Lois Vossen

Lois Vossen is the founding executive producer of Independent Lens, a multiplatform series on PBS. Independent Lens funds, co-produces and presents 22 original documentaries each season along with about 20 short docs on PBS Voices digital channel, journalism videos with legacy journalism partners, and docuseries including Philly D.A., A Lion in the House, and Have You Heard From Johannesburg (the last two both Primetime Emmy Award winners).

Lois Vossen is the founding executive producer of Independent Lens, a multiplatform series on PBS. Independent Lens funds, co-produces and presents 22 original documentaries each season along with about 20 short docs on PBS Voices digital channel, journalism videos with legacy journalism partners, and docuseries including Philly D.A., A Lion in the House, and Have You Heard From Johannesburg (the last two both Primetime Emmy Award winners).

Independent Lens documentaries have received 25 Primetime and News & Documentary Emmy Awards, 23 Peabody Awards, 6 duPont Columbia Journalism Awards, 10 Academy Award nominations, and the series was honored with the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 International Documentary Association (IDA) Best Series Award, along with 3 additional nominations.

Previously, Lois was Associate Managing Director of the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Labs. She has served on the jury of DOC New Zealand, Toronto International Film Festival, Shanghai International Festival, SXSW, Palm Springs International Film Festival, and New Orleans Film Festival. She serves on the Television Academy Board of Governors Executive Committee, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Independent Lens co-produced feature documentaries include Try Harder!, One Child Nation, I Am Not Your Negro, Belly of the Beast, When Claude Got Shot, Always in Season, Bedlam, TOWER, Trapped, (T)ERROR, Newtown, The Invisible War, The House I Live In, Black Panthers: Vanguard of a Revolution, Best of Enemies, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, among many others.

updated 3.22.21

 

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Awards & Nominations

8 Nominations | 3 Emmys
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking - 2024
  • Nominee
  • Lois Vossen, Executive Producer
  • Beyond Utopia (Independent Lens)
  • PBS
  • Ideal Partners in association with 19340 Productions, XRM Media, the Random Good Foundation and the Human Rights Foundation
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking - 2022
  • Winner
  • Lois Vossen, Executive Producer
  • When Claude Got Shot
  • PBS
  • 371 Productions, Inc., Independent Television Service and Black Public Media
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking - 2020
  • Nominee
  • Lois Vossen, Executive Producer
  • One Child Nation
  • Prime Video
  • A Next Generation Production, LLC, Independent Television Service, WDR/ARTE, Motto Pictures and Pumpernickel Films co-production in association with Chicago Media Project, BBC Storyville, Chicken & Egg Pictures, SVT, EO, DR, and VGTV
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking - 2019
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking - 2016
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking - 2015
  • Nominee
  • Lois Vossen, Senior Series Producer
  • The Great Invisible (Independent Lens)
  • PBS/Pivot
  • A co-production of 7 & 7 Films, LLC, Gigantic Pictures, Passion Pictures, Motto Pictures and Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with Participant Media

The Television Academy database lists prime-time Emmy information. Click here to learn more

2021 Documentary Programming and Reality Programming Nominee Celebration
2021 Documentary Programming and Reality Programming Nominee Celebration
Perfect Harmony
Perfect Harmony
Perfect Harmony
2018 Documentary and Reality Programming Nominee Reception
Fill 1
Fill 1
2021 Documentary Programming and Reality Programming Nominee Celebration
Camera

Elliott Halpern, Mehret Mandefro, Television Academy Governor Lois Vossen, Yoruba Richen, and Elizabeth Trojian attend the 73rd Emmy Awards Nominee Celebration honoring this year’s nominees for Documentary Programming and Reality Programming at the Television Academy on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 in North Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
2021 Documentary Programming and Reality Programming Nominee Celebration
Camera

Television Academy Governors Dan Birman and Lois Vossen attend the 73rd Emmy Awards Nominee Celebration honoring this year’s nominees for Documentary Programming and Reality Programming at the Television Academy on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 in North Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Perfect Harmony
Camera

Television Academy Governors Lois Vossen and Rickey Minor, and Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma at the Television Academy member event "Perfect Harmony: A Live Performance Celebrating the Impact of Music in Documentaries" at the Saban Media Center's Wolf Theatre on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 in North Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Perfect Harmony
Camera

Television Academy Governors Lois Vossen and Rickey Minor at the Television Academy member event "Perfect Harmony: A Live Performance Celebrating the Impact of Music in Documentaries" at the Saban Media Center's Wolf Theatre on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 in North Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
Perfect Harmony
Camera

Television Academy Governors Lois Vossen and Rickey Minor at the Television Academy member event "Perfect Harmony: A Live Performance Celebrating the Impact of Music in Documentaries" at the Saban Media Center's Wolf Theatre on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 in North Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
2018 Documentary and Reality Programming Nominee Reception
Camera

Television Academy Governors Lois Vossen and Daniel H. Birman at the 2018 Documentary and Reality Programming Nominee Reception at the Television Academy's Saban Media Center on Friday, September 7, 2018 in North Hollywood, California.

Invision/AP
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