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Lauren Wissot

A woman with long brown hair smiles at the camera.

Lauren Wissot is a film critic and journalist, filmmaker and programmer, and a contributing editor at both Filmmaker magazine and Documentary magazine. She also writes regularly for Modern Times Review (The European Documentary Magazine) and has served as the director of programming at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.

Articles

With a movie screen behind them that details the information for this Filmmaker Forum panel, four seated panelists with microphones face a crowd
Hot Springs 2025: Uncertainty and Camaraderie Characterize 3rd Annual Filmmaker Forum
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Led by a soldier carrying the Ukrainian flag, a casket is being carried by soldiers into a church; some onlookers kneel on the street as if it were a parade.
Where Life and Death Coexist: Vitaly Mansky on His Berlinale-Premiering ‘Time to the Target’
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A man wearing a baseball cap and carrying a camera and tripod strolls through an arid landscape, illuminated by a sunset.
Ripple Effect: Brent and Craig Renaud’s Vérité Filmmaking in Pursuit of Peace
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Mierle Ukeles stands, in a bright orange t-shirt, teal pants, and sanitation vest, in front of a garbage truck covered in graffiti speaking with its driver, who is wearing a uniform.
“Mierle Does Not Fit Neatly Into Any Box”: Toby Perl Freilich Discusses Her Tribeca-Premiering ‘Maintenance Artist’ Starring Mierle Laderman Ukeles
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A Black man talking to a group of white people, while standing in the middle of a forested area.
“An Exploration of Whiteness and the Flattering Illusions of History”: Suzannah Herbert on her Tribeca-Winning Natchez
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A hand reaches up to rest on the window of a train with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
“How War Becomes Part of the Human”: Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, and Simon Mozgovyi on their Cannes-Premiering ‘Militantropos’
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A woman with gray hair and glasses looks at a blurry figure in the foreground.
SXSW 2025: Made in the USA
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An empty room that has been bombed with fabrics, chairs strewn around and windows open.
Screen Time, Winter 2024/2025
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A woman in a pink jacket holds up a sign that reads: "Assisted Suicide: The World's Cheapest Healthcare."
“Societal Failures Are Dictating What People Do”: Reid Davenport’s ‘Life After’ Connects Assisted Dying With a Fear of Disability
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A young Chinese man in a colorful button-up shirt sits in front of a mirror in a barbershop, spraying hairspray onto his head.
“Playing Three-Dimensional Chess”: Balancing Personal Lives and the Status Quo in Violet Du Feng’s ‘The Dating Game’
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A Black man in a navy suit sits at a wooden courthouse table.
“Examining Their Eyes, Hands, Hair, Mouths, and Posture”: Darius Clark Monroe on the Intimacies of Docuseries ‘Dallas, 2019’
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In front of an illuminated screen of the Amazon, three actors sit or stand in the dirt.
“Telling a Story Together Creates Another Story”: Milo Rau on the Utopian Documentarism in His ‘Antigone in the Amazon’
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On a street at night, a Russian woman stares behind the camera.
Reality Show: Julia Loktev on ‘My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow’
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An extreme close up of an oyster dripping succulent juices into an open mouth.
The Feedback: Emily Packer’s Many Forms of Hybridity in ‘Holding Back the Tide’
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A middle–aged, white couple look at each other, laughing. The woman on the left is wearing an orange shirt and the man on the right is wearing sunglasses on his head and a white tank. He has a tattoo on his shoulder.
The Feedback: Amy Nicholson on Embedding in the Community of ‘Happy Campers’
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A man stands strumming a banjo in the middle of a stage, singing into a microphone. Other musicians and players surround him while “The Edge of Nature” plays on the screen behind them all.
“Nature Is a Concept That Exists to Divide Us From the Land”: Josh Fox on His Documentary Theater ‘The Edge of Nature’
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Image for 'Sabbath Queen' featuring people dressed in drag. Courtesy of Sandi DuBowski
“A Shapeshifter in Constant Motion”: Sandi DuBowski Spent 21 Years Filming ‘Sabbath Queen’
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A group of middle-aged women dance in a dimly-lit bar.
