Courtney Stephens

The American Sector (with Pacho Velez) documents slabs of the Berlin Wall installed around the US. Terra Femme, composed of amateur travel footage shot by women in the early 20th century, was a New York Times critic’s pick and has toured widely as a live performance. John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office(with Michael Almereyda) explores the life of neuroscientist and psychedelics pioneer John C. Lilly, and Invention is a hybrid fiction film about a fringe healing device. Both The American Sector and Invention were named among The New Yorker's best films of the year. She has collaborated with writers including Eleni Sikelianos and Lucy Ives, the band Sparks, and the fashion brand Lemaire. Her work has been exhibited at MoMA, The National Gallery of Art, The Barbican, Fondazione Prada, Jeu de Paume, ICA London, in film festivals including the Berlinale, Rotterdam, Locarno, Viennale, New Directors/New Films, IDFA, Visions Du Réel, and the New York Film Festival. Her films have been released theatrically in the US and France. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, three MacDowell Fellowships, and grants from the Sloan Foundation, California Humanities, the Mahindra Center for the Humanities, and the Foundation for Contemporary Art.