Brett Story

Brett Story is an award-winning filmmaker and writer whose work pushes the formal boundaries of political cinema. Her films have screened in theatres and festivals internationally, including at Sundance, New York Film Festival, CPH-DOX, and IDFA. She is the director of four feature films, including The Prison in Twelve Landscapes (2016) and The Hottest August (2019), and the author of the book Prison Land: Mapping Carceral Power Across Neoliberal America. Her most recent feature documentary, Union (2024), co-directed with Stephen Maing, premiered at Sundance 2024 where it won a Special Jury Prize. Union has screened at over 100 festivals worldwide and was shortlisted for an Academy Award.

Stephen Maign

Stephen Maing is an Emmy-award winning director and cinematographer. His films are cinematic investigations of societal phenomena, complex power structures and the fascinating individuals who challenge them. His feature documentary Crime + Punishment, which he directed, filmed and edited, won a Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, an Emmy for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

His most recent film Union, co-directed with Brett story, won a Special Jury Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival – and is an immersive cinéma vérité account of the historic efforts by workers to unionize the first Amazon fulfillment center. He is a frequent visiting artist, mentor, musician and educator based in Ridgewood, Queens.