Motion Picture Academy announces eight dozen filmmakers to join Doc Branch: 'Free Solo's' Jimmy Chin, 'Jane Fonda in Five Acts' director Susan Lacy lead way

Su Kim, Kimberly Reed, PJ Raval, Matt Tyrnauer, Carrie Lozano among incoming A.M.P.A.S. class

Graphic courtesy A.M.P.A.S.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is adding some acclaimed documentary filmmakers to its ranks.

The Academy announced a total of 842 new members today, including almost 100 in the Documentary Branch alone. The list features Jimmy Chin, co-director of the Academy Award-winning documentary Free Solo--he joins his wife and Free Solo co-director E. Chai Vasarhelyi, who had previously been extended Academy membership.

Among other newbies: Susan Lacy, creator of the PBS American Masters series, whose latest documentary is Jane Fonda in Five Acts; Su Kim, producer of Hale County This Morning, This Evening; Dark Money director Kimberly Reed; PJ Raval, director of Call Her Ganda; Steve Bognar, director of the upcoming doc American Factory; Studio 54's Matt Tyrnauer; filmmaker Carrie Lozano, who doubles as the director of the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund; Of Fathers and Sons director Talal Derki; Alison Klayman, whose latest documentary is The Brink; Stephen Kijak, director of We Are X and Stones in Exile; Skye Fitzgerald, director of Lifeboat; Bryn Mooser (Lifeboat, Body Team 12); producer Jonathan Chinn (Black Sheep and LA 92). Seeing Allred's Roberta Grossman, Home Page's Doug Block; Christine O'Malley (I.O.U.S.A. and If You Build It); Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie's Andrea Blaugrund Nevins,  and Josh Fox, director of Gasland.

Skye Fitzgerald. Photo by Matt Carey

Bryn Mooser. Photo by Matt Carey

Susan Lacy. Photo by Matt Carey

PJ Raval. Photo by Matt Carey

Steve Bognar. Photo by Matt Carey

Jonathan Chinn. Photo by Matt Carey

Jimmy Chin with wife and fellow filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi. Photo by Matt Carey

Stephen Kijak. Photo by Matt Carey

Matt Tyrnauer. Photo by Matt Carey

Talal Derki. Photo by Matt Carey

Kimberly Reed (center). Photo by Matt Carey

Of the 842 new members overall, exactly half are women, the Academy reports. Continuing its diversity push, the Academy membership is now 32-percent women, up from 25-percent in 2015. 

People of color made up 29-percent of this year's class. The overall Academy membership of people of color has doubled since 2015--from 8-percent then to 16-percent today.

This is the full list of those accepted into the Documentary Branch today: 