“Production Was a Kind of Durational Epic”: Nesa Azimi Reflects on ‘Driver’
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Two black girls, one older and one younger, hug in field of grass.
“We Share a Common History”: Patricia Bbaale Bandak on Her Hot Docs-Debuting ‘Death of a Saint’
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Film still from 1489. Courtesy of True/False
“A War Without Rules”: Shoghakat Vardanyan on IDFA Best Film Winner ‘1489’
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Two figures sit at a small round table, which has a candle on it.
“As Authentic as Any Psychic Interaction Can Be”: Lana Wilson on ‘Look Into My Eyes’
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BTS shot of four figures against a mountainous backdrop.
“A Symphony of Echoing Voices”: Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó on ‘Agent of Happiness’
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Still image from 'The Mother of All Lies,' showing a closeup shot of half of an old woman's face. She is holding a figurine covering her mouth.
“I Write Stories Using Light”: Asmae El Moudir Discusses ‘The Mother of All Lies’
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Image Credit: Wouter Jansen. Film still from 'Malqueridas.'
“We Cannot Underestimate the Collective Power of Those Who Have No Access to Power”: Tana Gilbert Discusses ‘Malqueridas’
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Photograph of Sky Hopinka (left) and Jon Sesrie-Goff (right) in conversation, at HSDFF. Image credit: Aaron Brewer. Courtesy of HSDFF
From Sundance to Spa City: Hot Springs 2023
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still from 'Silence of Reason'
“Geographies of Survival”: Kumjana Novakova Discusses Her Sarajevo Film Festival Human Rights Award-Winning ‘Silence of Reason’
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Photograph of the Wondery panel at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase.
From Pitch to Finish: “Local Stories, Global Audiences” with Wondery at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase
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The Feedback: Arden Teresa Lewis' 'Leveling Lincoln'
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Zarifa Ghafari, an Afghan woman with black shoulder-length hair, wearing a black coat and a red patterned scarf and a surgical mask around her neck, is sitting in the back seat of a moving car, looking out the window. From Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen’s In Her Hands. Courtesy of Netflix ©2022
Doc Star of the Month: Zarifa Ghafari, 'In Her Hands'
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Happy Oliveros (left) stands with his hands on his hips; he wears a royal blue shirt, a red baseball cap and sunglasses; Carlos O. González (right) wearing a royal blue jersey, LA Dodgers cap and white pants, winds up to pitch. Both men--nativHappy Oliveros (left) rests with his hands on his hips, while Carlos O. González (right) winds up to pitch. Both men are risking their life and exile pursuing MLB contracts, many of which will never transpire into anything tangible. Photo courtesy of ‘The Last Out’.
Doc Stars of the Month: Happy Oliveros, Carlos O. González and Victor Baró, 'The Last Out'
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A crosswalk shows a shadow of a man using an electric wheelchair as a person walks ahead. Photo courtesy of Reid Davenport.
Doc Star of the Month: Reid Davenport, 'I Didn't See You There'
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Margaret is a white woman wearing all black, filming Angela, a woman of color, wearing a black tank top and blue jeans. Behind-the-scenes shot from Margaret Byrne's 'Any Given Day.' Photo by Anjanli Pinto.
Doc Star of the Month: Margaret Byrne, 'Any Given Day'
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BeBe Zahara Benet is a Black drag queen preparing for a show in her dressing room in Minneapolis. She is wearing a very large brown wig and false eyelashes, while looking into a mirror. From Emily Branham’s ‘Being BeBe.’ Courtesy of the filmmaker.
Doc Star of the Month: Marshall Ngwa aka BeBe Zahara Benet, 'Being BeBe'
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Harry Chuck is an Asian American man with glasses, black hair and a blue shirt. Courtesy of ‘America Reframed’/World Channel
Doc Star of the Month: Harry Chuck, 'Chinatown Rising'
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AC Coppens, wearing a Black suit, speaks to the audience at the 2022 CPH: Conference while standing in front of a digital screen. Courtesy of CPH: Conference.
