Jane Wagner

Award-winning filmmakers Jane C. Wagner and Tina DiFeliciantonio have spent four decades creating cinematic documentaries that celebrate the resilience and transformative power of the human spirit. With fearlessness and compassion, their films bring often challenging stories to the screen with honesty, grace, and a deep respect for both their subjects and audiences. Working across five continents and ranging in form from longitudinal feature-length to experimental short documentaries, their films are intimate yet globally resonant.

Their work tackles some of the most urgent questions of our time—from human rights and social justice to wartime rape, sexuality, child abuse, scientific ethics, the arts, and LGBTQ communities. Their films have received international acclaim and dozens of awards, including three National Emmy nominations with two wins, as well as two Sundance Film Festival Awards—including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.

Their work has been screened around the globe and has aired domestically on HBO, PBS, Showtime, Sundance Channel, MTV, TLC, and The New York Times, among others.

The filmmakers began their careers at Stanford University’s Master’s Film Program, where DiFeliciantonio’s debut, Living with AIDS, won a Student Academy Award and became the first film about a gay man to be broadcast on PBS. Girls Like Us, a landmark film that explores working-class teenage girls and sexuality, further established their enduring commitment to documentaries that challenge silence and expand public discourse.

Their latest film, Transcendence: A Journey of Hope + Healing, is a rare ten-year longitudinal documentary centered on four torture survivors seeking refuge in the United States through Bellevue Hospital’s renowned Program for Survivors of Torture. The film explores the forces behind human rights abuses while offering an intimate portrait of healing, dignity, and the resilience of the human spirit. As Harry Belafonte observed, it is a film that “will awaken consciences, open hearts, and inspire people around the world.”

Wagner and DiFeliciantonio’s work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Independent Television Service, American Film Institute, New York State Council on the Arts, Bertha Foundation, and Sundance Institute, among others.

The filmmakers are committed to nurturing the next generation of filmmakers, having taught at Columbia University, NYU, Swarthmore College, and the Oklahoma Arts Institute. They have served on numerous juries and moderated panels for such organizations as the Sundance Film Festival, the International Documentary Association, New York Women in Film & Television, and POV/PBS. They have also served on the Board of Directors of ITVS, Women Make Movies, Frameline, and Independent Filmworks, as well as New York City-based civic institutions.

Wagner holds an M.A. in Communications from Stanford University; an M.Sc. in Political Sociology and a B.Sc. in Political Science/Economics from the London School of Economics. DiFeliciantonio holds an M.A. in Communications from Stanford University; a B.S. degree in Humanities and a B.S. in Business/Marketing from Drexel University. She is currently pursuing an M.Sc. in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford.