Lisa Cortés
Lisa Cortés: Emmy-winning director and producer
Lisa Cortés is an Emmy-winning director and producer, renowned for creating challenging, visionary stories and empowering diverse voices. Little Richard: I Am Everything (CNN Films), which she directed and produced, had its world premiere as the opening night selection in the US documentary competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Magnolia Films. Also premiering at Sundance was Invisible Beauty, the documentary about Black fashion industry pioneer Bethann Hardison, which she produced.
In 2022, her company, Cortés Filmworks, signed a first-look deal with Blue Ant Studios. Cortés Filmworks also inked a 2023 global development deal with the Museum of the City of New York for documentary projects in the food, social justice, and music genres.
Lisa directed and produced All In: The Fight For Democracy (Amazon Studios), tracing the violent history of the voting rights struggle, and produced the Emmy-winning HBO documentary The Apollo, which explores African American history through the story of the legendary Apollo Theater. Lisa executive-produced the Academy Award-winning film Precious, and her film productions have received over 80 international awards and nominations. Lisa launched her early career as a music executive at the iconic Def Jam label and Rush Artist Management; she also was VP of A&R at Mercury Records, and founded the Loose Cannon label.
LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman.
Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and HBO Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortés’ Sundance opening night documentary LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything. Directed by Lisa Cortés, LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING is produced by Robert Friedman, Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto and Executive Produced by Dee Rees. Music supervision by Jonathan Finegold.
