DOC NYC’s ninth annual Visionaries Tribute took place as an in-person event on Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at Gotham Hall.
Support for the Visionaries Tribute comes from Netflix. Additional support comes from Supporting Sponsors discovery+ and National Geographic Documentary Films, and Signature Sponsor Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Lifetime Achievement
Lifetime Achievement Awards are given for a distinguished output of documentaries.
Geralyn White Dreyfous
2022 Lifetime Achievement
Geralyn White Dreyfous has over 180 credits as a producer and executive producer of documentary films. Those credits include Born Into Brothels; The Invisible War; 16 Shots; The Hunting Ground; Won’t You Be My Neighbor?; The Great Hack; Us Kids; The Truffle Hunters; Mija; Aftershock; and The Grab. She stands as Founder and Board Chair of Utah Film Center, Co-Founder of Impact Partners, and a founding member of Gamechanger Films. She spent an early part of her career at the Philanthropic Initiative in Boston and taught Documentary and Narrative writing with Dr. Robert Coles at Harvard University.
Werner Herzog
2022 Lifetime Achievement
Werner Herzog was born in Munich on September 5, 1942. He grew up in a remote mountain village in Bavaria and studied History and German Literature in Munich and Pittsburgh. He made his first film in 1961 at the age of 19. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature- and documentary films including Lessons in Darkness; Little Dieter Needs to Fly; My Best Fiend; Grizzly Man; and Encounters at the End of the World. His film Cave of Forgotten Dreams was the opening night film of the first DOC NYC festival in 2010. His most recent documentaries are Theater of Thought and The Fire Within.
Past Winners
Joan Churchill
2021 Lifetime Achievement
Raoul Peck
2021 Lifetime Achievement
Jean Tsien
2020 Lifetime Achievement
Sam Pollard
2020 Lifetime Achievement
Martin Scorsese
2019 Lifetime Achievement
Michael Apted
2019 Lifetime Achievement
Orlando Bagwell
2018 Lifetime Achievement
Wim Wenders
2018 Lifetime Achievement
Sheila Nevins
2017 Lifetime Achievement
Errol Morris
2017 Lifetime Achievement
Stanley Nelson
2016 Lifetime Achievement
Jonathan Demme
2016 Lifetime Achievement
Jon Alpert
2015 Lifetime Achievement
Barbara Kopple
2015 Lifetime Achievement
Frederick Wiseman
2015 Lifetime Achievement
D.A. Pennebaker
2014 Lifetime Achievement
Chris Hegedus
2014 Lifetime Achievement
Albert Maysles
2014 Lifetime Achievement
2020 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
2020 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
2019 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Martin Scorsese has interwoven documentary making throughout his distinguished career. His latest nonfiction work is Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story. Among his other acclaimed nonfiction films are The 50 Year Argument; George Harrison: Living in the Material World; No Direction Home: Bob Dylan; The Blues; My Voyage to Italy; The Last Waltz; A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies; Public Speaking; and Italianamerican. His latest project is the narrative feature The Irishman. [Biography from 2019]
2019 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Michael Apted is the director of the ground-breaking 7 Up series, a study of the British class system that brings forth a new film every seven years. The latest film in his series, 63 Up, presented by BritBox, will be released in fall 2019. His other documentaries include Married in America; Me & Isaac Newton; Moving the Mountain; Inspirations; Incident at Oglala; and Bring on the Night. [Biography from 2019]
2018 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Orlando Bagwell’s directing credits include Citizen King, A Hymn for Alvin Ailey, Malcolm X: Make It Plain, and two episodes in the landmark Eyes on the Prize series. Serving as a program officer at the Ford Foundation for nearly a decade, Bagwell established the $50 million JustFilms fund. He is currently finishing a documentary on Gil Scott-Heron. [Biography from 2018]
2018 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Wim Wenders directed the Oscar-nominated documentaries The Salt of the Earth, Pina and Buena Vista Social Club, along with nonfiction titles such as The Blues and Room 666 and celebrated fiction films such as Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire. His latest documentary is Pope Francis: A Man of His Word. [Biography from 2018]
2017 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Sheila Nevins is President of HBO Documentary Films and has overseen documentaries for the channel for over 30 years. She has supervised the production of over 1,000 documentary programs for HBO. As an executive producer or producer, she has received 32 Primetime Emmy Awards, 34 News and Documentary Emmys, and 42 George Foster Peabody Awards. During her tenure, HBO’s documentaries have gone on to win 26 Academy Awards. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling book You Don’t Look Your Age… and Other Fairy Tales. [Biography from 2017]
