Directing Documentaries with Steve James & Bing Liu (AMERICA TO ME)

Steve James previous work includes Hoop Dreams, winner of every major critics prize and a Directors Guild of America Award, a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Award. Other award winning films include Sundance winner, Stevie; International Documentary Association winning miniseries The New Americans; The Interrupters, which won an Emmy, Independent Spirit Award, and the DuPont Columbia Journalism Award; and the Emmy-winning Life Itself, named the best documentary of 2014 by over a dozen critics associations, including The Critic’s Choice Awards, The National Board of Review, and The Producers Guild of America. His most recent film, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, earned James a fourth Directors Guild of America nomination, won a Critics Choice Award and an Emmy, and was nominated for an Academy Award, James' second. His Starz docuseries, America to Me premiered at Sundance and is one of the most acclaimed TV shows of 2018. 

Bing Liu is best known for directing Minding The Gap, which was nominated for an Oscar, an Independent Spirit, an Emmy and won a Sundance Special Jury and Peabody Award. His other directorial credits include America To Me, All These Sons, and What The Hands Do. Since 2021 he has been working on Empathy Mirrors, a museum exhibit in partnership with Actual Films and Futures Without Violence. His latest film, Preparation For The Next Life, is a narrative feature produced by Plan B and Pastel for Orion Pictures, distributed by Amazon MGM. He was previously a member of the International Cinematographer’s Guild and holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an Associate of Arts from Rock Valley Community College.