Emily Kassie

Emily Kassie is a filmmaker, investigative journalist, and cinematographer.[1][2] Her debut feature documentary Sugarcane premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024 where it won the Grand Jury Directing Award.[3]

Career

In 2016, Kassie won the World Press Photo award for multimedia on the cover up of DuPont's chemical spill in West Virginia[4] and was also named one of NPPA's 2016 multimedia portfolios of the year for her work on radicalization of ISIS operatives and corruption in the pharmaceutical industry.[5] In 2017 she won an Overseas Press Club Award,[6] a National Magazine Award[7] and the ASNE's Punch Sulzberger award[8] for her work reporting on the profiteers of the refugee crisis, in Niger, Turkey, Italy and Germany.

In 2019, she won the World Press Photo award and was nominated for an Emmy for her New York Times documentary on sexual abuse in immigrant detention.[9] In 2020, she won a National Magazine Award for her immersive documentary on immigrant detention[10] and was nominated for a Peabody Award.[11] She was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2020.[12] In 2021, she was nominated for an Emmy for a Frontline (American TV program) documentary on undocumented immigrants in the pandemic.[13]

She was part of the PBS NewsHour team to win the Overseas Press Club award for a series on the fall of Afghanistan in 2021.[14]

She served as director, producer and cinematographer of Sugarcane (film) with co-director Julian Brave NoiseCat. The film won the Grand Jury Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival.[15]

Early life and education

Kassie received a B.A. from Brown University in 2014[16] and was awarded the Gates Scholarship to the University of Cambridge where she completed an M.Phil in International Relations and Politics in 2017.[17] In 2015 her documentary "I Married My Family's Killer," on post-genocide intermarriage in Rwanda, won the Academy Award for Student Documentary.[18] The film currently broadcasts on the CBC.[19]

Selected awards

YearOrganization NameCategoryResultReference
2024Sundance Film Festival Jury PrizeDirectingWon[15]
2021Overseas Press Club AwardThe Peter Jennings AwardWon[14]
2020National Magazine Awards (Ellie)Multimedia Story of the YearWon[10]
2019Peabody AwardsGeneralNominated[11]
2017Overseas Press Club AwardInternational Digital ReportingWon[6]
2017National Magazine Awards (Ellie)Multimedia Story of the YearWon[7]
2017American Society of News EditorsThe Punch Sulzberger Award for Online StorytellingWon[8]
2017NPPA AwardsFeature Multimedia StoryWon, 3rd place[20]
2017PDN Photo AnnualMultimediaWon[21]
2016World Press Photo AwardsMultimedia, Immersive StorytellingWon, 3rd place[22]
2016NPPA AwardsPortfolio of the YearWon, 2nd place[5]
2015Student Academy AwardDocumentaryWon[18]
2015IFS Film FestivalBest Foreign ShortWon[23]
2015Columbus Film FestivalSilver Chris Award for Best In CategoryWon[24]
2015Cleveland International Film FestivalBest DocumentaryWon, 2nd place[25]
2015Global Film AwardsOutstanding Achievement Humanitarian Award Won[26]

References