Breakwater Studios

Breakwater Studios ✨ Because Life Is Short ✨
A two-time Academy Award®-winning filmmaking company and a world leader in humanist short-form documentaries.

Breakwater Studios is a two-time Academy Award® winning filmmaking company dedicated to championing short documentaries and the works they inspire. Breakwater Studios’ work has been recognized by the Sundance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, Critics Choice Documentary Awards, Emmy Awards, James Beard Foundation Awards, and the Peabody Awards, among many others.

You can’t spell Lion without Ilon. THE FINAL COPY OF ILON SPECHT has been shortlisted for two coveted awards at the pres...
06/05/2025

You can’t spell Lion without Ilon.

THE FINAL COPY OF ILON SPECHT has been shortlisted for two coveted awards at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — Titanium and Glass: The Lion for Change.

We are incredibly proud of this film and our team here at Breakwater Studios. Huge congratulations to our partners at L'Oréal Paris, McCann Worldgroup and TRAVERSE32! Thank you for all the support.

Just a little over a week until !

Join us for Bronx Independent Cinema Center’s First Friday Film Screenings. This Friday, Bronx Independent Cinema Center...
06/03/2025

Join us for Bronx Independent Cinema Center’s First Friday Film Screenings. This Friday, Bronx Independent Cinema Center will be having a special screening of three documentaries that focus on music.

Catch our films A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION and THAT’S MY JAZZ alongside local Bronx film COME TO PEACE by Elmo King & Ade Hakim.

📅 : Friday, June 6
⏰ : 7pm - 9pm
📍: Bronx Music Hall, 438 E 163rd St, Bronx, New York 10451
🎟️ : $10 - RSVP needed

TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-fridays-film-screening-bronx-music-hall-tickets-1364505034289?aff=erelexpmlt

It’s a home run! THE TURNAROUND just took home the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Short Documentary! What an incredibly jou...
05/21/2025

It’s a home run! THE TURNAROUND just took home the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Short Documentary!

What an incredibly journey it has been telling ’s story. A standing ovation to the entire filmmaking team.

Thank you . Thank you to our partners at , , and A Cookie Jar and A Dream Studios for the trust and contributions that made it all possible!

It’s an unbelievable honor to share that MOTORCYCLE MARY has been nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary at the 46t...
05/01/2025

It’s an unbelievable honor to share that MOTORCYCLE MARY has been nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary at the 46th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards!

Bringing Mary McGee’s story to the world has been an unforgettable ride. Thank you for watching, supporting, and sharing in our admiration for the grit, optimism, and charisma by which she will forever be remembered. Thank you to the Television Academy!

Congratulations to the entire team:
Director Haley Watson
Producer Rachel Greenwald
Executive Producers Ben Proudfoot, Lewis Hamilton
Editor Cody Wilson
Composer Katya Richardson
Sound Supervisor & Re-Recording Mixer Sean Higgins
Sound Designer Tom Boykin
Post Producer Laura Carlz
Post Production Supervisor Dillon Brown
Associate Producer Nana Adwoa Frimpong
Online Editor Jeffrey Perez De Leon
Assistant Editor Olivia Schlosstein
Our partners at ESPN 30 For 30

MOTORCYCLE MARY has been nominated for a FOCAL International Award for the Best Use of Footage in a Short Film Productio...
05/01/2025

MOTORCYCLE MARY has been nominated for a FOCAL International Award for the Best Use of Footage in a Short Film Production!

This is such an exciting recognition for the incredible effort put in by director Haley Watson, producer Rachel Greenwald and the filmmaking team to turn 7000 ft of forgotten celluloid into the high octane visuals that illustrate Mary’s legendary motorsports career.

In digitizing this epic trove for the first time, Haley and the post team at Breakwater Studios set out to make a short documentary that doubled as an “archival action film.”

Editor Cody Wilson put us in the driver’s seat with a pedal-to-the-metal cutting style. Extensive research into engine types and tuning specs informed re-recording mixer Sean Higgins and sound designer Tom Boykin’s process, which gave cinematic weight and urgency to the silent footage. Katya Richardson’s original score made it soar.

The ultimate goal of this high-craft approach was not only to make the historical present in entertaining fashion, but to give Mary and her jaw-dropping achievements the celebration they deserve.

Thank you FOCAL International for this nomination!

When the beams of Searchlight Pictures cross…Huge thanks to our friends Geremy Jasper and Searchlight Pictures for donat...
04/29/2025

When the beams of Searchlight Pictures cross…

Huge thanks to our friends Geremy Jasper and Searchlight Pictures for donating these stunning instruments used as hero props in their recently released film O'DESSA to The Last Repair Shop. Can’t wait for them to land in the hands of some LAUSD student musicians!

Our latest short doc, DOC ALBANY will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this June!The film is about a problem that i...
04/24/2025

Our latest short doc, DOC ALBANY will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this June!

The film is about a problem that is quietly affecting millions of Americans: the collapse of healthcare access in rural communities. In many parts of the US, there are no primary care doctors, no OB/GYNs, no mental health providers. These are known as medical deserts—and they’re growing.

