Elise Coker is a filmmaker, journalist and visual artist based in New York City.
Elise has directed and produced documentary projects for Netflix, Topic Studios, VICE Media, NBC News, Al Jazeera, PBS, and The New York Times. Her work takes a character-driven and observational approach to documentary, examining where ideology, tradition, media, and modern society intersect with human nature.
She is a director, cinematographer, and co-producer/field producer on the Netflix #1-ranking hit series, TRUST ME: THE FALSE PROPHET (Ark Media, 2026), spending years filming with the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community in Utah and Arizona. Her short film STALLIONS OF PALESTINE (Topic Studios, 2019) premiered at Palm Springs International ShortFest, was a SIMA finalist in 2019 and is currently available to watch on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Her video work for The New York Times won an Award for Excellence in Global Video Reporting from the Society of Publishers in Asia in 2022. She directed, filmed, and edited numerous short documentaries for NBC News, recognized by OPC of America and POYi. She worked as a cinematographer and editor on the Emmy Award-winning short documentary UNSAFE PASSAGE for The Guardian Films/Outlaw Ocean Project in 2021. Elise previously worked as a producer and editor at VICE Media, directing, editing and shooting numerous award-winning longform documentaries and series. She graduated with a B.A. in Media Studies from Pomona College in California.
As a visual artist, Elise’s paintings examine humanity’s marks of industry, infrastructure, technology and conflict interwoven into the context of the natural world, exploring the juxtaposition of brutality and transcendence. Elise’s visual art is deeply informed by her documentary work and the environments she encounters, often painting from her own cinematography. Most recently, she has exhibited her work at C24 Gallery, Village One Art, and Spring/Break Art Show in New York City.