The Mission

Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss have been filmmaking partners for 20 years. They directed “Boys State,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Apple Original Films and A24. The film won the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for Best Nonfiction Film and received DGA and Emmy nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. Their previous film, “The Overnighters,” won the Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Drafthouse Films and Netflix. “Boys State” and “The Overnighters” were both shortlisted for the Academy Award® for Feature Documentary. Jesse also directed “The Family,” a five-part series for Netflix, as well as the “Payday” episode of the Netflix series “Dirty Money.” Their recent film about Pete Buttigieg’s campaign for president, “Mayor Pete,” was released by Amazon Studios. Upcoming projects include “Girls State” for Apple and, as producers, an independent film about the reintroduction of wild bears in the French Pyrénées.

Simon Chinn is a double Oscar, double BAFTA, and Emmy Award-winning producer and co-founder of Lightbox. In 2005, he conceived and produced his first theatrical feature documentary, “Man on Wire.” It went on to win over 40 international awards, including the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. He followed that up with a string of multiple-award-winning feature documentaries, including “Project Nim,” “The Imposter,” “The Green Prince,” “Garnet’s Gold,” “Bolshoi Babylon,” “My Scientology Movie” and “Searching for Sugar Man,” which also won many international awards, including a BAFTA and an Academy Award, and made over $20 million at the worldwide box office.

Simon launched Lightbox in 2014 with his Los Angeles-based cousin, Emmy Award-winning producer Jonathan Chinn. In the 10 years since its inception, the company has become one of the most prolific and highly regarded producers of premium nonfiction content in the world and has worked with all the major buyers, including Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO, Nat Geo, Amazon, FX, Hulu, Disney+ and Showtime, among others. Its films and limited series have premiered at the Sundance, Telluride, Cannes, Berlin and London film festivals and have won and been nominated for many major awards.

Additional recent projects include “The Princess,” a feature documentary for HBO with a theatrical release; “Spector,” a four-part series for Showtime/Sky; “Sins of Our Mother,” a three-part series for Netflix; “Tina,” a feature documentary for HBO and Universal; “Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine,” a three-part series for Showtime; “Hip Hop Uncovered,” a five-part series for FX/Hulu; “Sophie: A Murder in West Cork,” a three-part series for Netflix; “Tell Me Who I Am,” a feature documentary for Netflix; and “Whitney,” a feature documentary for theatrical release.

Jonathan Chinn is an Academy Award-nominated and double Emmy Award-winning producer and co-founder of Lightbox. Prior to launching Lightbox in 2014 with his U.K.-based cousin, Academy Award-winning producer Simon Chinn, Jonathan was one of the most respected nonfiction television showrunners in the U.S., winning an Emmy for the seminal docuseries “American High” (Fox/PBS) and the Television Academy’s prestigious Honors Award for the three seasons of the groundbreaking series “30 Days” (FX). Other producing credits include “Kid Nation” (CBS), “Push Girls” (Sundance) and Gordon Ramsay’s “Hotel Hell” (FOX).

In the 10 years since Lightbox’s inception, the company has become one of the most prolific and highly regarded producers of premium nonfiction content in the world and has worked with all the major buyers, including Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO, Nat Geo, Amazon, FX, Hulu, Disney+ and Showtime, among others. Its films and limited series have premiered at the Sundance, Telluride, Cannes, Berlin and London film festivals and have won and been nominated for many major awards.

Additional recent projects include “The Princess,” a feature documentary for HBO with a theatrical release; “Spector,” a four-part series for Showtime/Sky; “Sins of Our Mother,” a three-part series for Netflix; “Tina,” a feature documentary for HBO and Universal; “Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine,” a three-part series for Showtime; “Hip Hop Uncovered,” a five-part series for FX/Hulu; “Sophie: A Murder in West Cork,” a three-part series for Netflix; “Tell Me Who I Am,” a feature documentary for Netflix; and “Whitney,” a feature documentary for theatrical release.

Will Cohen is a documentary producer and writer. He was most recently a producer on “The Mission,” a feature documentary directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine about the American missionary John Chau and his attempt to convert the North Sentinelese, one of the last uncontacted peoples on Earth. The film will be released later this year by National Geographic Documentary Films.

He is a frequent collaborator of director Davis Guggenheim and Concordia Studio, most recently as a producer on “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” for Apple Original Films. The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, won the Hope Award at SXSW, and has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards.

An alumnus of the public affairs series “Frontline,” he has received numerous journalism awards for his work, including the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club, the RFK Award, an IRE Prize for Investigative Reporting, and two News and Documentary Emmys. He lives in New York City.