Gabriela Cowperthwaite

After study­ing Polit­i­cal Sci­ence at USC, she spent time writ­ing, direct­ing, and pro­duc­ing doc­u­men­tary pro­grams for Nation­al Geo­graph­ic, ESPN, Ani­mal Plan­et, The His­to­ry Chan­nel, and Dis­cov­ery Chan­nel. She direct­ed in 2010 her first inde­pen­dent fea­ture doc­u­men­tary, City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Sto­ry, fol­lowed three years lat­er by Black­fish, which inves­ti­gates the treat­ment of orcas in cap­tiv­i­ty and pre­miered at the Sun­dance Film Fes­ti­val. In 2017, she direct­ed her fic­tion fea­ture debut, Megan Leavey, then Our Friend, a dra­ma film star­ring Casey Affleck and Dako­ta John­son. I.S.S. is her third fea­ture film.