Susan Cohen

Who is Susan Cohen?

Susan Cohen is a Canadian independent film producer, screenwriter and film director.

Cohen is a documentary filmmaker whose work has won awards at film festivals across the United States and around the world. In 2007, she was one of eight women selected to attend the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women where she directed her first short film Open Your Eyes.

Open Your Eyes was the winner of the 2008 American Film Institute Jean Picker Firstenberg Award for Excellence, Best Short Film at the Anchorage International Film Festival 2008, Best Drama, Best Film, and Best Actress for Traci Dinwiddie at the Beverly Hills Shorts Festival 2009. Cohen won The Alexis Award for Most Promising Student Filmmaker at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2008 and Best Director at both the Canada International Film Festival 2009 and Beverly Hills Shorts Festival 2009. Most recently Open Your Eyes was awarded The Jim DeMulling Speak Out Award and Honorable Mention for Best Narrative at the 42nd Humboldt Film Festival 2009 and is one of 19 films worldwide nominated for Best Short Film at the Milan International Film Festival 2009.

Open Your Eyes was Cohen's first foray as a writer and director. She is also the producer of the award-winning short films Fueling the Fire and "Animated American", the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival finalist Fortune Teller, and the DWW short film Laying Down Arms.