Filmmaker, Storyteller, Wife
A documentary filmmaker from Highland Park, Illinois, Azza Cohen is honored to serve as the first official videographer and director of video to Vice President Kamala Harris. Cohen believes firmly in the power of visual representation to help us see one another with more empathy and dignity. Documenting the service of the first woman, Black and Asian American vice president is the greatest privilege of Cohen’s life. As a director and producer, Cohen has collaborated on films with activists fighting sex trafficking in India, former paramilitary and peace advocates along the Northern Irish border, survivors and sufferers of chronic pain, and more. Her most recent film, “FLOAT!,” follows her 82-year- old Bubbe as she learns to swim. “FLOAT!” is currently streaming for free via The New Yorker and YouTube. Cohen discovered her love of filmmaking at Princeton and remains grateful to her professors, Purcell Carson and Gyan Prakash, for inspiring her career. She also wrote for The Daily Princetonian, danced on the Princeton Bhangra team and volunteered with the Pace Center. After Princeton, she earned her master’s in culture and colonialism from the University of Galway as a Mitchell Scholar. Cohen served on the Princeton University Board of Trustees from 2016 to 2020. More recently, Cohen earned her Master of Fine Arts in documentary film and video from Stanford University as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife, Kathleen, and their dog, Rex “All Bark No Bite” Borschow-Cohen.