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Sara Joe Wolansky

Sara Joe Wolansky

Directing

Biography

Sara Joe Wolansky is a documentary director and Emmy-nominated producer whose films depict stranger-than-fiction stories, grounded in genuine empathy. She rose to prominence as the Senior Video Producer at The New Yorker, helping to build The New Yorker's Oscar-nominated documentary brand from the ground up while directing her own award-winning & widely viewed short films. She has also produced for Bloomberg, VICE, and on other feature documentaries. She holds a MFA in Film & TV Production from the University of Southern California, and a BA in Sociology from Harvard.

Known For

Jane
7.5

Drawing from never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives, director Brett Morgen tells the story of Jane Goodall, a woman whose chimpanzee research revolutionized our understanding of the natural world.

Jane

2017
The Big Cheese
N/A

A clever American team competes for first place at France's Mondial du Fromage cheese competition.

The Big Cheese

2026
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Ken Bone became an overnight sensation after participating in a Clinton-Trump town hall in 2016, but the excitement of the moment came with some unexpected consequences.

The Highs and Lows of Ken Bone's Fifteen Minutes of Fame

2020
Documenting Death
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When Kim Acquaviva’s wife Kathy was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer, the couple decided to share the day-to-day realities of her slide toward death that doctors can’t always provide.

Documenting Death

2021
The Andrew Yang Show
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A captivating profile of Andrew Yang’s New York City mayoral campaign and how he got there.

The Andrew Yang Show

2021
Finding Fenn's Gold
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In 2010, Forrest Fenn published a set of clues about a secret trove, estimated to be worth at least a million dollars, that he'd hidden in the Rocky Mountains. Some still seek this treasure, captivated as much by the mystery as the promise of riches.

Finding Fenn's Gold

2022
The Last Conversation
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A son makes a surprising discovery on his elderly parents' answering machine after his father's passing.

The Last Conversation

2020
After the 12-9
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Every few days in New York City, a subway operator stops a train, speaks the phrase "12-9" into a radio, and waits what may feel like an eternity for a police officer to arrive and inspect the train and tracks. In the parlance of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 12-9s describe collisions between trains and people. In 2019, the M.T.A. recorded a hundred and ninety-five 12-9s, the highest number in at least a decade. About a third are fatal. "After the 12-9" follows three subway operators through their recovery process after their involvement in deadly collisions, as they battle PTSD, nightmares, and guilt. Although all three of them are left with different feelings towards their jobs, they are united by their collective experience of a very specific type of grief: the emotional weight of a death that one had no power to stop.

After the 12-9

2020