Close-up: Courtney Stephens

Entering the world of Courtney Stephens means stepping into an imaginative and creative cinema that moves effortlessly between fiction and reality, where every image feels like a trace, a memory, a question. Trained at the American Film Institute, this experimental filmmaker has been exploring memory, language and women’s narratives since 2017, creating films shaped by archival material and creative collaboration. Among her most acclaimed works are The American Sector and Terra Femme.

At Bozar, she presents two new works: John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office, co-directed with Michael Almereyda, and Invention, co-written with Callie Hernández (La La Land, Alien: Covenant). Her films have travelled the world, including the Berlinale, the Viennale and Venice, confirming her as one of today’s standout new voices.