EPIC Impact Society Podcast - FUTURE PROOF Series - Brett Morgen (Documentary Filmmaker)

This Future Proof conversation is part of a special series on the EPIC Impact Society Podcast that brings emerging creatives into conversation with innovative leaders about the future of creativity, storytelling, and work. Produced by the iWorks Creative Agency at Colorado Mountain College, the project is recognized as an EPIC Impact Project, sparking a generational dialogue about how to lead and create in a time of rapid change.

Brett Morgen is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker whose work as a writer, director, producer, and editor has helped redefine documentary cinema. Widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction filmmakers of the past 25 years, he is known for bold formal experimentation and immersive, music-driven storytelling—with The Wall Street Journal calling him “the greatest revolutionary of American documentary film.” His most recent film, Moonage Daydream, a David Bowie IMAX experience, has been hailed as one of the greatest music documentaries ever made and marked a major evolution in the form. Distributed by Universal Pictures, it became the highest-grossing documentary of the past decade and the first nonfiction film in over 50 years to receive Academy recognition for Sound. Morgen’s previous work includes Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and Jane, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing. Across his last three films, he has received 12 Primetime Emmy nominations. Additional credits include Crossfire Hurricane, ESPN’s 30 for 30: June 17, 1994_, and The Kid Stays in the Picture, widely regarded as one of the greatest films about Hollywood. He began his career at NYU, where his thesis film On the Ropes earned an Academy Award nomination. Morgen is the only filmmaker to receive all four major guild honors as an individual artist: the DGA, WGA, PGA, and ACE Eddie Awards, along with recognition for excellence in sound editing.

John Felix Shaw is a photographer, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary creative working at the intersection of visual media and experiential design. His work spans commercial and documentary media, live event production, and immersive installations exploring themes of consciousness, perception, and human connection. He is currently a student in the Integrated Media program at Colorado Mountain College’s Isaacson School of Communication, Arts and Media, where he is developing a portfolio that blends storytelling, creative technology, and experiential media.

Mark Millhone is a storyteller, educator, and creativity evangelist. He currently serves as Integrated Media Program Director at Colorado Mountain College’s Isaacson School of Communication, Arts and Media and Director of the Isaacson Works (“iWorks”) Creative Agency, where he mentors emerging creatives while building a next-generation model for agency-based creative education. As producer and host of the EPIC Impact Society and Strategic Play podcasts, Mark curates conversations with creative leaders across education, leadership, brand strategy, emerging technology, and the arts.