Academy Award winning director, producer, cinematographer and editor. My films include BORN INTO BROTHELS, E-TEAM and TIGERLAND among others. I love helping filmmakers create great movies and I also conduct workshops around the globe.
Ross Kauffman, an Academy Award-winning director, has worked in the film industry for over three decades. He began his career as a documentary film editor for renowned broadcasters like HBO, WNET/THIRTEEN, National Geographic, and The Discovery Channel. His directorial debut, Born Into Brothels, won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary and received a multitude of awards in over sixty film festivals worldwide. The film's success was further underscored by numerous accolades, including the 2005 Emmy Award for Best Documentary, the National Board of Review's Best Documentary, the LA Film Critics Award, and the Audience Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Ross also works as a creative consultant and producer. In 2009, he served as Executive Producer and Creative Consultant on the documentary feature IN A DREAM, (directed by Jeremiah Zagar) which was short-listed for the Academy Awards. He also worked as Creative Consulting Producer on POSTERGIRL (directed by Sarah Nesson), a documentary short nominated for the Academy Award in 2011. In 2014, Ross co-directed ETEAM (with Katy Chevigny), a documentary following human rights investigators in the war zones of Syria and Libya, which earned him the Best Cinematography Award for a Documentary Feature at the Sundance Film Festival and was notably Netflix's second documentary acquisition. His directorial journey expanded with Tigerland (2019). The film chronicles the struggles to save the tiger and was released by Discovery Channel across 180 countries. In 2021, Kauffman directed What Would Sophia Loren Do? for Netflix, which was shortlisted for the Academy Awards, and premiered Of Medicine and Miracles at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. His latest feature, Wild Wild Space, debuted on HBO in 2024. Beyond feature-length documentaries, Ross directed the impactful short film Fire with Fire about an oncology unit as they attempt to develop a cure for leukemia using a disabled form of the HIV virus. This three-minute film garnered over 25 million views and helped raised billions of dollars for cancer research. He also contributed as a director to The Me You Can't See, a series for Apple TV with Executive Producers Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry.In addition to his directorial achievements, Kauffman specializes in short-form documentaries and socially conscious branded content, collaborating with notable clients such as Apple, GE, Microsoft and Toyota. Ross also guest lectures around the globe.