Director Writer Producer – FREIDA LEE MOCK
Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Freida Lee Mock is a director, writer and producer of feature length and short form theatrical documentary films. Her 5 Academy Award nominations include the winner Maya Lin: A Strong Vision, a feature film about creativity and the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Her other Oscar nominees are Rose Kennedy, a Life to Remember; SING! about a world renowned children’s choir; Never Give UP about the conductor and holocaust survivor Dr. Herbert Zipper; and To Live or Let Die, a story about medical ethics in an ICU for new born babies.
In recognition of her films Freida received the AFI Guggenheim Honor, the Art and Advocacy Award from the Western Center on Law and Poverty, the International Documentary Association Career Achievement Award, the Cascadia International Women’s Award and the Doclands Honor.
She has received numerous best director awards including the Director’s Guild of America nomination for Maya Lin. Freida’s newest film RUTH – Justice Ginsburg in her Own Words launched globally to critical claim in 2021 by Kino Lorbor/Virgil films and Starz premium cable, followed in 2022 with the release of The CHOIR and CONDUCTOR a feature documentary about the visionary conductor of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus where Billie Eilish learned to sing at age 8. Freida is Executive Producer of the award-winning The Donut King about the Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy who arrived penniless and shortly built a multimillionaire dollar donut empire and the Netflix special Like a Rolling Stone – the Life and Times of Ben Fong – Torres which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival before its release.
Freida’s feature documentary movie ANITA – Speaking Truth to Power about the life and times of Anita Hill was released to critical acclaim by Samuel Goldwyn Films after its Sundance premiere and inspired the HBO movie CONFIRMATION starring Kerry Washington as Anita Hill.
Her other recent documentary movie is the award-winning G – DOG, a story about second chances that features the charismatic Jesuit Greg Boyle who launched the largest, most successful gang intervention and rehab program in the world, Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. Both G- DOG and ANITA were selected by the U.S. State Department for its American Film Showcase for screenings in U.S. embassies around the world with director Mock appearing as a citizen envoy in Indonesia, India and South Korea.
She finished directing, writing and producing The Heroes Project/ Seven Summits, a theatrical feature documentary about 7 single and double amputee American veterans of the Iraq war climbing the tallest mountains on the 7 continents including Kilimanjaro and Everest. Charlie Linville of Boise, Idaho and his team summited Everest on their 3rd attempt, becoming the first amputee vets to climb the 7 Summits.
Freida’s films dramatize stories with strong character-driven narrative arcs and protagonists often at a crossroads in their lives, set against a back drop of art, history, politics and social justice themes. These include: Return With Honor, the story of American fighter pilots surviving as POWs in Hanoi, a presentation of Tom Hanks and Playtone; Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner; the feature documentary Sing China! filmed during the Beijing Olympics and featuring the renowned LA Children’s Chorus; and the Oscar shortlisted Lt. Watada about the first military officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq and speak out about the war’s illegality and face court-martial.
In support of her film projects Freida has received grants from the NEA, NEH, Women In Film, the Corporation for Pubic Broadcasting, the Robeson Fund, and many family foundations. She has been a guest speaker at Stanford, Amherst, USC, Ohio State University, UCLA, Spelman College and others and created Oscar Docs, a 4-hour workshop to mentor aspiring filmmakers.
Freida was the first Governor elected to the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and served as its Chair, and Co-chair of the Directors Guild of America Documentary Awards Committee for 6 years. She graduated from UC Berkeley in history and English and did graduate work in law and history. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, DGA, IDA, and others.
She is a partner in the Santa Monica – based Sanders & Mock Productions and co-founder of the nonprofit American Film Foundation which specializes in producing films on the arts, sciences and the humanities.
See www.americanfilmfoundation.com, 310-428-1235 and 310-459-2116.
Email flmock1@gmail.com.
Freida Mock 