MERMAN’S LUCY WALKER RECEIVES DOC NYC EXCELLENCE AWARD

Documentary director Lucy Walker, who is represented for commercial work by Sharon Horgan’s production company Merman, has received the prestigious Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence from DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S. She will receive the award at DOC NYC’s eleventh annual Visionaries Tribute, which takes place on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at Gotham Hall. 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 cash prize contributed by Drew Associates, the independent documentary film company founded in 1960 by Robert Drew, whose groundbreaking work became known as American Cinéma Vérité.

Oscar nominated director Lucy Walker has deftly used observational cinema throughout her work, exemplified by her latest film Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa that tells a multi-layered story of personal struggle against an epic backdrop. Walker’s previous documentaries include Bring Your Own Brigade on forest fires; The Crash Reel on extreme sports and brain injuries; The Waste Land set in a Brazilian garbage dump; Blindsight about blind climbers on Mount Everest; and The Devil’s Playground about Amish teenagers undergoing a rite of passage.

The Visionaries Tribute will also present Lifetime Achievement Awards to Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Alan Berliner, a virtuoso of essayistic documentary, and Marcia Smith, an Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker who is president and co-founder of Firelight Media, a nonprofit organization that supports, resources, and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color. Jenni Wolfson, a trailblazer in the art of storytelling for social change and the CEO of Chicken & Egg Pictures, will receive the Leading Light Award, which honors an individual making a critical contribution to documentary in a role other than as a filmmaker.

For more information on The Visionaries Tribute please visit: https://www.docnyc.net/visionaries-tribute/