Grace Hughes-Hallett

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Grace Hughes-Hallett (b. 1986) is a British documentary filmmaker and podcaster. She has won the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival [1] and a Grierson Award, [2] been nominated for a BAFTA, [3] and a Primetime Emmy [4] and shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. [5]

Contents

Life

Hughes-Hallett is the daughter of Thomas Hughes-Hallett and Jules (Juliet) Hughes-Hallett (nee Rugge-Price). [6] [7] She has two brothers, Archie and Arthur, and a sister, Emily, who died in infancy. [6] [7] She attended St Paul's Girls' School in London, leaving in 2005; [8] she studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University. Hughes-Hallett is married to Daniel Susskind, an economist. [9] The couple have three children. [10]

Work

Hughes-Hallett has worked in documentary filmmaking variously as cinematographer, director, producer and writer.

Hughes-Hallett pitched the idea for the 2018 award-winning documentary film Three Identical Strangers in 2013 to Raw TV, [11] and was the original director of the documentary. Of her removal from the position, Hughes-Hallett has said "I started Three Identical Strangers as the director. In 2025, I hope I would have remained the director, but it was a while ago and I was a young woman. That is the truth of it. I’ll leave that there. Any young female filmmaker can probably relate." [12] She co-produced the film along with Becky Read. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, [13] where it won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling. [1] It was nominated for Best Documentary at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and was also on the short list of 15 films (out of 166 candidates) considered for nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards, though it was not selected as one of the final five nominees for the award. [5]

Hughes-Hallett directed the 2025 documentary film The Secret of Me, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. [12] [14] In May 2025 The Secret of Me won the Out in the Silence Award at the Frameline Film Festival. [15]

Hughes-Hallett is the host of Dangerous Memories, a documentary podcast series with Tortoise Media. It was ranked at no. 5 in a list of the 20 best podcasts of 2024 by The Guardian . [16]

Selected filmography

DateTitleTypeContribution
2025The Secret of MeDocumentaryDirector
2021The Princes and the PressDocumentary (BBC2, 2 episodes)Producer and Director
2018 Three Identical Strangers DocumentaryProducer (original Director, replaced)
2017Extreme Wives with Kate Humble (Episode 2: Israel)Documentary (BBC)Producer and Director
2017Diabulimia: The World's Most Dangerous Eating DisorderDocumentary (BBC)Director and Cinematographer
2016Drugs Map of Britain. Alcohol: Britain's Most Harmful DrugDocumentary (BBC)Producer and Director
2016Louis Theroux: A Different BrainDocumentary (BBC)Assistant Producer
2016Louis Theroux: Drinking to OblivionDocumentary (BBC)Assistant Producer (as Grace Hughes-Hallet)
2016The Cost of Cute: The Dark Side of the Puppy TradeDocumentary short (BBC)Producer, Director and Cinematographer
2012The Dark Matter of LoveDocumentary (BBC)Producer (as Grace Hughes-Hallet)

References

  1. 1 2 Kilday, Gregg (27 January 2018). "Sundance Film Festival 2018 winners list". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  2. ↑ "Nyman Libson Paul Best Entertaining Documentary Award: Three Identical Strangers". www.griersontrust.org. 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  3. ↑ "2019 Results Film Awards" (Press release). BAFTA . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  4. ↑ "Grace Hughes-Hallett Biography". tvguide.com. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  5. 1 2 Kojen, Natalie (17 December 2018). "91st Oscars Shortlists in Nine Award Categories Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  6. 1 2 Murray-West, Rosie (7 December 2002). "Taking on a giving concern". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  7. 1 2 Russell, Steven (13 December 2010). "Ex-banker who's given Suffolk 100k". East Anglian Daily Times . Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  8. ↑ "Alumnae". spgs.org. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  9. ↑ Susskind, Daniel (2020). A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond (PDF). New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Co. p. 5. ISBN   9781250173522 . Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  10. ↑ Creamer, Jon (22 October 2025). "BTS: director Grace Hughes-Hallett on The Secret of Me". www.televisual.com. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  11. ↑ "Best documentary programme: Three Identical Strangers". broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  12. 1 2 Mehta, Ritesh (9 March 2025). ""Intersex People Don't Need To Be Fixed": Grace Hughes-Hallett on The Secret of Me". filmmakermagazine.com. Filmmaker . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  13. ↑ Ryan, Patrick (26 June 2018). "'Three Identical Strangers': How triplets separated at birth became the craziest doc of 2018". USA Today . Gannett Company . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  14. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (14 October 2025). "The Secret of Me review. Documentary tells tragic story of childhood intersex reassignment surgery". The Guardian . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  15. ↑ "The Secret of Me". frameline.org. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  16. ↑ Davies, Hannah J. (24 December 2024). "The 20 best podcasts of 2024". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 October 2025.
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