The Art of Discovery: Directing and Editing Documentary

Lindsay Utz, the 2026 Filmmaker In Residence is an award-winning director, producer, and editor who has helped shape some of the most acclaimed documentaries of the past decade. Her directorial debut, Prime Minister (2025)—a revealing portrait of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern—premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. The film was released by Magnolia Pictures and later premiered on HBO and CNN. Utz is currently directing and producing a feature documentary on the origins of NPR, tracing the institution’s founding and enduring role in American public life.

As an editor, she cut the Academy Award–winning American Factory (2019), the Emmy-nominated Martha (2024), the Oscar-shortlisted Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (2021), Miss Americana (2020), and the Peabody-nominated Quest (2017), among others. Across her films, she is known for transforming deeply personal stories into emotionally resonant, widely accessible cinematic experiences.

In 2024, she co-founded Win Win Pictures with Grammy Award–winning music supervisor and producer Margaret Yen, developing premium film and television projects centered on culture, music, and power. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters.