WHO WE ARE
Break Thru Films is an award-winning film and television production company based in New York City.
Ricki Stern
Ricki and Annie are known for producing and creating critically acclaimed films and television series. Their films have been shortlisted for the Oscars, won a Columbia-Dupont Silver Baton and have earned 11 Emmy, 2 Peabody nominations, Spirit Award and Gotham nominations and countless festival accolades.
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Ricki and Annie have been recognized with A Lifetime Achievement Award from Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the Best Female Filmmakers Award-San Diego Film Festival, The Best Female Filmmakers Award- St. Louis FF, Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award and Lena Sharpe/Women in Cinema Persistence of Vision Award–Seattle International Film Festival.
Annie Sundberg
Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg
Directors/Producers:​
Here to Climb, HBO Sports (2024)
My So-Called High School Rank, HBO (2022)
Reversing Roe, Netflix (2018)
MARATHON: The Patriots Day Bombing, HBO (2016)
In My Father's House, Showtime (2015)
Let Them Wear Towels, Showtime (2013)
​Knuckleball!, Showtime (2012)
Burma Soldier, HBO (2010)
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, IFC Films, Showtime (2010)
The End of America (2008)
The Devil Came on Horseback, BBC (2007)
The Youthbuild Documentary Project (2010)
The Trials of Darryl Hunt, HBO (2007)
In My Corner, PBS (1999)
Ricki Stern
Director/Producer:
A Radical Life, Discovery + (2023)
Jessie Sweet
Jesse Sweet is a two-time Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker.
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Director/Producer
Killer Robots, Netflix
The Murders Before The Marathon, ABC News/Hulu
City of Joel, (2018)
Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain, CNN
Business of Drugs, Netflix
Ricki Stern has partnered with Jesse Sweet to co-direct and produce:​
Nature of the Crime, HBO (2024)
Family Secrets- The Disappearance of Alissa Turney, Oxygen, Peacock (2024)
UFOs - Investigating the Unknown, Vice, National Geographic (2025)
Surviving Death, Netflix (2023)
Seth Keal
Seth Keal is an Emmy Nominated award-winning filmmaker who has worked with Break Thru Films since 2006.
Producer
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, IFC Films
Reversing Roe, Netflix
Surviving Death, Netflix
UFOs: Investigating the Unknown, NatGeo/VICE
Nature of the Crime, HBO
Jonele Conceicao
Jonele Conceicao is a producer who has worked with Break Thru Films since 2014 and is Emmy nominated for her work in archive and research.
Archive Producer:
Reversing Roe, Netflix
Here to Climb, HBO
Co-Producer:
Surviving Death, Netflix
My So-Called High School Rank, HBO
Nature of the Crime, HBO
Producer:
UFOs: Investigating the Unknown, NatGeo/VICE