Jenny Mackenzie

The Right to Read shares the stories of an activist, a teacher, and two American families who fight to provide our youngest generation with the most foundational indicator of life-long success: the ability to read.

Dying in Vein is a deeply personal exploration of opiate and heroin addiction through a cinéma vérité style that drops you directly into the lives of an addict in recovery, a couple trying to get clean, a family grieving the loss of their son and an Emergency Room Physician trying to save one patient at time.

The story of what happens when "The Mighty Cheetahs," an undefeated all-girls soccer team, competes in the boys division. With humor and candor this documentary gets at the heart of the boy-girl issues and explores what "Kick Like A Girl" really means on and off the playing field. Kick Like A Girl reminds us all of the lessons learned in competitive athletics and how sports has been one of the most effective instruments of social change in our lifetime.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, the socially conservative religious monoculture complicated the AIDS crisis, where patients in the entire state and intermountain region relied on only one doctor. This is the story of her fight to save a maligned population everyone else seemed willing to just let die.

However Long is an intimate portrait of four women living with metastatic (stage four) cancer and the unique support group that connects them all. As these women process challenging questions about living with an incurable disease, themes like resiliency, hope, and ferocious honesty emerge as they gain clarity and begin to accept their terminal diagnosis. However Long addresses the question that all human beings need to ask themselves: How do you want to live the rest of your life?

In 2002, Mackenzie's four-year-old daughter became the third generation in her family to be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Mackenzie recognized the severity of the diagnosis and set out to interview other young people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, three of whom she follows in her film. More than a decade after her daughter's diagnosis, Mackenzie created SUGAR BABIES, in which she reveals what we can do to ensure the health of the next generation.

A documentary that follows four families' experiences in learning that they have a lesbian, gay, or bisexual child. Created for parents who are working through this news themselves, this poignant and informative film shares real stories from parents and children, factual information from psychologists, educators, and clergy, and concrete guidance to help parents keep their children healthy and safe during this sometimes challenging time.