Alumni Screening: Lead Me Home (2021) with Director Jon Shenk, MA '99

Join us for a special alumni screening of Lead Me Home, an Oscar®-nominated documentary short and Netflix Original, followed by a Q&A discussion with the film’s director, Jon Shenk (MA '99, Documentary Film), moderated by Jamie Meltzer, Professor of Documentary Film and Video.

About the Film

500,000 Americans experience homelessness every night. Lead Me Home is a documentary short by Jon Shenk and Pedro Kos that captures the experience from multiple perspectives. This immersive, cinematic film personalizes the overwhelming issue by telling the real-life stories of those going through it as a first step toward challenging uninformed attitudes and outmoded policies and gives the audience a rare, in-depth look at the scale, scope and diversity of unsheltered America today.

About the Filmmaker

Jon Shenk is an Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Director and Cinematographer, as well as a founder of Actual Films. Recent work includes directing In Waves & War with his partner Bonni Cohen, and directing and producing The White House Effect – both of which premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Jon also was the Cinematographer for Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore which premiered at Sundance 2025. Prior he co-directed the Oscar®-nominated short film Lead Me Home, which premiered at Telluride and is a Netflix Original. Previously, Shenk and Bonni Cohen co-directed Athlete A (Netflix), which won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and was nominated for five Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, winning for Best Sports Documentary.

Before that Shenk co-directed and lensed An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Participant), which premiered on opening night of the Sundance Film Festival. The film was shortlisted for the Oscars and was a BAFTA nominee for Best Documentary. The year before that Shenk co-directed and photographed the Peabody Award winner Audrie & Daisy (Netflix), which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. 

Shenk directed The Island President (Goldwyn Films), winner of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award and the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award. Previous work includes serving as the D.P. on the Academy Award winner Smile Pinki and winning an Emmy for “Blame Somebody Else” (PBS.). In his early career, Shenk won an Independent Spirit Award for directing Lost Boys of Sudan (Shadow Distribution/PBS). Prior to Actual Films, Jon did in-house documentary work for LucasFilm and graduated from the Stanford Documentary Program. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Doc Branch.

Event Details

Friday, October 16, 2026
1:00 – 2:00pm
McMurtry Building, Room 115
355 Roth Way, Stanford, CA 94305

RSVP

This event is being held in conjunction with Stanford Reunion Homecoming and Art & Art History's Reunion Open House. Please RSVP to attend Art & Art History's Reunion Open House, and indicate which additional programs, including this event, you plan to attend on Friday, October 16.

VISITOR INFORMATION

The McMurtry Building is located on Stanford campus at 355 Roth Way with Room 115 located on the ground level. Visitor parking is available in designated areas and payment is managed through ParkMobile (free after 4pm, except by the Oval). Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and hop on the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle. If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact Julianne White at jgwhite@stanford.edu. This event is open to Stanford affiliates and alums. Admission is free.

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