Citizen Film is a not-for-profit, San Francisco-based documentary company founded in 2002 by Sam Ball, Sophie Constantinou and Kate Stilley Steiner. Citizen Film specializes in producing media that âÂÂfosters active engagement in cultural and civic life."
They produce long-form documentary programs such as Joann Sfar Draws from Memory and Green Streets (in progress), and they have produced more than 100 short films. In addition, they provide key production and/or post-production services for independent producers such as Nancy Kates (Regarding Susan Sontag); Vicki Abeles (Race to Nowhere); Tiffany Shlain (The Tribe); and Jenni Olson (575 Castro St.).
Citizen Film collaborated with Academy Award-winner Debra Chasnoff and her nonprofit production company Groundspark on several films. Citizen FilmâÂÂs Kate Stilley Steiner produced and edited GroundsparkâÂÂs ThatâÂÂs a Family (2000), One Wedding and a Revolution (2004), LetâÂÂs Get Real (2004), ItâÂÂs Still Elementary (2007), and A Foot in the Door; Sophie Constantinou provided cinematography for One Wedding and a Revolution (2004) and A Foot in the Door. ChasnoffâÂÂs final film, Prognosis â notes on living, was co-produced by Citizen Film and Groundspark. After Chasnoff's passing in 2017, GroundSpark's films were transferred to Citizen Film, where they are owned and distributed through the Debra Chasnoff / Groundspark Legacy Initiative.
Citizen Film also produces new media projects such as Lunch Love Community, co-directed by Constantinou and Helen De Michiel; and Half-Remembered Stories, a collaboration with the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.