TIA LESSIN and CARL DEAL (Directors and Producers) were nominated for an Academy Award for the critically acclaimed feature documentary TROUBLE THE WATER, about survivors of Hurricane Katrina which won the Gotham Independent Film Award and Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Their second feature, CITIZEN KOCH, documenting the origins of the MAGA movement and the extremist takeover of the Republican Party in the Midwest, premiered in competition at Sundance and was shortlisted for an Oscar.

Most recently, Lessin directed THE JANES (with Emma Pildes), a film about the underground abortion service in 1960s Chicago, for HBO Original Documentaries. After its premiere in competition at Sundance, THE JANES won three Emmy Awards (Outstanding Documentary, Best Social Issue Documentary, and Best Directors), the DuPont Columbia Journalism Award, and was on the 2023 Oscar shortlist.

Lessin and Deal’s first film collaborations together were on Academy Award®-winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and FAHRENHEIT 9/11, winner of the Palme d'Or (she as supervising producer, he as archival producer). They went on to produce Michael Moore’s CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, and FAHRENHEIT 11/9.

In television, Lessin’s documentary short A FAMILY DIVIDED, about the FBI’s targeting of a Pakistani family after September 11th, aired on Bill Moyers Journal (PBS). She was awarded the Sidney Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism for BEHIND THE LABELS (Oxygen), about labor trafficking in the garment industry, produced in partnership with the human rights group WITNESS. She also line-produced Martin Scorsese’s Grammy Award-winning NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN (PBS). Her work on the groundbreaking satirical series The Awful Truth (Bravo/BBC) earned her two Primetime Emmy nominations and one arrest.

Before making films, Lessin worked as a labor organizer and Deal worked as an investigative journalist and television news producer. They first joined forces on a campaign to expose and disrupt the illegal US wars in Central America.

Lessin is a recipient of the Women of Worth Vision Award from L’Oréal Paris and Women in Film, The Ridenhour Prize, The Reel Women Direct Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman, and the Black Lily Lifetime Achievement Award. She and Deal received the Woodstock Film Festival Art of Activism Award. They are past fellows of the Open Society Institute, the Sundance Institute and Creative Capital and are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Directors Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America.