Sarah Kunstler
Sarah Kunstler (born 1976) is an American documentary filmmaker and lawyer. Her political documentaries have won awards at South by Southwest and the Seattle International Film Festival. She is the daughter of famous lawyer and civil rights activist William Kunstler and civil rights lawyer Margaret Ratner Kunstler.
Sarah Kunstler
- Name
- Sarah Kunstler
- Born
- 1976
- Education
- Columbia Law School
- Occupation
- * Attorney, Film director and producer,
- Spouse
- Jesse Ferguson
- Nationality
- United States
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Sarah Kunstler. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Sarah Kunstler • Born — 1976 • Citizenship — United States of America • Education — Columbia Law School • Occupation — * Attorney, Film director and producer, • Years Active — 2003-present • Spouse — Jesse Ferguson • Mother — Margaret Ratner Kunstler • Father — William Kunstler • Relatives — Emily Kunstler • Children — 1
Career
Career
Sarah Kunstler first began directing films in 2003 with her sister creating their debut short Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War. The film focuses on the unlawful arrest and imprisonment of more than 10% of the black population of the small town of Tulia, Texas that occurred in 1999. This began her career making political documentaries with her sister Emily Kunstler. In 2009, the sisters released their first documentary feature film William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is a documentary about their father William Kunstler a civil rights lawyer, who was both widely admired and widely despised for his defense of people ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to John Gotti. At Sundance the film was nominated for the Documentary Grand Jury Prize and was Shortlisted for Best Documentary for the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011. In 2021 Kunstler co-directed Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. It premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival where it won the Audience Award in the Documentary Spotlight Category. The film focuses on anti-Black racism in America and a series of lectures given by criminal defense attorney Jeffery Robinson on the topic. In 2023, Kunstler co-directed How to Rig An Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest with her sister. It was narrated by Tom Hanks and distributed by the Washington Post in their opinion section after its premiere at South by Southwest.
Filmography
Filmography
• How to Rig an Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest (2023), short • Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (2021) • William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (2009) • Getting Through to the President (2004), short • Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War (2003), short
Awards
In 2021, she won the Golden Space Needle for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival for Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. Her film William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe won the Audience Award in the Documentary Spotlight Category at SXSW in 2009.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Sarah Kunstler, revision 1372447164 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 04 October 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
38,713 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Sarah Jessica ParkerPerson
- Sarah KernochanPerson
- Sarah KerruishPerson
- Sarah KolaskyPerson
- Sarah LambertPerson
- Sarah LancasterPerson
- Sarah LindPerson
- Sarah Lynn DawsonPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Sarah Kunstler?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.