Marilyn Ness is a two-time Emmy, Peabody, and DuPont Award–winning documentary director and producer whose work explores complex social justice stories from multiple perspectives. As a director, her films include CHARM CITY (2018), an observational documentary examining the divide between police and citizens, which premiered at Tribeca, was shortlisted for the Academy Award®, broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens, and received an Emmy nomination. Her directorial debut BAD BLOOD (2011), also broadcast on PBS, chronicles a medical disaster through the voices of survivors, the medical community, and the pharmaceutical companies involved. She is currently at work on POSTMORTEM, a personal, interdisciplinary theater and documentary project.
As a former partner at the woman-owned production company Big Mouth Productions, Ness produced Kirsten Johnson’s DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD and CAMERAPERSON, Netflix’s BECOMING, Independent Lens’ TRAPPED, and Netflix’s E-TEAM. Her producing work has collectively earned four Sundance Jury Prizes, ten Primetime and Documentary Emmy nominations, and four Academy Award shortlist recognitions. Ness is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.