Heather Courtney
Introduction (2-3 lines)
Heather Courtney is a documentary director and producer whose films have screened at SXSW, Silverdocs and others, and aired nationally on the PBS programs POV and Indendent Lens. Her film Where Soldiers Come From, won an Emmy, the Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award, and a SXSW Jury Award. Her award-winning films Los Trabajadores and Letters from the Other Side aired nationally on PBS, and were supported by a Fulbright fellowship and others. She was named a 2014 Guggenheim fellow.
Heather Courtney was named a Guggenheim fellow in 2014. She won an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SXSW Jury Award for her film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM. The film won awards at festivals around the country and was broadcast nationally on the PBS program POV. Several of Heather’s other films have been broadcast on PBS, including award-winners LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE, and LOS TRABAJADORES. Her work has been supported by many grants and fellowships in addition to the Guggenheim, including from the Sundance Documentary Fund, ITVS, the United States Artists Fellowship, the Fulbright Fellowship, and the Austin Film Society. She was also a fellow at the Sundance Edit and Story Lab.
Heather has worked on shorter productions in various capacities, including directing/producing fundraising and promo videos for non-profit organizations and NGOs, and editing PSAs (in English and Spanish). She is a periodic adjunct professor of documentary film at the University of Texas, and has taught Master Classes in documentary filmmaking at several universities.
Prior to receiving her MFA in Film Production, she spent eight years writing and photographing for the United Nations and several refugee and immigrant rights organizations, including in the Rwandan refugee camps after the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Heather is from the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and is proud to call herself a Yooper.
Heather Courtney was recently named a Guggenheim fellow for 2014. She also won an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SXSW Jury Award for her film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM. The film received rave reviews from the New York Times and the Washington Post, and was broadcast nationally on the PBS program POV in November 2011. It made several Top 10 films of 2011 lists, including Salon’s Best Non-fiction, and was supported by many grants and fellowships including from ITVS, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the United States Artists Fellowship, POV/American Documentary, and the Austin Film Society. Heather was also a fellow at the Sundance Edit and Story Lab. She has directed and produced several other documentary films including award-winners LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE, and LOS TRABAJADORES, which were both broadcast nationally on PBS, and were supported by a Fulbright Fellowship and an International Documentary Association Award.
She is currently in production, with co-director Anayansi Prado, on a documentary film called The Unafraid, which follows the lives of undocumented students and the underground movement they are building.
Prior to receiving her MFA in Film Production, Heather spent eight years writing and photographing for the United Nations and several refugee and immigrant rights organizations, including in the Rwandan refugee camps after the 1994 Rwandan genocide. She currently splits her time on freelance projects between Austin and Washington, DC, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Texas. Heather is from the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and is proud to call herself a Yooper.
