NYWIFT Blog

By Katie Chambers

NYWIFT Member and organizational supporter Ruth Ann Harnisch heads to the 2026 Sundance Film Festival as an executive producer of two wildly different but equally impactful documentary films: Seized and Cookie Queens.

Seized, directed by Sharon Liese and premiering in the U.S. Documentary Competition, follows along as the small town of Marion, Kansas, is thrust into the international spotlight after a police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner. A fierce debate ignites about the abuse of power, journalistic ethics, local journalism, and the United States Constitution.

Cookie Queens, directed by Alysa Nahmias, premieres in the Family Matinee lineup. It’s Girl Scout Cookie season, and four tenacious girls strive to be a top-selling “Cookie Queen,” navigating an $800 million business in which childhood and ambition collide.

Over the past two decades, Ruth Ann Harnisch has contributed to more than 400 films as an independent producer. Her sweet spot is documentary storytelling at the bleeding edge of societal change—films driven by revolutionary people, righteous causes, taking a bold stand on controversial material.

In 2025, she stepped back from taking pitches personally, continuing to invest in film through Impact Partners, Sundance Catalyst, and other collective funding opportunities.

Ruth Ann is also a patron of CreativeMornings, the world’s largest face-to-face creative community. Through its chapters, clubs, and gatherings, CreativeMornings fosters friendship, collaboration, and mutual support—free to attend and a powerful antidote to social isolation.

After co-producing the Tony Award–winning Broadway musical SUFFS, about the fight for women’s suffrage in the United States, she joined the producing team of its national tour, currently underway.

On screen and off, Ruth Ann has been a bold first-money funder of people and projects that challenge entrenched power and move culture toward greater equity.

She spoke to us about her two exciting new projects.

NYWIFT Member Ruth Ann Harnisch

Seized and Cookie Queens couldn’t look more different on the surface: one centered on constitutional rights and local journalism, the other on young girls navigating competition inside a massive business ecosystem. What connective tissue do you see between these projects, and what draws you to stories that sit at the intersection of power, systems, and everyday people?

The first thing that came to mind when you asked about connective tissue is that both films feature female leadership and the courage to persevere despite obstacles. The Cookie Queens are operating in a system they did not create nor do they control, but perversely, they are expected to create the revenue that sustains the system.

As a former Brownie and Girl Scout, I felt the pressure to produce for my troop. While I appreciate the skills that girls develop by running a small business, dealing with the public, taking responsibility, keeping commitments, and so on, I think it’s exploitation of the families who are trying to give their children enriching experiences.

Cookie Queens shows the literal dollar price families pay because their daughters must sell cookies. And why are we asking girls to get nutrition badges AND sell unhealthy unnecessary processed “food?” It’s so wrong.

In Seized, the courageous 98-year old co-owner of a local newspaper fights back when law enforcement raids the newspaper and her home. The day after she wielded her walker telling them to get out of her house, she died of a heart attack. And the raid was deemed illegal. So what this woman has in common with the Cookie Queens? Fierce determination, finding inner resources to face daunting challenges, family support, questionable outcomes.

A still from Seized by Sharon Liese, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jackson Montemayor.

Seized examines the consequences of a police raid on a local newsroom and the ripple effects that followed. As an executive producer, what felt most urgent about telling this story now? And what do you hope audiences at Sundance take away from the film’s exploration of press freedom and abuse of power?

What could be more timely than showing this film within weeks of a Washington Post reporter’s home being raided? And the owner of the paper, was not having a heart attack. In fact, he was remaining completely silent as this outrageous abuse of power and attempts to intimidate and stifle reporting happened on his non-watch.

A still from Cookie Queens by Alysa Nahmias, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

At its heart, Cookie Queens follows four girls chasing an ambitious goal within an $800 million enterprise. What surprised you most about watching these young subjects navigate competition, identity, and agency? And how did that shape your approach to supporting the film?

What surprised me most was not the young subjects – documentarians must choose great “characters,” and this one certainly features appealing young people. The Harnisch Foundation’s FUNNY GIRLS program keeps me aware of how girls of scouting age are defining themselves with agency.

What I’m surprised about is that adults are still willing to (literally) buy into the notion of the cookie sale. You don’t see Boy Scouts having to raise their own funds. They get plenty of money and always have. Because men!

You’ve supported hundreds of films over the years, many pushing cultural and political boundaries. What does it mean to have two projects premiering at Sundance in 2026, and how do you see the festival’s role evolving for documentaries tackling timely, sometimes controversial material?

This is the smallest number of films I’ve had at Sundance in many years, perhaps reflecting my shift to funding fewer films but putting more money in the ones I choose. I’m not going to Sundance, and I won’t be going in the future. I have altitude sickness that makes Park City and Telluride and Boulder very difficult to enjoy. Despite medication and hydration, I always have symptoms and I’m no longer willing to put up with the discomfort.

I’m not sure how Sundance will evolve – it’s been so deeply entwined with Park City and Sundance resort that I question whether the “Sundance experience” can ever be reconstituted. It will have to be reinvented for a new age as the business itself is (What? What is the movie business right now?) and the founder is gone, along with almost everyone I knew who worked there. Which is not ALL bad: I think festival programmers should have term limits. Whenever you can say, “Oh, that’s a Charlie film” that tells me it’s time for Charlie to do something else and make room for someone with a different eye.

Ruth Ann Harnisch (left) was among the speakers at NYWIFT’s panel “We the People: Women in Politics and On Stage and Screen” at The Public Theater in October 2024. (Photo credit: NYWIFT)

After co-producing the Tony Award–winning SUFFS and joining the producing team for its national tour, what excites you most about bringing this story of women’s suffrage to audiences across the country? How does your work in theater inform the way you think about impact in film?

As women’s rights are being dismantled at every turn, I want audiences across the nation to see SUFFS to remember that we have faced worse discrimination and won. “Progress is possible, not guaranteed,” so we must keep fighting the fight for gender equality and refuse to accept the erasure of women from public life.

The best news is that there’s now a version available for schools to produce, so students can learn more about what it took to get men to allow women to participate in their own governance. And yes, this means boys can be in it too!

Also, the play was recorded live, and we hope it will be broadcast in an edited one-hour version on Great Performances later this year, if there’s still a public broadcasting system.

Cookie Queens and Seized are playing at the Sundance Film Festival, in person and online, through February 2, 2026.

Check out all the NYWIFT members at Sundance 2026. 

Learn more about The Harnisch Foundation at thehf.org.

(Headshot courtesy of Ruth Ann Harnisch)