The Space Race

Award-winning director Lisa Cortés foments bold, explosive art that gives voice to the silenced and shunned. From helping launch the revolutionary artists RUN-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys, to executive-producing the Academy Award®-winning film, Precious, Lisa sparks cultural change through works of unrivaled excellence. 

Little Richard: I Am Everything (CNN Films), which she directed and produced, had its world premiere as the opening night selection in the US documentary competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Magnolia Films. Also premiering at Sundance was Invisible Beauty, the documentary about Black fashion industry pioneer Bethann Hardison, which she produced.

In 2020, Cortés directed and produced All In: The Fight For Democracy, tracing the violent history of the voting rights struggle. Emmy-winning HBO documentary, The Apollo, (2019) which Cortés produced, explores African American cultural and political history through the story of the legendary Apollo Theater. Cortés executive produced Precious (2009) which was nominated for six Academy Awards® and won two. The film received the Sundance Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for best drama. Her film productions have received over 80 international awards and nominations.

Cortés launched her early career as a music executive at the iconic Def Jam label and Rush Artist Management; she also was VP of Artist & Repertoire at Mercury Records and founded the Loose Cannon label.

Cortés is a member of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She serves on the Boards of Film at Lincoln Center; Independent Television Services (ITVS); Yaddo, the celebrated artists’ community in Saratoga Springs; the Trajal Harrell Dance Company; and the DGA Focus on Women Committee.

Cortés Filmworks, an NYC-based multimedia production company, partners with Blue Ant Studios to develop and produce documentary and narrative properties spanning music, history, and other topics. In 2022, the company signed a global development deal with the Museum of the City of New York for projects in the food, social justice, and music genres. Cortés Filmworks is committed to telling complex, powerful stories from new perspectives, and elevating the talent often overlooked by the mainstream.

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza is an award-winning producer and director known for pairing historically relevant issues with a contemporary visual language that invites new audiences to revisit their past. His previous documentary films have covered the independence of Kosovo, the relationship between filmmaking and war in Lebanon and, most recently, the Cuban revolution.