Jon Shenk is an Academy Award®-nominated director and cinematographer, as well as the co-founder of Actual Films. Recent work includes directing IN WAVES & WAR with his partner Bonni Cohen, and directing and producing The White House Effect – both of which premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Jon also was the cinematographer for Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, which premiered at Sundance 2025. Prior, he co-directed the Oscar®-nominated short film Lead Me Home, which premiered at Telluride and is a Netflix Original. Previously, Shenk and Bonni Cohen co-directed Athlete A (Netflix), which won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and was nominated for five Critics Choice Documentary Awards, winning for Best Sports Documentary.

Before that, Shenk co-directed and lensed An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Participant), which premiered on opening night of the Sundance Film Festival. The film was shortlisted for the Oscars and was a BAFTA nominee for Best Documentary. The year before that Shenk co-directed and photographed the Peabody Award winner Audrie & Daisy (Netflix), which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

Shenk directed The Island President (Goldwyn Films), winner of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award and the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award. Previous work includes serving as the D.P. on the Academy Award winner Smile Pinki and winning an Emmy for Blame Somebody Else (PBS). In his early career, Shenk won an Independent Spirit Award for directing Lost Boys of Sudan (Shadow Distribution/PBS). Prior to Actual Films, Jon did in-house documentary work for LucasFilm and graduated from the Stanford Documentary Program. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Doc Branch.

Bonni Cohen is an acclaimed documentary director and creative producer, as well as the co-founder of Actual Films and the Catapult Film Fund. Current work includes directing IN WAVES AND WAR with her partner Jon Shenk, and directing and producing The White House Effect. Both films premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Recent projects include producing the Oscar-nominated short Lead Me Home (Netflix) and directing Make A Splash (ESPN.) Prior, she co-directed the feature Athlete A, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and was a Netflix top 10 film for many weeks running. Previously, Cohen co-directed An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which was selected as opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival, shortlisted for the Oscars and was BAFTA-nominated for Best Documentary. Cohen co-directed the Peabody Award winner Audrie & Daisy, which premiered in competition at Sundance and was picked up as a Netflix Original. In addition to her directing work, Cohen produced The Island President, winner of People’s Choice Award for Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her work as producer and director on The Rape of Europa earned her both PGA and WGA award nominations and the film was shortlisted for the Oscars.

Cohen also produced Jon Else’s Sundance film Wonders Are Many and the pair teamed up to co-direct Inside Guantanamo, an Emmy nominee for Best Documentary. Cohen has executive produced works for HBO, Disney+, and PBS including Art and Craft and 3.5 Minutes, 10 Bullets, both of which were Oscar shortlisted. She strives to be a positive connector and contributor to the documentary community and continues to serve on the Catapult Film Fund Board of Directors and as a member of BAFTA, the PGA and the Academy of Motion Pictures.