Director: Rudy Valdez

Biography: Rudy Valdez is an Emmy Award-winning Michigan-raised, New York City-based filmmaker committed to creating social, cultural, and political stories through a cinematic and meaningful lens. The Sentence (HBO), shot and directed by Valdez over the course of a decade, tells the very personal story of his sister’s plight in the criminal justice system while tackling subjects like mandatory minimums and sentencing reform. The Sentence won Valdez the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and the US Documentary Audience Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Valdez’s most recent project, ReOpening Night, is a feature film about The Public Theater’s staging of a beloved New York City institution, Shakespeare in the Park. It premiered on HBO Max in December.