Joan Churchill has been named as the 2021 recipient of DOC NYC’s Lifetime Achievement Award. A press release announced the news.
The first documentary-focused director of photography to be accepted into the American Society of Cinematographers, Churchill’s credits as a DP include “Last Days in Vietnam,” “Shut Up & Sing,” and “Down from the Mountain.” She’s also a director, and helmed films such as “Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer” and “Soldier Girls” alongside Nick Broomfield.
“Shoot from the Heart,” Churchill’s new short film, will screen online at DOC NYC November 10-18. The fest will also host an in-person screening of the short and a conversation with “Cameraperson” filmmaker Kirsten Johnston on November 11. “Shoot from the Heart” captures “a rollicking evening with filmmakers Haskell Wexler, D.A. Pennebaker, and Chris Hegedus discussing filmmaking and what it means to be an artist — as seen through the lens of Joan Churchill” that’s “interwoven with Wexler’s activist life during his last ten years,” per its synopsis.
DOC NYC runs from November 10-18. Nearly half of the features set to screen are directed or co-directed by women.
Check out the trailer for “Shoot from the Heart” below.
