Liz Canning is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with over 20 years’ experience.
Since 2000 Liz has directed, shot, edited and/or animated a wide range of genres and formats, specializing in educational and documentary films. Her work has screened internationally, winning a 2021 LA Emmy Award (Young Women Rising, Director/Writer/Editor) and the 2006 Sundance Special Jury Prize (American Blackout, Editor/Co-Producer). Her feature directorial debut, MOTHERLOAD, has screened at over 600 venues globally, winning multiple awards. Liz's 1995 short, Handmirror/Brush Set Included was broadcast on PBS and at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. The 2007 doc, Girls Rock!, was released in theaters nationwide and featured animated montages created by Liz to demonstrate cultural forces affecting young girls.
Liz is a graduate of Brown University’s Department of Modern Culture and Media, a lifelong cyclist and former bike racer who now lives in the hills of Marin, CA, with her husband, teenage twins, and their chocolate Labrador Retriever.
Liz’s 2019 feature documentary, MOTHERLOAD has screened at over 500 venues, been subtitled in 10 languages, and won multiple awards and rave reviews in publications like Outside Magazine. MOTHERLOAD won the San Francisco Green Film Festival’s Audience Award and Best Director, Best International Documentary and Best Sound Design at the Hollywood North Film Festival. Liz and MOTHERLOAD were invited by The Napa Valley Film Festival to participate in to week-long Artist in Residence program.
The Better Cities Film Festival gave MOTHERLOAD their HERO Award for:
“a film that is more than a film, but part of a movement. Where the film itself is not just telling the story but becomes a player in the story. The only other film we've given the Hero Award to was Biggest Little Farm. … Good company.”
In 2019 Liz was hired by Link TV to launch Global Mosaic, a new series based on the Peabody Award-winning Mosaic program. Liz was Director/Host/Producer/ Writer/Editor/Camera/Animator on episode 1, Could Empowering Girls Transform the World?, which aired on Link TV and PBS several times. Around the world, local organizations are finding creative ways to empower young women. There’s a growing consensus that educating and supporting girls and women creates a positive ripple effect and lifts up entire countries.
Equipment used by Motherload Films:
2 Panansonic Lumix GH5s (4K), with 2 Zoom and 3 fixed lenses
DJI Osmo Handheld Gimbal 4K Camera
2 GoPro Heroes
Canon EOS 6D DSLR
Post-production on a 2019 MacBook Pro with 2 Thunderbolt Displays and Adobe Creative Suite
