FotoFocus Presents: Roger Ross Williams

Roger Ross Williams is an Oscar, Emmy, NAACP Image Awards, Webby, and Peabody award-winning director, producer, and writer, and was the first African American director to win an Academy Award® with his film Music By Prudence. Williams directed Life, Animated, which was nominated for an Academy Award® and won the Sundance Directing Award and three Emmys. He is the recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association, The Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Award, The NYU Alumni Achievement Award, and an honorary doctorate from Lafayette College.

Williams’ production company, One Story Up, produced the acclaimed Netflix food series, High On The Hog, an adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between The World And Me; the Ben Crump documentary Civil; and the award-winning film Master Of Light. His first scripted feature, Cassandro, from Amazon Prime Video, had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. He also recently released The Supermodels for Apple TV+, which follows the lives and careers of iconic supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista throughout the 1980s and 1990s; Stamped From The Beginning based on the book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, for Netflix; and the second season of High On The Hog.