Lana Wilson(IV)
- Director
- Producer
- Sound Department
Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning and two-time Spirit Award-nominated writer and director. Transformative quests for meaning and humanity connect her diverse body of work across documentaries, short films, and episodic. Her most recent film, Look Into My Eyes (2024), premiered at Sundance 2024 to critical acclaim and will be theatrically released by A24 this fall.
Wilson's previous film, the two-part documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (2023), was a New York Times Critics' Pick, and broke viewership records when it launched globally on Hulu and Disney+. Pretty Baby was nominated for two Cinema Eye Honors, including Best Broadcast Film, a Critic's Choice Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program.
Wilson directed the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana (2020), which was the opening night film of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is a Netflix Original. Miss Americana was a New York Times Critic's Pick, an IndieWire Critic's Pick, and was named one of the Five Best Documentaries of the Year by the National Board of Review.
In 2017, Wilson's film The Departure (2017), about a punk-turned-priest in Japan, was called "a work of art" by the San Francisco Chronicle and "a genuinely spiritual experience" by the Washington Post. The Departure premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017, played at festivals around the world, and was nominated for the 2018 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. Wilson's first film, After Tiller (2013) (2013), which goes inside the lives of the four most-targeted abortion providers in the country, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win an Emmy Award for Best Documentary. It was also nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, four Cinema Eye Honors, a Satellite Award, and the Ridenhour Prize, as well as named one of the five best documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review.
Wilson also works in episodic and short-form filmmaking. She created and directed A Cure for Fear (2018), a four-episode series for Topic, which played SXSW and was nominated for the 2019 IDA Award for Best Short-Form Series.
Wilson has been awarded artist fellowships from the Sundance Institute, MacDowell, Yaddo, and Film Independent, and has taught at Pratt Institute. She was named to DOC NYC's inaugural "40 Under 40" list and is a recipient of the 2019 Chicken & Egg Award. Wilson is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a graduate of Wesleyan University.
Wilson's previous film, the two-part documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (2023), was a New York Times Critics' Pick, and broke viewership records when it launched globally on Hulu and Disney+. Pretty Baby was nominated for two Cinema Eye Honors, including Best Broadcast Film, a Critic's Choice Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program.
Wilson directed the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana (2020), which was the opening night film of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is a Netflix Original. Miss Americana was a New York Times Critic's Pick, an IndieWire Critic's Pick, and was named one of the Five Best Documentaries of the Year by the National Board of Review.
In 2017, Wilson's film The Departure (2017), about a punk-turned-priest in Japan, was called "a work of art" by the San Francisco Chronicle and "a genuinely spiritual experience" by the Washington Post. The Departure premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017, played at festivals around the world, and was nominated for the 2018 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. Wilson's first film, After Tiller (2013) (2013), which goes inside the lives of the four most-targeted abortion providers in the country, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win an Emmy Award for Best Documentary. It was also nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, four Cinema Eye Honors, a Satellite Award, and the Ridenhour Prize, as well as named one of the five best documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review.
Wilson also works in episodic and short-form filmmaking. She created and directed A Cure for Fear (2018), a four-episode series for Topic, which played SXSW and was nominated for the 2019 IDA Award for Best Short-Form Series.
Wilson has been awarded artist fellowships from the Sundance Institute, MacDowell, Yaddo, and Film Independent, and has taught at Pratt Institute. She was named to DOC NYC's inaugural "40 Under 40" list and is a recipient of the 2019 Chicken & Egg Award. Wilson is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a graduate of Wesleyan University.
