From the steps of the UT tower to Hollywood film studios, the UT radio-television-program boasts an impressive roster of alumni that have gone on to excel in the film industry. 

With Women’s History Month coming to a close, The Daily Texan has highlighted four of these notable women filmmakers who are leaving their mark on Hollywood.

Maisie Crow

Graduating from the Moody College of Communication in 2004, Maisie Crow has never been one to shy away from complex topics in her documentaries. Her first feature, “Jackson,” covered women’s reproductive rights in the state of Mississippi. “Jackson” was lauded by critics, with The Huffington Post saying the film was “a grim warning of what restrictive abortion legislation across the U.S. actually looks like.” 

Chelsea Hernandez

Hernandez has worked in the entertainment industry since she was only nine-years-old, in which she hosted and co-produced an educational program for children with her mother. Earning her ten thousand hours at an early age, Hernandez later graduated from UT’s radio-television-film program in 2010. Hernandez’s work as a director, producer and editor has won her eight Emmys for the PBS documentary “Arts in Context.” Following her Emmy wins, she kept charging forward with her 2019 film “Building the American Dream,” which details the exploitation of Latinx workers by the Texas construction industry. 

Noël Wells

Wells’ career in comedy didn’t stop when she performed in the Austin comedy show “Esther’s Follies.” Graduating from the Plan II and radio-television-film program at UT in 2010, Wells later joined as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Following her stint in the 2013-2014 season of SNL, Wells was cast in other various comedy shows such as Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None.” She also wrote and directed her own independent feature film “Mr. Roosevelt” in 2017 that Variety called a SXSW standout.  

Ivete Lucas

In partnership with her husband Patrick Bresnan, Lucas’ focus as a filmmaker is always about the people of her story. In a quote from Texas Monthly, Lucas said “When (my husband and I) work with a community and make films, it’s always more about the relationships than the film itself.” Lucas and her husband were recognized by The Austin Chronicle as the “Best Local Creative Couple With a Discerning Eye.” In 2019, Indiewire called Lucas’ “Pahokee,” a documentary about a low-income inland community in Florida, sensitive and insightful. 

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the March 30 issue of The Daily Texan.