explore the relationship between individuals and governments. Like a rigorous investigative journalist, Wang employs immersive, vivid storytelling and a first-person narrative structure in her documentary films to examine the ideas of responsibility and freedom, particularly in her native China.

Ava DuVernay

Although she did not pick up a camera until she was thirty-two, Ava DuVernay has made history as a writer, director, and producer. She was the first African American woman to win Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival, be nominated for a Best Director Golden Globe, direct a film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and direct a film with a budget over $100 million.