Kate Cohen

Kate Cohen is an award-winning director, producer, and entrepreneur with two decades of experience leading high-profile projects from inception to completion. 

She is a creative producer with a long track record of business development, raising financing, and developing and packaging projects with A-list talent. As partner and co-CEO/founder of Straight Up Films, she has produced films with Hollywood’s elite players, including Natalie Portman, Johnny Depp, Ewan McGregor and Spike Lee, among many others. 

Cohen is also a lifelong advocate for youth mental health and has mentored countless young girls, inspiring resilience and success. Cohen recently co-founded Straight Up Impact, a social enterprise on a mission to create commercial films that move audiences to enact social change. Her current slate includes Joseph Merrick, based on the life of the Elephant Man to be directed by Stephan Streker; Man’s Search for Meaning, a film adaptation of Viktor Frankl’s best-selling memoir; along with Meaning in Madness, the compelling docu-series addressing systemic causes of the youth mental health crisis. Kate has also recently established herself as an award-winning director for the film LUNA, which will be released in 2023.