Andrew Cohen (filmmaker)

Andrew "Andy" Cohen (born March 16, 1965) is a three-time Emmy nominated independent filmmaker  and journalist whose film To Kill a Tiger was nominated for a 2024 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

The founder of AC Films Inc, Cohen has directed, written, and produced feature-length and short-form films.

Cohen's work as a producer includes To Kill a Tiger (2024, nominated Academy Award for Best Documentary), Ai Weiwei's Human Flow (2017, short-listed Academy Award for Best Documentary), Hooligan Sparrow (2016, short-listed Academy Award for Best Documentary ),     Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012, short-listed Academy Award for Best Documentary ),   and The World Before Her (2012, Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Film Festival).

Early life
Born and raised in Manhattan, Cohen attended Trinity School in New York City until the 9th grade, after which he pursued an alternative education.

In 1986, he landed a job in the sound department at Dino De Laurentiis’ non-union studio in North Carolina. After the boom operator broke his leg, Cohen operated the boom for the Freddie Fields produced, Bruce Beresford directed film Crimes of the Heart (1986) starring Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, and Sam Shepard.

Career
He produced and co-wrote his first film in 1996, Gaylen Ross' Dealers Among Dealers, about the New York City diamond business. Cohen would later co-write and produce Ross' 2008 documentary Killing Kasztner on the life and assassination of Rezso Kasztner.

From 2010 to 2021, Cohen directed and wrote a nine-part series of short films on China's leading contemporary artists in collaboration with Art Asia Pacific for which he is a contributing editor.

Cohen wrote, directed and produced the documentary Ximei (2019 Movies that Matter Activist Award), which premiered at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva. Produced by Ai Weiwei, the film is centered around Liu Ximei, a Chinese peasant woman infected with AIDS during China's Black Blood Economy in the 1990s. Production of Ximei lasted seven years, due to interference from Chinese officials; Cohen's phone and internet messages were spied on and parts of footage were regularly confiscated.

Cohen participated in Global Geneva's first 'Youth Writes' (Young Journalists and Writers Initiative) workshop in Versoix, Switzerland, in March 2019, helping high school students better understand the role of documentary film reporting.

He wrote, directed and produced Beijing Spring (2021, Amnesty International / FIFA jury Award) which chronicles China's first Democracy movement and protest demonstration for artistic freedom following China's brutal Cultural Revolution.

Crossing over from documentary to fiction, Cohen produced his first narrative feature, Little Death (2024), starring David Schwimmer, directed by Jack Begert, written by Dani Goffstein and Jack Begert, produced alongside Psycho Films and Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures. Little Death premiered at the 40th Sundance Film Festival in 2024, winning the Next Innovator Award.

His work has been screened at festivals around the world, including the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival among others.

Filmography

 * Dealers Among Dealers (1996) - producer
 * Killing Kasztner (2008) - writer, producer
 * Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012) - executive producer
 * The World Before Her (2012) - executive producer
 * Hooligan Sparrow (2016) - executive producer
 * Human Flow (2017) - executive producer
 * Ximei (2019) - writer, director, producer
 * Beijing Spring (2020) - writer, director, producer
 * To Kill a Tiger (2022) - executive producer, creative consultant
 * Jackie the Wolf (2023) - producer, executive producer
 * Little Death (2024) - producer
 * Rough & Polished (2025) - writer, director, producer
 * Village Gate (2025) - writer, director, producer