Liz Canning is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with over 20 years’ experience.
Liz’s 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 500 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.
After graduating from Brown University’s Department of Modern Culture and Media in with a degree in Semiotics, Liz Canning moved to San Francisco to work as Art Director, Wardrobe, and actor on three feature films directed by fellow Brown alum and award-winning filmmaker Jon Moritsugu (including the the ITVS-funded Terminal USA).
In the 90’s Liz created video installations and curated film screenings at Artists Television Access, while teaching, writing and directing the film festival at Film Arts Foundation. From 2000-2010, Liz edited a wide range of commercial formats - from 15-second spots to half-hour episodes and 90-minute concerts - for clients such as PG & E, Levi’s,The Northface, Current TV, MX Entertainment, Oxygen TV, Cytosport, Mekanism, Visa, and Kontent Films. From 2006-2010 Liz cut and created motion graphics on dozens of instructional and promotional pieces for Bare Minerals. Inc, including a documentary on the company’s unique origins and culture.
Liz is a lifelong cyclist and former bike racer who 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
