From Stills to Motion: Expanding the Documentary Frame
Steve Liss explores the creative and professional transition from still photography to documentary filmmaking. Through selected documentary clips, Liss will share how his storytelling evolved from single images to motion and sound—and what that shift required creatively and technically. He’ll also dive into the realities of pitching, funding, and sustaining documentary projects, including how to approach grant writing and funding proposals. Attendees will receive access to practical handouts for crafting strong grant applications, followed by an open discussion about navigating the documentary world.
Speaker
Steve Liss
Boston Filmworks
Steve Liss is a documentary filmmaker and former photographer for TIME known for long-form projects built on sustained access and deep trust, particularly with young people and vulnerable communities. He is the founder and executive director of Boston Filmworks, where he leads the development and production of documentary films focused on social justice, youth, and community-driven storytelling..
During 25 years at TIME, Liss produced 43 covers, the second-highest total in the magazine’s history. A licensed pilot, he often flew himself to and from assignments across the United States, to the Arctic, and across the Australian Outback.
He spent nearly two years inside a Texas juvenile detention facility, a project that became the award-winning book No Place for Children: Voices from Juvenile Detention, described by the Chicago Tribune as “photojournalism of the most moral and galvanizing kind.”
Previously, Liss served as showrunner and director of 16 and Recovering, for MTV, a four-part series on a high school for students recovering from substance abuse. His directing credits also include Finding Fatherhood for PBS and Sacred Cod for the Discovery Channel.
A two-time Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award recipient, he has also received the World Understanding Award from POY and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Liss has taught at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and Columbia College Chicago, and previously served as associate professor of media at Endicott College.