Lana Wilson is a renowned Emmy-winning and Spirit Award-nominated writer and director, celebrated for her poignant and cinematic storytelling abilities that delve into the complexities of the human experience. Her films have garnered international recognition, premiering at prestigious festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, BFI London, and True/False.
Her latest cinematic endeavor, Look Into My Eyes (2024),produced by A24, received widespread critical acclaim upon its premiere at Sundance and was recognized as one of the Top Five Documentaries of the Year by the National Board of Review. The film's theatrical release by A24 led to its ranking as a Top 10 streaming title on Max, while it received multiple nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors.
Wilson's recent work includes the two-part series Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (2023),which premiered at Sundance and garnered multiple Primetime Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. The series was a New York Times Critic's Pick and shattered viewership records upon its global launch on Hulu and Disney+.
Miss Americana (2020),a portrait of Taylor Swift, opened the Sundance Film Festival and became a global Netflix sensation. Praised by critics, it was named one of the Top Five Documentaries of the Year by the National Board of Review and is currently streaming on Netflix.
Earlier in her career, Wilson directed The Departure (2017),a poetic portrait of a former punk musician turned suicide prevention counselor, which premiered at Tribeca to rave reviews and earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination. The film's unique blend of depth and fiction film-like sensibility was praised and theatrically released in over 30 U.S. cities.
After Tiller (2013),co-directed with Martha Shane, won an Emmy Award for Best Documentary and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award. The film, a powerful and compassionate look at the only doctors in the U.S. publicly providing third-trimester abortions, was theatrically released by Oscilloscope and named one of Flavorwire's "50 Best Documentaries of All Time."
In addition to her feature-length work, Wilson has also ventured into television and short-form filmmaking, including the IDA Award-nominated A Cure for Fear (2018). She has received artist fellowships from the Sundance Institute, MacDowell, and Yaddo, and is a graduate of Wesleyan University. Wilson is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 2024, the Museum of the Moving Image presented "Come Alive: The Films of Lana Wilson," a retrospective of her work, showcasing her impressive body of cinematic achievements.
