Carlos A. Gutiérrez with Raphaela Neihausen founding Executive Director of DOC NYC, and r Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster. Photo by Lou Aguilar, DOC NYC
The 12th edition of DOC NYC’s annual Visionaries Tribute recognized two prominent Latinx figures in non-fiction cinema: Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founding executive director of Cinema Tropical, and filmmaker Michèle Stephenson. Gutiérrez was presented with the Leading Light Award in recognition of his work as a curator and advocate for Latin American and Latinx cinema, while Stephenson and her husband Joe Brewster received this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to documentary filmmaking.
Born in Mexico City, Gutiérrez has promoted Latin American cinema in the U.S. for decades as co-founding executive director of the New York-based non-profit Cinema Tropical. He has curated programs at institutions including MoMA, Film at Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum, BAM, and Anthology Film Archives, and has served on juries for major international festivals, including IDFA, Doclisboa, and Tribeca. He co-curated the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in 2007 and again in 2025 for its 70th anniversary. Gutiérrez is a founding member of the Distribution Advocates collective and currently serves as artistic director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Latin Wave film festival and co-director of Cinema Tucsón.
In his acceptance speech, Gutiérrez paid tribute to the work of U.S. Latinx documentarians Natalia Almada, Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera, Bernardo Ruiz, Rodrigo Reyes, and the late Lourdes Portillo, and called on the audience “to acknowledge, recognize, and celebrate that Latinos are a driving force in the United States—and that Latino documentarians have long been pushing the boundaries of American nonfiction cinema.”
Haitian-Panamanian director Stephenson is known for her work exploring race, identity, and social justice. Her feature American Promise, co-directed with Brewster, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award. The film was also nominated for three Emmy Awards, including Best Documentary, and aired on PBS’s POV. Stephenson’s 2020 documentary Stateless received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary. In 2023, she and Brewster released Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, which premiered at Sundance and was shortlisted for the Oscars.
Past Latinx and Latin American DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute winners include filmmakers Maite Alberdi and Raoul Peck, as well as film professionals and organizers Sonya Childress and Cynthia Lopez. The awards highlight the significant impact of Latinx artists and advocates on the documentary field, both in creating films and building the platforms that support them.
DOC NYC’s 12th annual Visionaries Tribute took place on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at Gotham Hall in New York City.
