Mary J. Blige's
My Life
01
National Geographic Presents: IMPACT
02
Anxious Nation
03
Daughters of Destiny
04
The Girl and
The Picture
05
Liberation Heroes
The Last Eyewitnesses
06
Daughters of Destiny
Preetha's Poem
07
Vanessa Roth is an Academy Award, Emmy Honors, Alfred I DuPont-Columbia, Sundance, and Leonard Maltin Humanitarian Award winning
documentary filmmaker, cross cultural story facilitator, and head of content for Museum & Special Events & Exhibitions worldwide. At the helm
dozens of films and series, as well as special exhibitions, events, branded content and cross-cultural experiences; Vanessa’s visceral, textured, and
emotional projects about (and with) youth, family, culture, mental health, legacy, and memory all speak to the core of what makes us human. She
works collaboratively around the world collecting oral histories and lived experiences for her projects, from big cities to the most rural villages, from
those whose lives have never been recognized to international icons to create connections across places and times.
Some of her major projects include her Academy Award winning HBO film, Freeheld, the Social Impact Emmy Award winning Netflix Original
Premium 4-part series made in India over the course of a decade, Daughters of Destiny, the Amazon Premium Feature Documentary, Mary J
Blige’s My Life, the Wynton Marsalis stage production, Wynton Marsalis: Somebody Forgot to Talk, the National Geographic/Disney Plus 6-part
Original series National Geographic Presents IMPACT with Gal Gadot, the Netflix award winning animated short, I am Who I am Because of
Her, the ESPN 30for30 film & international peace project, The Other Side, the USC-Shoah Foundation/ Discovery Original Special Presentation,
Liberation Heroes, the Alfred I Dupont Award winning PBS film, Taken In: The Lives of America’s Foster Children, Her Sundance Special Jury
Prize film, Close to Home, as well as other films including The Girl and the Picture (Tribeca & Nanjing Museum), Aging Out (PBS), 911 Toxic
Dust (A&E), Third Monday in October (Sundance), No Tomorrow (PBS), American Teacher (Amazon), The Texas Promise (PBS), and the
award winning feature, Anxious Nation (2023 release) and the multi part doc series, A Place of Honor (Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial & Museum).
Currently, Vanessa is completing the international short film, The Righteous Road Trip, in production on the MAX Original 4-part-series, The Last
Wright, the feature film, Incarnations of I and in development on an international storytelling initiative and Global Youth Film Academy with
FIRST Global Robotics.
Vanessa has garnered the highest of honors in documentary, film, television, social justice, and journalism with over 60 awards including the Oscar,
The Leonard Maltin Humanitarian Award, The Television Academy Emmy Honors Award for Social Impact, The Alfred I DuPont Columbia Award,
Sundance Special Jury Awards, The Gracie Award, Women Image Award’s highest honors, the GLAAD Honors, Cine Golden Eagles, Casey Medals,
Impact Doc Awards for Best in Show and Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking, IDA honors, Audience Awards and Jury Prizes at top festivals
around the world, as well as special honors for her work in social impact and social justice
Her films and series are made and distributed all over the world including by National Geographic, Disney+, Amazon, Netflix, Discovery, PBS, HBO,
A&E, ESPN, and the BBC, as well as with international non-profits, NGOs, brands, foundations, organizations, museums, memorial halls, public art
exhibitions and universities. Her work is always accompanied by international outreach and impact campaigns and has screened at hundreds of
international festivals, the Obama White House, for multiple sessions in Congress and inside the United Nations. Her films about education, mental
health, child welfare & veterans have become the catalyst for policy change in the US and Abroad.
Her work with museums, education centers, memorials and special oral history exhibitions and projects have included partnerships with the Nanjing
Memorial Center, the USC-Shoah Foundation, Storyfile, the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, and multiple longitudinal story initiatives around
the world to collect personal stories of migration, trauma, identity and legacy.
Additionally, Vanessa has been an ongoing Adjunct Professor, Visiting Artist, Key- Note and TedX Speaker at high schools, colleges and universities
around the world focused on the power of story and narrative for healing, ethics in filmmaking and cross-cultural collaborations. She oversees and
facilitates student cross cultural exchange experiences with workshops and projects that put the lived experience as expertise at the center of oral
history storytelling projects between cultures for deeper awareness, empathy, global partnerships and healing.
Vanessa received a BA in Creative Writing and Psychology from UCLA and holds a Master’s degree in Social Work with a minor in family law from
Columbia University.
She lives in New York with her husband and three children. She is the daughter of Archeologist/Anthropologist Linda Roth, and Academy Award
winning Screenwriter, Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button, Killers of the Flower Moon…)