Stephen Maing

Stephen Maing is an Emmy-award winning director and cinematographer. His films are cinematic investigations of societal phenomena, complex power structures and the fascinating individuals who challenge them. His observational feature documentary CRIME + PUNISHMENT, which he directed, filmed and edited, won a Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, an Emmy for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. His previous films, HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE, THE SURRENDER & DIRTY GOLD have screened internationally and were released on P.O.V., Field of Vision and Netflix, respectively. Maing is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow, Sundance Institute Fellow, NBC Original Voices Fellow, John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Reporting Fellow and a recipient of the IDA's prestigious Courage Under Fire Award shared with the whistleblowers of the NYPD12. His most recent film UNION, co-directed with Brett story, won a Special Jury Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was also shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. UNION is an immersive cinéma vérité account of the historic efforts by workers to unionize the first Amazon fulfillment center. He is based in Queens, New York.

‍

ABOUT UNION

Through intimate cinema vérité, UNION chronicles the extraordinary efforts of an unlikely group of warehouse workers as they launch a grassroots union campaign at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York. Led by the charismatic but underestimated Chris Smalls, the diverse band of workers start the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and embark on a journey against one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. The odds are stacked against them, as the group finds itself up against a tech industry giant with unlimited resources, without major support from national unions or politicians, and while navigating internal divisions within their own ranks. Filmmakers Brett Story and Stephen Maing document the struggle from day one, offering a gripping human drama about the fight for power and dignity in today's globalized economic landscape.

‍