Emily Kunstler (born June 24, 1978) is an American documentary filmmaker and activist. Her documentaries have won awards at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

and have been featured at

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pl ...

. Kunstler is the daughter of lawyer

William Kunstler William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American attorney and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Ci ...

, famous for his historic civil rights cases and Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a prominent New York human rights attorney.

Career

In 2000, Kunstler co-founded Off Center Media with her sister Sarah Kunstler with the goal of exposing injustice in the criminal justice system through media creation. In 2003, the sisters directed their short ''Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War.'' The film focused on the unlawful arrest and imprisonment of more than 10% of the black population of Tulia, Texas in 1999. The film won Best Short Documentary at the

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto in the Hudson Valley region of New York. The festival takes place each fall in the towns of Woodstock, Rosendale and Saug ...

(2002) and her film ''Getting Through to the President'' won the Jury Prize at the Black Maria Film Festival and the Audience Choice Award at the Portland International Short Short Film Festival (2004). In 2009, Kunstler and her sister released a feature-length documentary about their father entitled '' William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe'' that screened at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. The film was a co-production of the

Independent Television Service ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly se ...

and aired on the PBS series ''

P.O.V. ''POV'' (also written ''P.O.V.'') is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television series which features independent nonfiction films. ''POV'' is an initialism for ''point of view''. ''POV'' is the longest-running showcase on television ...

''. The film was nominated for the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the

and was among 15 films shortlisted for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Documentary Feature for the

83rd Academy Awards The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, be ...

in 2010. In 2021 Kunstler completed '' Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America'' with her sister co-directing. It premiered at

Film Festival and won the Audience Award in the Documentary Spotlight Category. The film was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and theatrically released January 14, 2022.

Personal life

Kunstler grew up in New York City's West Village neighborhood.

Filmography

* ''How to Rig an Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest'' (2023), short * '' Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America'' (2021) * '' William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe'' (2009) * ''Getting Through to the President'' (2004), short * ''Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War'' (2003), short

References

External links

Off Center Media Page
* *
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
page
''Disturbing The Universe'' POV Page

''Disturbing The Universe'' ITVS Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunstler, Emily Living people American documentary filmmakers 20th-century American Jews Place of birth missing (living people) Vassar College alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni 1978 births American women documentary filmmakers Activists from New York City Filmmakers from New York (state) 21st-century American Jews Ratner family