Breaking the News

Heather Courtney is an Emmy-winning filmmaker, and a Guggenheim, Sundance, and Fulbright fellow. Her film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM won an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SXSW Jury Award. Her films have broadcast nationally on PBS, including POV, Independent Lens and America ReFramed, and streamed on Netflix and the Washington Post. Her short documentary FOR THE RECORD recently premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Fest, and she is currently in post-production on the ITVS, Ford, and IDA-funded feature BREAKING THE NEWS. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her 14-year-old rescue dog Meeps.

Princess A. Hairston is a director, producer and Emmy-nominated editor based in NYC. Princess recently wrapped several doc series to be released in 2023. She edited THIS WORLD IS NOT MY OWN, which recently had its World Premiere at SXSW. Her work can be seen on LULARICH, PIER KIDS, FRESH DRESSED and CAPTURE WITH MARK SELIGER. She is a recipient of the Pano x Ablecine 2023 Cinematographer’s Lab, a 2020 nominee for the Lynn Shelton Of A Certain Age grant, a 2018 Winner of the NYTVF + WEtv Producer Pitch and a 2018 recipient of the Karen Schmeer Editing Fellowship. Princess is on the inclusion and access committee for the Alliance of Documentary Editors; a member of ACROSS THE CUT, BIPOC Doc Editors; and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

Chelsea Hernandez is an Emmy®-nominated Mexican-American Director and Producer based in Texas. Named as DOC NYC’s 2021 40 Under 40 Class, her feature documentary BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM, premiered at SXSW 2019 and won a Silver Telly Award for Social Impact. Chelsea’s producing work spans over 10 years in television and film including UNITED TACOS OF AMERICA (El Rey Network series); and THAT ANIMAL RESCUE SHOW (CBS All-Access). She is currently in post-production on her second feature documentary BREAKING THE NEWS, a co-production with ITVS. She is a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

An Academy Award-nominated producer, Diane Quon worked as a marketing executive at NBC and Paramount Pictures in LA before moving back to her hometown of Chicago. Diane has produced the documentaries: the Oscar nominated and Peabody award-winning film, MINDING THE GAP (Hulu, POV); 2022 Oscar-shortlisted BAD AXE (IFCFilms); THE DILEMMA OF DESIRE (Showtime); Emmy-nominated FINDING YINGYING (MTVDocs); FOR THE LEFT HAND (PBS); WUHAN WUHAN (POV) and SURF NATION (Mountainfilm Telluride 2022). Upcoming documentaries include AKA MR. CHOW (HBO), the UNTITLED SAM AND OMAR PROJECT and THE FUTURISTS. Diane is an AMPAS member, a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow, a Cinereach Producer Awardee and the proud mother of four.