Lisa Hepner(I)

I'm a Canadian-American producer and director of documentary films. Having worked in non-fiction for the last 25 years, my goal is to create work with a lasting impact - whether that's in politics, science or health. My first job was running errands for the legendary doc filmmaker Albert Maysles in NYC. For the next decade, I worked alongside directors Michael Apted, Jonathan Demme and Lisa F. Jackson, all of whom forgave my unfortunate lack of navigation skills. In 2004, I co-directed the documentary feature, "Women on the Frontlines," that premiered at the U.N. and aired on PBS. Shot in Afghanistan, Burundi, Bosnia, Argentina and the US, it was my first foray into directing. Soon after, my DP husband, Guy Mossman, and I started Vox Pop Films, a production company based in Tribeca. In 2009, we moved to LA where we focused on creating branded content and commercials while brainstorming ideas for longer films. In 2022, we released our passion project, The Human Trial. For close to a decade, we followed a clinical trial that was programming stem cells to cure type 1 diabetes. The film was nominated for a Humanitas Prize, and won Best Documentary at film festivals here and abroad. The Human Trial has been screened by more than 300 organizations, including the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Parliament Hill and a brownie troop in Santee, CA. You can find the film on Prime Video, Apple TV, Documentary+ and the Documentary Channel. I'm a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Writer's Guild of America, New York Women in Film & Television, FWD-Doc and Roco Voices, a speaker's platform for documentary filmmakers. As an adjunct professor, I teach documentary production at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.