Talent Guide

Sara Newens

  • Discipline:Director, Producer
  • Program Year:Documentary Lab 2013

Bio

Sara Newens is a documentary filmmaker and editor who has worked in film and television for over a decade. A graduate of the M.F.A. Documentary Film Program at Stanford University, Newens was awarded a Princess Grace Foundation scholarship for Tanglewood, her thesis film on Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy. Currently, she is co-director and editor of Top Spin, a feature-length documentary about young table tennis champions with Olympic aspirations. Newens is a Student Academy Award Regional Finalist, and a recipient of a 2010 CINE Golden Eagle Award. Her films have screened at numerous festivals, including Sarasota, Starz Denver, Traverse City, Rooftop Summer Series, Lunafest, and Mill Valley, among others. Prior to her work at Stanford, Newens worked as a video editor for CBS News, a teaching assistant at The Edit Center and Barefoot Workshops, and as assistant producer for the award-winning PBS feature documentary, New Year Baby. She received a B.S. in Mass Communication from Miami University of Ohio in 2001.

Current Project

Top Spin

Logline

Facing steep odds, a group of tenacious American teenagers chase Olympic glory in table tennis – the greatest equalizer in sports, where regardless of size, age and gender, anyone can win.