Shaping Change in the Documentary 'Golden Age': CPH:CONFERENCE 2022
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Jay Rosenblatt is a middle-aged white man seen here taking a selfie with Richard Silberg, a middle-aged white man with darker hair. From Jay Rosenblatt’s ‘When We Were Bullies.’ Courtesy of HBO.
Doc Star of the Month: Jay Rosenblatt, 'When We Were Bullies'
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Nelson Chamisa is a bald Zimbabwean male politician wearing a patterned brown shirt. He is addressing a crowd of people. Image from Camilla Nielsson’s ‘President.’ Photo by Henrik Bohn Ipsen. Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.
Doc Star of the Month: Nelson Chamisa, 'President'
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Colorful IDFA 2021 flags fluttering against a brownstone building in Amsterdam. Photo by Roos Trommelen. Courtesy of IDFA.
Post-Cold War Films and More at Amsterdam Documentary Festival
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Black-and-white archival footage of the Attica uprising. Image from Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry’s ‘Attica.’ Courtesy of Showtime.
Doc Star of the Month: Al Victory, 'Attica'
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Vivian Anderson is a Black woman sitting on a stoop in Columbia, South Carolina, with her hands folded against her chin. She is the founder of EveryBlackGirl, and is seen in Garrett Zevgetis’ ‘On These Grounds.’
Doc Star of the Month: Vivian Anderson, 'On These Grounds'
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An abstract rendering of an artificial intelligence entity amidst a gray composite of horizontal lines. From Tonje Hessen Schei’s 'iHuman,' produced by UpNorth Film.
The VOD Effect on Distribution: A Nordic-European View
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Denilson Garibo is a young man in a blue graduation gown. He is wearing a graduation hat and has a garland of white plastic flowers around his neck. He is surrounded by family members. From Peter Nicks' ‘Homeroom.’ Courtesy of Hulu
Doc Star of the Month: Denilson Garibo, 'Homeroom'
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Tine Fischer, a white woman with shoulder-length dirty-blond hair in a white shirt with Niklas Engstrøm, a white man with brown hair, beard, and black frame glasses. He is also wearing a white shirt. Courtesy of CPH:DOX.
Tine Fischer and Niklas Engstrom on CPH:DOX's Past, Present and Future
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An underwater color photograph from 1982 of Valerie Taylor, a white woman, wearing a chain mail suit being bitten on the arm by a shark. Her pants are red and the top is sparkly. Courtesy of Ron & Valerie Taylor.
Doc Star of the Month: Valerie Taylor, 'Playing with Sharks'
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Sarah Rose Huckman, a young transgender woman in skiing gear. Ski resort behind her. She is the protagonist of ‘Changing the Game’ (Directed by Michael Barnett)
Doc Star of the Month: Sarah Rose Huckman, 'Changing the Game'
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A group of policemen in riot gear and on horseback line up across a city street. From David Dufresne’s 'The Monopoly of Violence.' Courtesy of CPH:DOX
Sociopolitical Documentaries at CPH:DOX 2021: Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
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One Latino man, wearing a grey suit jacket, plays the violin, while the other, wearing a black suit jacket, watches and smiles.
Doc Stars of the Month: Aldo Lopez-Gavilan and Ilmar Gavilan, 'Los Hermanos'
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Philly DA Larry Krasner, wearing glasses, a dark suit and a blue-striped tie, sits at an office desk in front of a file cabinet.
Doc Star of the Month: Larry Krasner, 'Philly D.A.'
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Arlet is a brown-skinned Latina, and she is posing in front of a staircase.
Doc Star of the Month: Arlet Guallpa, COVID Diaries NYC
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Jan Oliver “Ollie” Lucks (left) and his fiance Zoe (right). They are lying in bed, starting at each other. Zoe is pointing her index finger at Ollie's nose.
Doc Star of the Month: Ollie Lucks, 'There Is No "I" in Threesome'
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