2017 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Errol Morris has been a continuous innovator in the documentary form with films such as The B-Side, Gates of Heaven; Vernon, Florida; The Thin Blue Line; Fast, Cheap & Out of Control; Mr. Death; the Oscar-winning The Fog of War; and Standard Operating Procedure and the Netflix series Wormwood. His film Tabloid was the Closing Night Film of DOC NYC’s first year in 2010; and The Unknown Known was the Opening Night film of the 2013 festival. [Biography from 2017]
2016 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Stanley Nelson is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, MacArthur “genius” Fellow, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has multiple industry awards to his credit. Nelson is the director of documentary features including Freedom Riders, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple and The Murder of Emmett Till. He is also co-founder of Firelight Media, a non-profit organization that provides technical education, funding and professional support to emerging documentarians. [Biography from 2016]
2016 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Jonathan Demme began his career as a writer and producer with Roger Corman in 1971 and has directed and produced more than 40 movies since. His films have been nominated for 20 Academy Awards, including Beloved, Melvin and Howard, Philadelphia, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s Who Am I This Time?, Rachel Getting Married, The Manchurian Candidate, and Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Oscar for Best Director in 1991. His documentaries and performance films include Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids, Cousin Bobby, The Agronomist, Haiti Dreams of Democracy, Stop Making Sense, Swimming to Cambodia, Neil Young Heart of Gold, Neil Young Trunk Show, Neil Young Journeys, Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, I’m Carolyn Parker, The Good the Mad and the Beautiful, New Home Moves from the Lower 9th Ward, Tavis Smiley’s Been In the Storm Too Long and Enzo Avitabile Music Life. [Biography from 2016]
2015 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Jon Alpert co-founded New York’s Downtown Community Television (DCTV), the country’s oldest non-profit community media center. He is the winner of 16 Emmy Awards and the recipient of four DuPont-Columbia Awards; his documentaries include One Year in the Life of Crime, Baghdad ER, and the Oscar-nominated shorts China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province and Redemption. Alpert’s latest film is Mariela Castro’s March: Cuba’s LGBT Revolution. [Biography from 2015]
2015 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, having won for both Harlan County USA and American Dream. In 1991, Harlan County USA was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Kopple’s other celebrated films include Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson, Wild Man Blues, Shut Up & Sing, Running From Crazy, A Conversation With Gregory Peck, Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation, and her latest, Miss Sharon Jones! [Biography from 2015]
2015 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Frederick Wiseman is a pioneer of observational documentary filmmaking, starting with his acclaimed 1967 debut Titicut Follies. He is the recipient of the George Polk Career Award and the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion, among many honors. Wiseman has directed dozens of films, from early classics such as High School and Law and Order to recent works La Danse, Boxing Gym, Crazy Horse, At Berkeley, National Gallery, and his latest, In Jackson Heights. [Biography from 2015]
2014 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
2014 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
2014 Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Leading Light Award
The Leading Light Award honors an individual making a critical contribution to documentary in a role other than as a filmmaker.
Sonya Childress
2022 Leading Light Recipient
Sonya Childress is a cultural strategist who believes in the transformative power of film. She co-directs the Color Congress, an ecosystem-builder that resources, supports, and connects organizations led by people of color that serve nonfiction filmmakers, leaders, and audiences of color across the US and territories, with Sahar Driver. As Senior Fellow with the Perspective Fund, she supported projects that moved the documentary field towards equity and transparency. She spent two decades leading impact campaigns and distribution strategies at Active Voice, California Newsreel and Firelight Media, where she piloted a fellowship for impact producers of color. She is a board member of the Center for Cultural Power, a member of the Documentary Accountability Working Group, a working group member for ‘The Lens Reflected’ study, and was a 2015 Rockwood JustFilms Fellow.
