Inaugural Roger Ross Williams Award To Be Presented At The Americas Film Festival Of New York

EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams has won numerous honors in his career – an Academy Award for Music by PrudencePrimetime Emmy Awards for The 1619 Project and The Apollotwo News and Documentary Emmys for Life, Animateda directing award from Sundance also for Life, Animatedand many others.

Tonight, he will be in New York for an awards ceremony – not to receive one himself but for the presentation of one named in his honor. The inaugural Roger Ross Williams Documentary Award will be unveiled by the City College of New York (CCNY) as part of The Americas Film Festival of New York celebration of CCNY’s MFA and BFA Film Programs.

The award will go to the best documentary by a BFA or MFA student at CCNY.

“The newly established Roger Ross Williams Documentary Award is named in honor of Roger Ross Williams, a groundbreaking filmmaker and a trailblazer in nonfiction storytelling,” notes a release. “A passionate advocate for underrepresented voices, Williams continues to inspire a new generation of documentary filmmakers through both his films and his mentorship.”

The CCNY BFA Film Program – founded in 1941 as the Masters Institute of Film Techniques — is the oldest film school in the U.S. and still the only public institution in New York City that offers a BFA in Film and Video.

“Roger has never taken the easy path and has always stayed true to his vision and firm in his beliefs — that’s exactly why his work matters, especially today,” commented Andrea Weiss and Antonio Tibaldi, co-directors MFA Program in Film, CCNY. “He tells stories championing the underdog with heart, urgency, and integrity, and he’s done it all while creating space for others to be seen and heard. At City College, we believe in that kind of filmmaking. Naming an award after Roger Ross Williams is our way of saying to our students: your voice counts, your story matters — and yes, you can do this too.”

In a statement, Williams said, “I’m deeply honored to have this award in my name, especially at a place like City College, which has long championed access, diversity, and bold storytelling. Filmmaking is about truth-telling and building empathy, and I see that same spirit in the work coming out of CCNY. These students are the next generation of voices we desperately need. I can’t wait to see where they go from here.”

Williams was featured in Deadline’s recent Disruptors magazine issue published at the Cannes Film Festival, discussing his production company One Story Up, and his intent to defy the Trump administration’s efforts to stigmatize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

“Let’s just say DEI is alive and well at One Story Up,” Williams said of the company he co-founded with Geoff Martz. “This is our mission. It’s always been our mission, and we will always give opportunities to people from marginalized communities, outsiders.”

The mission of the CCNY’s MFA and BFA Film Programs is “to teach the art and craft of filmmaking, to explore the history and theory of film and video, and to provide intensive hands-on experience in fiction and documentary media production,” the school notes. “Embedded in a humanities education, the program nurtures students to discover their unique voice and provides them with the knowledge and diverse skills to enter an ever-changing media world.”