Director of Photography | HBO
“Angel City’s mission and access make it a compelling and inspiring must-watch docuseries.”
— AwardsRadar TV Review (critic review)
The Invitation
Angel City is not just about soccer—it’s about infrastructure. About what it takes to build something new in public, under pressure, with values on display. The series follows the formation of Angel City FC as it collides with culture, capital, identity, and expectation in Los Angeles.
This is documentary storytelling with stakes. The access is unprecedented, the personalities are complex, and the timeline is unforgiving. The work asks the viewer to witness not just victories and setbacks, but the emotional labor of building a legacy in real time.
The Work
As one of the cinematographers, my role was to balance immediacy with authorship—capturing vérité moments as they unfolded while maintaining a cinematic throughline across a sprawling, multi-thread narrative.
The camera moves fluidly between worlds: boardrooms and locker rooms, training grounds and private homes, public spectacle and private reckoning. Framing prioritizes presence and power dynamics, often staying with faces longer than comfort allows. Light is motivated by environment, allowing the texture of real spaces to guide tone rather than imposing style.
The visual language supports scale without losing intimacy—anchoring a fast-moving, high-profile story in human experience.
The Experience
Watching Angel City feels like being inside the room where decisions are made. The experience is propulsive, emotionally layered, and deeply personal.
The camera doesn’t mythologize—it observes. Moments of triumph sit alongside doubt, tension, and vulnerability. The result is a series that feels both expansive and grounded, offering viewers access without spectacle for spectacle’s sake.
Impact & Reach
As an HBO docu-series, Angel City reached a global audience, expanding the cultural conversation around women’s sports, ownership, and representation. The series helped cement Angel City FC not only as a team, but as a model—demonstrating what’s possible when sport, storytelling, and purpose align.
As a flagship credit, the project reflects long-form documentary storytelling at the highest level: complex access, sustained audience engagement, and real-world impact.
Reflection
This project reaffirmed the responsibility of documentary cinematography. When the stakes are real and the consequences visible, the camera must earn trust—again and again.
Angel City reinforced a guiding principle in my work: intimacy creates authority. When people feel seen rather than framed, the story carries further than any highlight reel ever could.
Key Players
Oscar Winning Actor and Activist, Natalie Portman, Hollywood executive Julie Uhrman, and venture capitalist Kara Norman are three ass-kicking women who will not take no for an answer.
- Steven Prusakowski Awardsradar.com
- Steven Prusakowski Awardsradar.com