Long esteemed as “an aural and visual poet,” Susanne Rostock’s filmmaking is a stunning 40 years of some of the most compelling documentaries of each decade. Her most recent film as director/editor, Sing Your Song, about Harry Belafonte’s life as an artist and activist, was chosen to open the U.S. Documentary Competition section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where it was described as a story “told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style and musical panache.” This film continues to be in worldwide theatrical distribution and television broadcast and has aired on HBO. Sing Your Song received top honors in festivals around the world, was shortlisted for an Oscar, and garnered the NAACP Image Award and a Gracie for Outstanding Director.

Susanne has achieved recognition for her editing on myriad films that continue to endure and resonate. Her films have earned Emmys, IDA awards, Cable Ace awards, a Gold Hugo and acknowledgement from multiple national and international festivals, had theatrical distribution and aired on either HBO or PBS. Susanne’s 20-year multi–award winning collaboration as editor with director Michael Apted has produced such richly provocative films as: The Long Way Home; Incident At Oglala; Me & Isaac Newton; Moving The Mountain.

Some of her other iconic and thought-provoking work as an editor includes Passin’ It On; Calling The Ghosts; The Uprising of ’34; Paternal Instinct.

Susanne is presently directing and editing two feature length documentaries. One is a sequel to Sing Your Song. Against the backdrop of our turbulent times, Following Harry takes us on an 11-year quest with Harry Belafonte to answer the question “What do you do now?” The other, Starshine and Clay: The Hidden Diary of Diahann Carroll, explores the very private thoughts of this groundbreaking black actress. The diary reveals that Diahann understood profound truths about being a woman, a mother, a person of color, a member of a divided country. These are ruminations that still hold true today. and that make this documentary not only illuminate a celebrated life but also a reflection of who we are and where we are headed as a people, as a country. Venus and Serena Williams have come on board as Executive Producers.

In addition, Susanne continues to direct an HBO funded film, Another Night In The Free World, which has been documenting the lives of three young women activists from 2012 to the present. It is an intimate story of the harsh everyday realities of living a life devoted to social justice activism and the heartfelt, rich rewards that keep these women fighting. One of the three, Carmen Perez, became one of the primary organizers of the Women’s March On Washington.

Susanne studied anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking with Margaret Mead at Columbia University and received an MFA in Filmmaking from New York University. She resides in New York City.