James Rutenbeck is an Emmy-winning independent director and editor. He is a two-time recipient of the Alfred I. duPont Columbia Journalism Award for his work as episodic producer of the landmark PBS series on the social determinants of health, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? and Class of ’27 , which he executive produced, directed and edited. Class of ’27, which explores the lives of young children in three rural American communities, aired on the World Channel series America Reframed and streams as Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. He was recently awarded an Emmy for My Disability Roadmap, a New York Times OpDoc.

James’ films have screened at Cinema du Reel, Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery, Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival and Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. His recent feature A Reckoning in Boston premiered at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in 2021 and has been screened at many festivals, including Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival, where it won Best Feature Documentary. The Sundance Documentary Fund, LEF Moving Image Fund, Southern Humanities Media Fund and Corporation for Public Broadcasting have supported James’ films. Editing credits include God in America, Zoot Suit Riots, Jimmy Carter and Roberto Clemente for the PBS series American Experience and American Denial and Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness for Independent Lens. James was a 2019/20 Fellow at the Film Study Center at Harvard University and 2021 Poynter Fellow at Yale University.