Directory Profile
Lisa Hepner
Adjunct Associate Professor
Affiliated Divisions:
Division of Film & Television Production
Lisa is a Canadian-American writer and documentary filmmaker. For the past 30 years, she has produced non-fiction film and TV in Toronto, New York and LA. Working alongside directors Michael Apted, Jonathan Demme and Lisa F. Jackson, she has produced documentaries for the CBC, PBS, HBO, A&E, MTV and Sony Pictures Classics.
Career highlights include producing and co-directing the doc feature, “Women on the Frontlines,” that premiered at the UN and aired on PBS in 2004; premiering Jonathan Demme’s “Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains” at TIFF in 2007; and directing “The Human Trial” with her husband Guy Mossman. The film – featured in the New York Times, NPR and Forbes – has sparked a vital conversation on how to support faster cures. It was nominated for a Humanitas Prize in 2022.
As an Adjunct Professor at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, I love mentoring the next generation of filmmakers, just as I was mentored decades ago. I’m a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Writer’s Guild of America, New York Women in Film & Television, and Roco Voices, a speaker's platform for documentary filmmakers.