Tracy Droz Tragos is a writer, filmmaker, and mother of two teenagers, drawn to issues involving women, inequality, and rural America. At an early age, Tracy found solace in storytelling, watching Vietnam War movies and making a connection with the father she never knew, a U.S. Navy officer who died in Vietnam when she was a baby.
Tracy’s past award-winning directing work includes RICH HILL, the Grand Jury Prize Winner for U.S. Documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. RICH HILL was released theatrically in over 100-theaters and was broadcast on Independent Lens in January 2015. In 2018, Tracy completed THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD, a feature documentary about the crisis in U.S. high school education, based on Amanda Ripley's New York Times bestseller. Tracy also produced and directed the HBO film ABORTION: STORIES WOMEN TELL about personal stories of unplanned pregnancies, resilience, and personal tragedy, which premiered at Tribeca in 2016 and had a theatrical release in 2017, followed by an HBO broadcast. This film was nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors award, as well as an Emmy for Best Social Issue Documentary.
BE GOOD, SMILE PRETTY, Tracy’s first film, is a powerful documentary about the profound and complicated feelings of loss caused by the deaths of American men in the Vietnam War, some 35 years later. The film aired on Independent Lens and won the 2004 Emmy for Best Documentary, as well as the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and a Cine Golden Eagle Award.
Most recently, Tracy produced and directed PLAN C, about a grassroots network fighting to expand access to abortion pills across the United States, keeping hope alive during a global pandemic and the fall of Roe v. Wade (2023 Sundance Film Festival and 2023 SXSW). PLAN C was voted one of the best documentaries by Video Librarian, a finalist for NIHCM Foundation’s TV Journalism Award and won GOLD at the 2024 Anthem Awards, as well as the 2024 Webby Award for public service, social impact and activism. The film screened in over 50 U.S. theaters, and is currently streaming on Starz.
Tracy’s work has received support from the Sundance Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John Guggenheim Foundation, and ITVS. She is a Film Independent Documentary Lab and Sundance Lab alumna. Tragos was a filmmaker fellow in Sundance’s Women Filmmakers Initiative and the Sundance Screenwriting and Directing Labs for her debut narrative feature, THE MACROBIOTIC STONER. Tracy received her MFA in screenwriting from USC and her BA in creative writing from Northwestern University. She is an adjunct professor in documentary at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
FEATURED PRESS:
2024 WEBBY AWARDS: Meena Harris presents Plan C with their 28th Annual Webby Award
COSMOPOLITAN: ‘This Documentary About the Fight for Abortion Information and Access Is One of the Best Movies of the Year’
JEZEBEL: ‘Plan C’ Documentarian Kept Her Cameras Rolling As Abortion Access Dried Up’
VARIETY: ‘Plan C’ Director Tracy Droz Tragos Plans to Make Noise About Abortion Access at Sundance Film Festival’
FILM FATALES: Summer of Rage 2022
VARIETY: Tracy Droz Tragos named 2021 Sundance Feature Film Directing Fellow
ROLLING STONE: The Other ‘Boyhood’: The Making of ‘Rich Hill’
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: U.S. Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: Rich Hill, directed by Tracy Droz Tragos & Andrew Droz Palermo
DEADLINE: Smartest Kids In the World sells to Discovery+
BROADWAY WORLD: Sundance Institute Announces 2021 Screenwriters Lab Fellows
NEWSWEEK: 'Abortion: Stories Women Tell' is the Documentary America Needs Right Now'
JEZEBEL: A Conversation with Abortion: Stories Women Tell Director Tracy Droz Tragos on Judgment and Choice
NEW YORK TIMES: Review: Beyond the Politics in ‘Abortion: Stories Women Tell’
HUFFINGTON POST: Abortion: Stories Women Tell
LOS ANGELES TIMES: 'Abortion: Stories Women Tell' lets real voices rise above the polarized debate
GLAMOUR: Abortion: Stories Women Tell Is an Honest Look at How All Women Are Impacted by Abortion Laws
NBC NEWS: In New HBO Film, Women Tell Their Own Abortion Stories
TIME: New HBO Documentary Follows Women On Both Sides of the Abortion Debate
