Katerina Cizek

Her work has documented the Digital Revolution, and has itself become part of the movement. At the National Film Board of Canada, she helped redefine the organization as one of the world’s leading digital content hubs. She is the director and creative force behind the NFB’s award-winning multi-year digital documentary project HIGHRISE, and she realized the acclaimed NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence program. Cizek has forged unconventional, creative partnerships with such diverse organizations ranging from an inner-city teaching hospital to Mozilla Foundation, to more recently, The New York Times and leading YouTube sensations. Her projects are also interventionist, and participatory: they have significantly contributed to conversations about health-care policy, urban planning as well as the health outcomes and living conditions of the participants themselves. Her work has been recognized with 2 Emmys, a Peabody Award, World Press Photo Prize, 3 Canadian Screen Awards, and Webby, amongst others.

Cizek‘s earlier independent films include the Hampton-Prize winner Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News (co-directed with Peter Wintonick). Her work has been seen by millions around the globe, through TV broadcasts and publishing on the web. She is currently leading a new initiative at MIT’s Open Documentary Lab. She has travelled the world with her projects, teaching and lecturing about her innovative approaches to the documentary genre and digital media. She has worked on numerous international Juries, including Grand Juries at The International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam and the One World Festival in Prague.