Suzanne Mitchell

Suzanne Mitchell directs and produces documentary feature films, verité docu-series, and cutting-edge content for streaming platforms. Her projects have garnered two Emmys, two Gracie Awards, an Omni Intermedia Award, a Cine Golden Eagle, and the 2024 prestigious OAH Erik Barnouw Award for her documentary Atomic Cover-up. Mitchell directed and produced Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde which won numerous awards, including an Audience Favorite and Best Documentary before its nationwide theatrical release in theaters and on NETFLIX. Running Wild was hailed by the New York Times as "a grand documentary" and by the Village Voice as "inspiring in the best possible way."

Serving as the EP and Field Director of a new follow doc-series shot alongside Florida's Marion County Sheriff's office and their elite air team, Chopper Cops premieres on Paramount+ in June 2024. Producer of the highly acclaimed NETFLIX feature The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhikerand docu-series The Most Hated Man on the Internet as well as directing seasons 1 & 2 of Hulu's, How I Caught My Killer, Mitchell is no stranger to subjects exploring crime. Her true-crime experience includes senior producer and field director of Killer Motive, Buried in the Backyard, and Killer Relationships. Past specials include Co-EP and Director of A&E's expose Fatal Fathers, examining the deaths of pregnant women at the hands of their partners.

Suzanne's notable interview style is connective, oftentimes working with contributors who never told their personal stories of grief, abuse, family conflict, financial hardship, and intimate life experiences. She elicits highly emotional and evocative stories, constructing story arcs that pull audiences in. From pre-pro through post, Suzanne collaborates with production executives, DP's, editors, graphic artists, and composers to form a purposeful look and feel that enhances storytelling throughout a limited series or feature film.

Mitchell's portfolio of award-winning programs spans history, race, art, and humanity. These films include: Atomic Cover-up, using never-before-seen color and B&W film shot during the immediate aftermath of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Guinea Pig Diaries, an unfiltered look into the lives of guinea pigs and the people who breed them, show them, and rescue them; Pratt in the Hat, a portrait of the inimitable Frances Pratt, who shares her eight decades of wisdom and experience as a black woman in America; Borderline, an experiential feature film challenging the stigmatization borderline personality disorder. Two short films include brickhead EARTH, shot at Burning Man in 2015, and ED which chronicles a 100-year-old symphony conductor in a meditation on what it means to grow old.

Suzanne produced and field directed alongside Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple on a variety of films: New Passages, The Presidential Summit, The Hamptons, Woodstock: Now & Then,Force of Nature, filmed in South Sudan and revealing the humanitarian work of philanthropist Ellen Ratner, and Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation, which took Mitchell to the oil-soaked Gulf Coast, the slums of Haiti, the drought-ravaged West, and the highly contested political races of 2012. Mitchell's work producing and field directing two comprehensive historical TV series include ABC's The Century and A&E's The Millennium Biography Special, which included exclusive interviews with renowned scientists, technologists, and celebrities.

In 2021 Suzanne was chosen as a series producer for a BBC landmark project on African American Artists and in 2022 was named co-ep / series producer for Discovery's Gold Rush, where she managed a large freelance crew in a remote area of the Canadian Yukon. As the Supervising Producer for HBO's 13-part series docu-drama G-String Divas, Suzanne oversaw field production and post while managing this multimillion-dollar series. Her work for Oprah Winfrey includes a Martin Luther King special (2008) and The Freedom Riders special (2011). As the Producer/Director of a PBS documentary 6-part series,Mitchell explored important issues that profoundly affect women for which she garnered several awards.

As a consultant to filmmakers, Mitchell offers outreach and distribution strategies and has served as the filmmaker in residence at the Woods Hole Film Festival and is a board member of Rivertown Film, a non-profit independent film society.