NEW YORK TIMES: ‘Plan C’ Review: Abortion by Mail
VOGUE: A New Documentary Puts Women’s Voices at the Center of the Abortion Debate
DEADLINE: ‘Plan C’ Abortion Pill Documentary Screens At SXSW As Texas Judge Weighs Whether To Undo Access To The Medication
REFINERY29: This Documentary Explains What's Missing From The Abortion Debate
SPLINTER: Tracy Droz Tragos on how her provocative new documentary hopes to change the conversation about abortion
TEEN VOGUE: Tracy Droz Tragos's Documentary Shows What Women Think About Abortion
REWIRE: Filmmaker Tracy Droz Tragos Centers Abortion Stories in New Documentary
TV GUIDE: WNET Under Fire for Pulling PBS Documentary Showcases
PASTE MAGAZINE: The 12 Best Documentaries of 2014
NONFICS: The 14 Best Documentaries of 2014
FILMMAKER MAGAZINE: "Watch Sarah’s Uncertain Path: An Op-Doc from the Directors of Rich Hill"
INDIEWIRE: Watch: 'Sarah's Uncertain Path' By Directors of Sundance Doc 'Rich Hill'
ROGER EBERT: Four Stars for 'Rich Hill'
BILL MOYERS: The Poverty of Relentless Disappointment: ‘Rich Hill’ and a Vanishing American Dream
INDIEWIRE: Director Tracy Droz Tragos Compares Sundance-Winning 'Rich Hill' with 'Boyhood'
ROLLING STONE: 12 Must-See Sundance Successes
INDIEWIRE: Sundance Review: Grand Jury Prize-Winning Doc 'Rich Hill' Is A Finely Observed Portrait Of Millenial American Boyhood
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Co-directors Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo follow three teenage boys living in the dirt-water area of Missouri.
NONFICS: ‘Rich Hill’ Review: A Powerful Metaphor for the State of the American Dream
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: Rich Hill Filmmakers Share 4 Lessons From the Doc Edit and Story Lab
PRX: Tracy Droz Tragos - Director, Writer, and Producer - Be Good, Smile Pretty and Rich Hill
KILEEN DAILY HERALD: The 28th Annual Webby Awards - Arrivals
HAMMER TO NAIL: A Conversation With Tracy Droz Tragos
STAR BULLETIN: In search of Dad
LA TIMES: The fathers who never came home
ITVS: Be Good, Smile Pretty Wins Best Documentary Emmy
INTERVIEWS:
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: Tracy Droz Tragos talks about putting a human face on rural poverty in her documentary "Rich Hill." - 8/07/14
VICE: A tiny town in Missouri is the setting of Sundance Film Festival's 2014 Documentary Grand Jury Winner Rich Hill
INDIEWIRE: Sundance Woman Directors - Meet Tracy Droz Tragos
INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: A panel discussion about access to the abortion pill in the United States, and the critically acclaimed documentary "Plan C"
DALLAS FILM SOCIETY: 2014 Dallas International Film Festival Interview with Tracy Droz Tragos of RICH HILL
CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES FILM FESTIVAL: Retrouvez le portrait de Tracy Droz Tragos et Andrew Droz Palermo, les réalisateurs de "Rich Hill"
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: The Creatives Behind ‘Plan C’ on Getting the Word Out and Giving People Options
THE SEVENTH ART: Rich Hill's Tracy Droz Tragos & Andrew Droz Palermo Interview
INDIEWIRE: ‘Plan C’ Director Tracy Droz Tragos on Braving COVID to Make Her Abortion Documentary: ‘There Was an Urgency I Couldn’t Ignore’
ABC NEWS: 'Our biggest goal is to spread the word’ pro-abortion activist on new documentary
THIS WEEK MEDIA: Director Tracy Droz Tragos On Her Film 'Plan C' & Access To Abortion
BYOD: RICH HILL is a new documentary that explores the lives of American boys that are living below the poverty line and struggling with abuse and many other issues. A dramatic true story of Main St. USA, in a way that isn’t exploitative or “poverty porn,” we discuss the film and look at clips and the trailer with filmmaker Tracy Droz Tragos
CBS 60 MINUTES: Daughter Rediscovers Father In Making Of Documentary Film
COMING SOON:
Project Kakuma: Episode of Heroes of the Planet
The Macrobiotic Stoner: A narrative feature in development based on a true story
Sam Believes in Mermaids: A collaboration between mother and child. My kid, Sam, is an old soul, who has struggled to find their people. I have told them often - promised - your time will come! (We are still waiting). This work-in-progress is a personal look at our attempt to collaborate, create and be hopeful. A film about the making of a film - that is still being made.