Bio
Zac Manuel is an award–winning, New Orleans bred-and-based filmmaker, and the son of a touring jazz musician and a community builder at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. His work in documentary and music video explores intimacy, Black masculinity, class, identity and inheritance. His cinematography and directing credits include ALONE (NYT Op-Doc; Sundance 2017 Jury Award Winner – Best Non-Fiction Film), BUCKJUMPING (New Orleans Film Festival 2018, Winner Best Cinematography), THE EARTH IS HUMMING (Field of Vision; SXSW 2018), AMERICA (Sundance 2019 Jury Award Winner), TIME (Sundance 2020, Oscar 2021 Shortlisted), THE CUT (New Orleans Film Festival, True/False 2021), and THIS BODY (PBS broadcast 2021). BLOODTHICKER will be Zac’s debut feature.
Awards & Fellowships
2021 NBCU Original Voices Grant/Fellowship
2020 Hindsight Project Grant/Fellowship
2020 Tribeca IF/Then Shorts American South Pitch Competition Grant
2020 Redbull Arts Microgrant
2020 True/False PRISM Fellowship
2019 Southern Doc Fund Development Grant
2018 Southern Doc Fund Production Grant
2018 Best Cinematography in Louisiana Film, New Orleans Film Fest
2018 IFP Documentary Lab Fellowship
2017 Tribeca All Access Grant
2017 Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities #CREATE Louisiana Grant
2017 Emerging Voices Fellowship