Sian-Pierre Regis
Sian-Pierre Regis is a filmmaker who directed, produced and self-distributed his debut feature documentary "Duty Free". In his film, Regis follows the story of his 75 year-old immigrant mother who gets fired without cause from her lifelong job as a hotel housekeeper. From there, he takes her on a bucket-list adventure to reclaim her life. As Regis' mother struggles to find work, he documents a journey that uncovers the economic insecurity shaping not only her future, but that of an entire generation.
Released in 30 theaters over Mother's Day 2021, Duty Free was a press magnet garnering coverage from CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, MSNBC, The Tamron Hall Show, and AARP. The film was also a No. 1 Apple News story through the weekend. It was nominated for a prestigious IDA award in the Writing category.
Prior to filmmaking, Regis was a journalist and on-camera contributor to CNN, HLN, and MTV and founded Swagger, an online lifestyle magazine for millennials with over 1.5 million fans.
In 2018, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Colgate University.
Regis is also both a Firelight Documentary Lab Fellow and a Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow.
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