Sonia Kennebeck

Sonia Kennebeck is an award-winning director, producer, and investigative journalist. Her directing credits include critically-acclaimed feature films Reality Winner(Grasshopper Film), United States Vs. Reality Winner (SXSW 2021), Enemies of the State (TIFF 2020), and National Bird (Berlinale Special 2016). Her work screened at major festivals and in theaters, and has been widely distributed through Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, IFC Films, PBS, and international broadcasters. Enemies of the State reached top indie film and documentary in the iTunes charts, and her NYT Op-Doc From Journalist to Hostage has over 5 million views on YouTube. Kennebeck received the 2023 Chicken & Egg Award for directors, the 2021 Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award, and she was on DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 list. Her debut feature National Bird (executive produced by Wim Wenders and Errol Morris) about the U.S. drone war was awarded the Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary. In 2016, Foreign Policy Magazine recognized Kennebeck as one of 100 Leading Global Thinkers and she was one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Kennebeck is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received many major film foundations grants, including from Sundance Institute, International Documentary Association, Firelight Media, and Chicken & Egg Pictures, as well as sponsorships from Canon and Avid. She is a first-generation college graduate, and worked full time while completing her master’s degree in international affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. Sonia Kennebeck was born in Malaysia, grew up in Germany, and lives in New York.

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