Past Winners
Chi-hui Yang
2021 Leading Light Recipient
Yvonne Welbon
2020 Leading Light Recipient
Cynthia Lopez
2019 Leading Light Recipient
Tabitha Jackson
2018 Leading Light Recipient
Cara Mertes
2017 Leading Light Recipient
Molly Thompson
2016 Leading Light Recipient
Tom Quinn
2015 Leading Light Recipient
Dan Cogan
2014 Leading Light Recipient
2020 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
2019 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
Cynthia Lopez is the Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television. She is the former Commissioner of the New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Prior to working as Commissioner she was Executive Vice President and co-Executive Producer of the award-winning PBS documentary series American Documentary | POV, and was involved in the organization’s strategic growth and creative development for 14 years. [Biography from 2019]
2018 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
Tabitha Jackson has served as the Director of the Documentary Film Program at the Sundance Institute since 2013. She previously worked as the Head of Arts and Performance at Channel 4 Television in London. [Biography from 2018]
2017 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
Cara Mertes is the director of the JustFilms initiative at The Ford Foundation. JustFilms works globally to support artist-led films and new media projects, strengthen organizations and networks for artist-driven content, and develop new leadership and resources in this field. Prior to leading JustFilms, Mertes also served as director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and executive director of the PBS documentary series POV. [Biography from 2017]
2016 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
Molly Thompson is senior vice president of Feature Films at A+E Studios. In 2005, she founded A+E Studios’ feature documentary production arm, A&E IndieFilms, which under her leadership has gained an unprecedented track record, garnering three Academy Award nominations for Cartel Land, Jesus Camp, and Murderball, Sundance wins in several categories for Life, Animated, Cartel Land, The September Issue, and American Teen, along with hundreds of other awards and nominations. Thompson also serves as executive producer for documentaries produced under A+E Studios’ HISTORY Films banner, including Drunk Stones Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, The Unknown Known, No Place on Earth, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. [Biography from 2016]
2015 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
Tom Quinn’s career spans 20 years in distribution with a notable streak of acclaimed documentaries. He recently launched a new film company with Jason Janego and Tim League that will distribute Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next. As co-founder of RADiUS, Quinn championed documentaries such as The Hunting Ground and Oscar winners 20 Feet From Stardom and Citizenfour. At Magnolia Pictures, his documentary acquisitions included Man On Wire; Food, Inc; and Client 9; and at Samuel Goldwyn Films, Super Size Me. [Biography from 2015]
2014 Visionaries Tribute Leading Light Award
The Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
The Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence honors a mid-career filmmaker or partnership that excels in observational filmmaking. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize to the filmmakers contributed by Drew Associates, under the helm of Jill Drew.
Ondi Timoner
2022 Drew Award Recipient
Ondi Timoner has the rare distinction of winning the U.S. Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice — for Dig! (2004), about the collision of art and commerce through the eyes of two rival rock bands, and We Live in Public (2009), about the loss of privacy online through a NY social experiment. Her other films include Join Us, about mind control; Cool It, about climate change; Brand: A Second Coming, about the transformation of comedian/author/activist Russell Brand; the 10-hour series Jungletown, about an intentional community in remote Panama; and Coming Clean, about the opioid crisis. Her latest film, Last Flight Home, documents her father’s final days.
Past Winners
Peter Nicks
2021 Drew Award Recipient
Alexander Nanau
2020 Drew Award Recipient
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
2019 Drew Award Recipients
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
2018 Drew Award Recipients
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
2017 Drew Award Recipients
Dawn Porter
2016 Drew Award Recipient
Kim Longinotto
2015 Drew Award Recipient
Laura Poitras
2014 Drew Award Recipient
Director and Producer (Last Flight Home)
Director/Cinematographer, The Waiting Room
2020 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
2019 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert are the filmmaking team behind American Factory; the Oscar-nominated short The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant; and the feature A Lion in the House. Reichert was Oscar-nominated for her documentary feature films Union Maids and Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists. Her first film was Growing Up Female, which is on the National Film Registry. Bognar’s solo films are Personal Belongings, Picture Day and Gravel. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize to the filmmakers contributed by Drew Associates, under the helm of Jill Drew. [Biography from 2019]
2018 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are the filmmaking team behind Meru and Free Solo. Vasarhelyi has additional solo directing credits on other films including Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love, Touba, A Normal Life, and the award-winning Incorruptible. Chin is also a professional climber and has an accomplished career as a photographer for National Geographic and other outlets. [Biography from 2018]
2017 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s films include One of Us, Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, Detropia, 12th& Delaware, Jesus Camp, and The Boys of Baraka. [Biography from 2017]
2016 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
Dawn Porter’s film Trapped premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking. Her documentary Gideon’s Army won the Sundance Film Festival Editing Award and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and an Emmy. Her other films include Spies of Mississippi and Rise: The Promise of My Brother’s Keeper. [Biography from 2016]
2015 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence
For over thirty five years, Kim Longinotto has made acclaimed documentaries that have won awards from BAFTA, the Sundance Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival, among others.
[Biography from 2015]
2014 Visionaries Tribute Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence