LOS ANGELES · NEW YORK · CYPRUS
photo by Erica Urech
Liz Sargent is a Korean-American adoptee whose award-winning work as a filmmaker explores themes of adoption, disability, and family. As a writer-director, she brings a distinctive perspective to visual storytelling, drawing from her background as a choreographer to channel complex human emotion. Liz’s personal experiences as the middle child of eleven siblings, along with her intersectional identity, deeply inform her creative vision.
Her debut feature TAKE ME HOME premiered in U.S. Competition at the Sundance Film Festival (2026), where she received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The film went on to screen internationally in Perspectives Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival. The project was created with Caring Across Generations, River Road Entertainment, Cinereach, Cyprian Films New York and ALLCAPS. The feature script was a recipient of the SFFILM Rainin Grant in 2023 and won 1 million dollars the AT&T Untold Stories at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2025.
TAKE ME HOME is particularly notable for casting Liz’s cognitively disabled sister in the lead role, an experience she wrote about in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter during the film’s FYC Oscar campaign.Sargent’s proof-of-concept short Take Me Home premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2023), won the 2024 Grand Jury Prize at the American Cinematheque PROOF Film Festival (2024), and was featured at the White House for the 25th Anniversary of the Olmstead Act. The short garnered significant acclaim, screening at over 50 festivals including Sundance and SXSW, and was featured on Delta Airlines and as part of the Sundance Shorts theatrical tour.
AWARDS
LIGHTHOUSE AWARD | Lumen Awards 2026
WALDO SALT SCREENWRITING AWARD | Sundance Film Festival 2026
IMPACT AWARD | ADOPTEE FILM FESTIVAL 2025
AT&T UNTOLD STORIES | 2025
NBCU TV Directing Fellowship l 2024
SFFILM RAININ Screenwriting Grant l 2024
American Cinematheque's PROOF of Concept FF l GRANDY JURY PRIZE 2024
Academy Gold Fellowship for Women l Semi-Finalist 2024
Lynn Shelton of a Certain Age l Honorable Mention 2024
Humanitas New Voices Fellowship l Finalist 2024
Stowe Story Labs - Film Fatales Fellowship l Finalist 2024
Gold House Futures Network l 2023
Ryan Murphy Half Initiative l Brad Buecker 2023 & Tori Garrett 2022
AICP Mentee l Edward Grann at MSSNG PCES 2023
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (Academy Qualifying) WINNER GOLDEN REEL BEST SHORT
deadCenter Film Festival (Academy Qualifying) WINNER SPECIAL GRAND JURY BEST SHORT
Julia S Gouw Short Film Competition w/ Janet Yang Productions & CAPE 2022
Reel Sister Fellowship l 2022
New York EMMY l THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES 2022 l Best Arts Special - Flowstate: NBK Artists Series
Commercial Diverse Directing Program (CDDP) Semifinalist 2022
Top 3 Finalist for Shondaland Directing Mentorship 2022
Best Director l Diversity in Cannes Film Festival 2020 l Strangers' Reunion
New York EMMY l THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES l 2020 l Best Arts Special - SLOW DOWN: River To River
Best World Actor & Best World Short l Soho International Film Festival 2020
Best Screenplay l Brand Film Festival London 2019 l Strangers' Reunion
Ritz-Carlton & Hearst Film Competition l 2018
Adoptee Film Festival I Best Film 2024
SPEAKING, EDUCATIONAL & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENTS
The White House: Screening, Panel & Live Stream
Sundance 2024: Sunrise House
Take Me Home Screening & Workshop at Keuka College I Keuka Park, NY
API Women, Non - Binary Filmmakers: Telling Their Own Stories at The Commonwealth I San Francisco, CA I Link to Panel
Film Fatales: Awards Campaigning Panel I Online
Festival Strategy & Oscar Campaigning: Manhattan Neighborhood Network l New York, NY
Public School Workshops with Take Me Home Film l Mercer Island, WA
Sibling Leadership Network & AHRC l New York, NY
Courageous Conversations l Virtual Worldwide l May 12
Beyond Film Festival l Asheville, NC
Female Voices Rock l Brooklyn, NY
Sundance l Sunrise Panel l Park City, Utah
Sundance l Northern California Asia Society l Park City, Utah