In its 12th edition, DOC NYC’s annual Visionaries Tribute will recognize two prominent Latinx figures in non-fiction cinema: filmmaker Michèle Stephenson and Carlos A. Gutiérrez, co-founding executive director of Cinema Tropical. Stephenson and her husband Joe Brewster will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to documentary filmmaking, while Gutiérrez will be presented with the Leading Light Award in recognition of his work as a curator and advocate for Latin American and Latinx 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.
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.
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 takes place on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at Gotham Hall in New York City.
