Laura Dyan Kezman

Director, Editor, Producer

LionArt Media

Laura Dyan Kezman is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and editor based in Milwaukee, and the founder of LionArt Media.

Her latest film, Cycle, is a five-year investigative documentary that confronts the silence surrounding police violence in America. With over a decade of experience in documentary and journalism, her work is grounded in the belief that personal stories can challenge dominant narratives and shift how we understand the world.

She is currently producing a feature documentary for PBS in co-production with ITVS and Firelight Media, and has another feature in development. As a contributing video journalist for The Washington Post, she has also directed and produced work for The Today Show, National Geographic, and Al Jazeera English.

Participating Sessions

Race in Real Time

Dramatic steps to whitewash the American story in the name of “patriotic education” don’t simply reshape what we see on display at our national museums or read in textbooks—they rewrite who has a place in the American story. Black filmmakers committed to investigative, truth-driven work about Black heritage and experience, find themselves fighting not only for funding and access—but at times for the ability to tell stories that reflect an honest...

Cycle

CYCLE exposes the systemic cycle of police brutality in America, investigating what happens in the silence between viral cases. Through the lens of Ty’rese West’s killing—one that never made headlines—the film exposes the harrowing reality of seeking justice in a system designed to deny it.