Documentary

Nancy Abraham – “Solitary,” “The Loving Story”
Khadija Al-Salami – “Yemen: Kids and War,” “Al Sarkha (Scream)”
Phie Ambo – “Free the Mind,” “Family”
Karim Amer – “The Great Hack,” “The Square”
Isabel Arrate Fernandez – “Return to Homs,” “Five Broken Cameras”
Kirstine Barfod – “Venus,” “Born to Lose”
Ruth Beckermann – “The Waldheim Waltz,” “East of War”
Jordana Berg – “The Edge of Democracy,” “The Mighty Spirit”
Doug Block – “The Children Next Door,” “Home Page”
Steven Bognar – “American Factory,” “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
Dallas Brennan Rexer – “No Woman, No Cry,” “Deadline”
Ditsi Carolino – “Hindered Land,” “Bunso”
Erin Casper – “Risk,” “American Promise”
Julian Cautherley – “Buena Vista Social Club: Adios,” “The Crash Reel”
Lori Cheatle – “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.,” “I Am Another You”
Jimmy Chin – “Free Solo,” “Meru”
Jonathan Chinn – “Black Sheep,” “LA 92”
Christopher Clements – “One Child Nation,” “Take Your Pills”
Davis Coombe – “Chasing Coral,” “Saving Face”
Ben Cotner – “13th,” “The Case Against 8”
Brenda Coughlin – “Risk,” “Dirty Wars”
Linda Davis – “The Kill Team,” “The Waiting Room”
Talal Derki – “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Return to Homs”
Jessica Devaney – “The Feeling of Being Watched,” “Speed Sisters”
Katja Dringenberg – “The Congo Tribunal,” “Black Box BRD”
Anne Fabini* – “Return to Homs,” “More than Honey”
Penelope Falk – “Step,” “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”
Drew Fellman – “Pandas,” “Island of Lemurs: Madagascar”
Skye Fitzgerald – “Lifeboat,” “Finding Face”
Josh Fox – “Awake, a Dream from Standing Rock,” “Gasland”
Ansgar Frerich – “Let the Bell Ring,” “Of Fathers and Sons”
Laura Gabbert – “City of Gold,” “Sunset Story”
Jannat C. Gargi – “Knife Skills,” “Circo”
Maureen Gosling – “Blossoms of Fire,” “Burden of Dreams”
Roberta Grossman – “Seeing Allred,” “Above and Beyond”
Ryan Harrington – “Sea of Shadows,” “A Place at the Table”
Mette Heide – “Amanda Knox,” “Rafea: Solar Mama”
Lisa Heller – “Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland,” “Saving Face” Carolyn Hepburn – “One Child Nation,” “3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets”
Lee Hirsch – “Bully,” “Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony”
Hong Hyung-sook – “The Border City 2,” “Reclaiming Our Names”
Chiemi Karasawa – “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me,” “Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction”
Eva Kemme – “Of Fathers and Sons,” “Taste of Cement”
Stephen Kijak – “We Are X,” “Stones in Exile”
Su Kim – “Midnight Traveler,” “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
Alison Klayman – “The Brink,” “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”
Karen Konicek – “Monrovia, Indiana,” “Ex Libris – The New York Public Library”
Jan Krawitz – “Perfect Strangers,” “Big Enough”
Sabine Krayenbühl – “The Price of Everything,” “Mad Hot Ballroom”
Susan Lacy – “Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” “Inventing David Geffen”
Beth Levison – “32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide,” “The Trials of Spring”
Mor Loushy – “The Oslo Diaries,” “Censored Voices”
Carrie Lozano – “The Ballad of Fred Hersch,” “The Weather Underground”
Ma Li – “Inmates,” “Born in Beijing”
Leah Marino – “Motherland,” “Imelda”
Rafael Marmor – “Mike Wallace Is Here,” “The Short Game”
Gesa Marten – “Shot in the Dark,” “Lost in Liberia”
Yael Melamede – “(Dis)Honesty – The Truth about Lies,” “Desert Runners”
Noé Mendelle – “Woman in Sari,” “State of the World”
Muffie Meyer – “Making Rounds,” “Grey Gardens”
Bryn Mooser – “Lifeboat,” “Body Team 12”
Eva Mulvad – “The Good Life,” “Enemies of Happiness”
Alysa Nahmias – “Unrest,” “Unfinished Spaces”
Andrea Blaugrund Nevins – “Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie,” “Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies”
​Christine O’Malley – “If You Build It,” “I.O.U.S.A.”
Martha Orozco – “Nueva Venecia,” “Drought,”
Ferne Pearlstein – “The Last Laugh,” “Imelda”
Per Kirkegaard Pedersen – “That Summer,” “Armadillo”
PJ Raval – “Call Her Ganda,” “Before You Know It”
Kimberly Reed – “Dark Money,” “Prodigal Sons”
Stacey Reiss – “The Eagle Huntress,” “The Diplomat”
Melissa Robledo – “Command and Control,” “Merchants of Doubt”
Susan Rockefeller – “Food for Thought, Food for Life,” “Making the Crooked Straight”
Vanessa Roth – “American Teacher,” “Freeheld”
Marjan Safinia – “Seeds,” “But You Speak Such Good English”
Courtney Sexton – “Apollo 11,” “Three Identical Strangers”
Avner Shahaf – “The Oslo Diaries,” “The Gatekeepers”
Alexandra Shiva – “This Is Home: A Refugee Story, “ “How to Dance in Ohio”
Tobias N. Siebert – “Of Fathers and Sons,” “The Story of the Weeping Camel”
Karen Sim – “Watchers of the Sky,” “Back on Board: Greg Louganis” Claire Simon – “Young Solitude,” “Human Geography”
Sara Stockmann – “Bobbi Jene,” “Armadillo”
Helena Třeštíková – “A Marriage Story,” “Marcela”
Matt Tyrnauer – “Studio 54,” “Valentino The Last Emperor”
Lindsay Utz – “American Factory,” “Quest”
Lisa Valencia-Svensson – “Call Her Ganda,” “Herman’s House”
Aliona van der Horst – “Love Is Potatoes,” “Boris Ryzhy”
Baby Ruth Villarama – “Sunday Beauty Queen,” “Jazz in Love”
Miao Wang – “Maineland,” “Beijing Taxi”
Stephanie Wang-Breal – “Blowin’ Up,” “Tough Love”
M. Watanabe Milmore – “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” “Revelations: Paradise Lost 2” William Weber – “To Be Takei,” “We Were Here”
Ryan White – “Ask Dr. Ruth,” “The Case Against 8”
Michelle M. Witten – “Generation Wealth,” “Author: The JT LeRoy Story”
Matt Wolf – “Bayard & Me,” “Teenage”
Hao Wu – “People’s Republic of Desire,” “The Road to Fame”
Tom Yellin – “Cartel Land,” “Girl Rising”
Farihah Zaman – “Remote Area Medical,” “This Time Next Year”
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