Nancy Kates

Nancy D. Kates is the producer/director of the feature-length documentary Regarding Susan Sontag, which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2014. She produced and directed the documentary feature Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin, with Bennett Singer. The film premiered in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and as a special of the PBS series POV. It went on to win more than 25 awards worldwide, including the 2004 GLAAD Media Award. Brother Outsider received significant attention in the national press: critics described it as "a potent piece of historical rediscovery" (L.A.Times); "beautifully crafted" (Boston Globe); "powerful and startling" (The Advocate); "poignant" (TIME); and "alive with ideas and rich in humanity" (africana.com). Kates received her M.A. from the documentary film and television program at Stanford University. Her master's thesis film, Their Own Vietnam, received the 1995 Student Academy Award in documentary, and was exhibited at the Sundance Film Festival and many other festivals, as well as on selected PBS stations. She produced, wrote and edited several short films, including Veil of Tears, an experimental response to 9/11, and the short documentaries Castro Cowboy, Married People and Joining the Tribe. Kates has worked on a number of other documentary projects as a writer, producer, and editorial consultant. Before turning to film, she worked as a writer and reporter, including five years as a staff writer at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She continues to write and consult, occasionally contributing book reviews to the San Francisco Chronicle, and lectures frequently on college campuses.