That’s what brought us to Albany, Georgia, where we met Dr. James Hotz, who has spent over four decades serving underserved communities and helped launch the National Health Service Corps in the 1970s—a visionary federal program that helps recruit young doctors to areas with too few providers by relieving their student debt in exchange for years of service in an area of need. It’s one of the smartest, most compassionate programs in American public health—and too few people even know it exists.

That’s also where we met Dr. Sheena Favors, an OB/GYN who was able to come to Albany through that very program. Her story is extraordinary—and deeply human. She’s one of the many who have chosen service over status, and I watched her save a baby’s life.

As a Canadian, I grew up with universal, publicly funded healthcare. While this film doesn’t argue for a specific system, it does advocate for a basic truth: healthcare access should not depend on your zip code.

I’m grateful to Dr. Hotz and Dr. Favors for opening their lives to us, and to our incredible crew and producing partners who helped make this film. Thank you as well to our collaborators at Publicis Sapient for your partnership in bringing this story to light.

—

FEATURING
Sheena Favors, MD
James Hotz, MD

PRODUCED BY
Rachel Greenwald
Ben Proudfoot
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Teresa Barreira
Alex Kahn
Nigel Vaz
EDITED BY Stephanie Owens
CINEMATOGRAPHER Brandon Somerhalder
PRODUCTION SOUND Richard Carlos
SOUND SUPERVISOR &
RE-RECORDING MIXER Sean Higgins
COLOR BY Stephen Derluguian
ORIGINAL SCORE BY Garth Neustadter

Thrilled to announce our FLOWERS series won 2 Webby's. Thank you The Webby Awards!A huge shoutout to our amazing partner...
04/24/2025

Thrilled to announce our FLOWERS series won 2 Webby's. Thank you The Webby Awards!

A huge shoutout to our amazing partner on this YouTube and to all the brilliant creatives who brought this series to life. Thank you.

FLOWERS presented by is a series celebrating Black creators on YouTube and their influence on some of the internet’s biggest global trends.

--
FEATURING
Naptural85, Daym Drops, RDCWorld1

DIRECTORS
Natalie Jasmine Harris, Kevin Wilson Jr., C.T. Robert

SERIES PRODUCER
Sharee Silerio

SERIES CO PRODUCER
Ariella Segal

SERIES EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Nyree Emory, Earnest Pettie, Ben Proudfoot, Serena Watson

EDITORS
Autumn Dea, Nadine Mundo

CINEMATOGRAPHY BY
Erin G Wesley, Eric Vera, Kassim Norris

COMPOSER
Khamani Hagood

SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR & RE-RECORDING MIXER
Sean Higgins

COLOR BY
Stephen Derluguian

⚾ LET’S GOOO! THE TURNAROUND just received 3 Sports Emmys nominations for:Outstanding Short DocumentaryOutstanding Music...
04/10/2025

⚾ LET’S GOOO!
THE TURNAROUND just received 3 Sports Emmys nominations for:

Outstanding Short Documentary
Outstanding Music Direction
Outstanding Camera Work — Long Form

Congratulations to the entire team and The Philly Captain!

THE FINAL COPY OF ILON SPECHT is officially a Vimeo Staff Pick! Thank you Vimeo 💙Watch the film and some of the best sho...
04/10/2025

THE FINAL COPY OF ILON SPECHT is officially a Vimeo Staff Pick! Thank you Vimeo 💙

Watch the film and some of the best short films on the internet:
https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks

🌺 We are so excited to share that the FLOWERS series by and Breakwater Studios has been nominated for two The Webby Aw...
04/09/2025

🌺 We are so excited to share that the FLOWERS series by and Breakwater Studios has been nominated for two The Webby Awards!

We need your help to VOTE for the series and give Naptural85 Rdcworld1 and officialdaymdrops some love (as well as the filmmakers that brought their stories to life)!

Voting ends April 17th!

To vote, go to the link in bio or
https://bit.ly/flowers_best_series
https://bit.ly/flowers_best_collaboration

🎶 Imagine a world where music education isn’t behind a paywall…Sunday night, we celebrated at The Last Repair Shop—the l...
04/08/2025

🎶 Imagine a world where music education isn’t behind a paywall…

Sunday night, we celebrated at The Last Repair Shop—the last of its kind in America, in great style with some of our favorite musicians — Porché Brinker, Ismerai Calcaneo, Amanda Nova — and Mr. Yo-Yo Ma.

In LAUSD, 82% of students live below the poverty line. Without this shop, tens of thousands couldn’t afford the instruments that bring them joy, hope, and purpose. Thanks to generous supporters, including a remarkable $1 million naming gift from the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, the future is brighter than ever as we march toward our $15 million goal.
Special thanks to Nikki Lorre, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Terri and Jerry Kohl, Damian Woetzel, Colburn School, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne Akiko Meyers, Josh Groban, all our friends and supporters, and of course our incredible young musicians for an unforgettable night filled with music and inspiration.

Head over to thelastrepairshop.com or read all about it in today’s Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2025-04-07/last-repair-shop-lausd-instruments-donation-yo-yo-ma

Music isn’t just about creating great musicians; it’s about creating incredible humans. 🎻✨

Photos by Molly O'Keeffe 📸

Address

4655 Kingswell Avenue, CA 90027
Los Angeles, CA
90012

Telephone

+13235223870

Website

https://linkin.bio/breakwaterstudios2

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