Lynne Sachs

Lynne Sachs is a Memphis-born, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Her work explores the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences by weaving together text, collage, painting, politics and layered sound design. Her latest film, Every Contact Leaves a Trace, will have its West Coast premiere on April 29 at the San Francisco International Film Festival, where she will receive the prestigious Persistence of Vision Award. Following this, Lynne will present Every Contact Leaves a Trace as part of Prismatic Ground at Anthology Film Archives on May 3. closing day of the festival). Sachs has made more than 50 films, both features and shorts (including Film About a Father Who, Tip of My Tongue, Your Day is My Night, Investigation of a Flame, and Which Way is East) which have screened at New York Film Festival, Sundance, Oberhausen, Viennale, BAMCinemaFest, Vancouver Film Festival, DocLisboa and many others nationally and internationally. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Arts. In 2019, Tender Buttons Press published Lynne’s first collection of poetry, Year by Year Poems. (Photo by La Nación.)

Talks

Don’t Ask Me for a Release: The Challenge of Depicting Real Lives in Film

By Lynne Sachs | April 28, 2026

Don’t Ask Me for a Release: The Challenge of Depicting Real Lives in Film

Lynne Sachs, who this week will be presented the Pesistence of Vision Award, on making her new film Every Contact Leaves a Trace.

“Struck Faceless and Yet, We Continue to Speak”

By Lynne Sachs | June 5, 2024

“Struck Faceless and Yet, We Continue to Speak”

Lynne Sachs, the subject of a current retrospective at DCTV, on the powerful experience of making her new abortion documentary, Contractions.

In Celebration of the Darkness: What Can Happen When the Lights Are Out

By Lynne Sachs | January 22, 2020

In Celebration of the Darkness: What Can Happen When the Lights Are Out

Documentary director Lynne Sachs sheds light on the innovative approach she took while making her new film, Film About a Father Who.