About

Resita Cox is an Emmy Award winning documentary film director and producer. Her films are a poetic portrayal of her community’s irrepressible spirit and resilience in the face of racism. . Born and raised in the South, her films center Southern, Black communities and use intimate observational narratives  to examine topics ranging from environmental justice to hidden Black histories. She is the director/producer of Freedom Hill, an award-winning documentary about the environmental racism that is washing away the first town chartered by Black people in the nation, which recently enjoyed its PBS premiere on WORLD Channel. Resita was named a Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator Fellow, as well as a North Star Fellow with Points North Institute with Freedom Hill. She holds an MFA from Northwestern University and was recently named an Esteemed Artist by the City of Chicago and a 2024 Rockwood Documentary Leaders Fellow by the Ford Foundation. She is one of Elevate’s 2022 Climate Changemakers and is the producer of Bike Vessel, which premiered at the 2023 59th Chicago International Film Festival. Her films have screened across North America at esteemed festivals such as Full Frame, New Orleans, Black Star, Slamdance, Pan African and DC Environmental Film Festivals. Resita is developing her debut feature, Basketball Heaven, a love letter to her hometown: Kinston, NC, with which she won the 2023 South Pitch Documentary with New Orleans Film Society. The film was selected through the rigorous Open Call initiative and is currently in co-production with ITVS. Her films and impact work have been supported by Sundance, Chicken and Egg Pictures, Perspective Fund, PBS, Cucalorus, South Arts, Points North Institute, Chicago Filmmakers and the Field Foundation. She organizes an annual youth media camp in her home community, eastern North Carolina.