Riley Hooper

Riley Hooper is a documentary film director and editor. Her body of work explores human resilience and spirit through short documentary portrait films. From a blind swimmer to the world’s oldest mime to people buying and selling goods at the world’s longest yard sale, Riley is drawn to people whose perspectives and pursuits inspire and challenge us. She believes everyone has a story to tell and approaches her subjects with deep curiosity and compassion.

For the past nine years, Riley has turned the camera upon herself and her family, exploring similar themes of resilience, dignity, and self-discovery in Vestibule, a first-person documentary about her journey with Vestibulodynia—a vulvovaginal disorder. Combining verité footage with imaginative dance scenes, Riley documents her quest for pain-free sex. Through the process, she explores larger themes of sexual health, pleasure, bodily autonomy, and the systemic barriers that deny these rights to women and people with vulvas. Ultimately, Vestibule examines how pleasure can be a powerful tool for agency—a way to advocate for one’s desires and needs, with impacts that ripple into every aspect of life. As her grandmother says in the film, “If you’re on good terms with your vagina, you have a better life.”

With support from Sundance and the Points North Institute, Vestibule is set to be released in 2027 as Riley's first feature. Looking ahead, she aspires to deepen her artistic practice by expanding her work in hybrid and formally inventive documentaries. She is particularly interested in integrating dance elements in new and boundary-pushing ways and continuing to explore themes of bodily autonomy. Building on her shorts and Vestibule as a foundation, she hopes to create films that honor the complexity of lived experience and invite audiences into deeper connection with themselves and the world around them.

CREDITS

Featuring: Vivian Stancil & Turner Stancil

Director/Editor: Riley Hooper

Producer: Caitlin Mae Burke

Cinematographer: Ora DeKornfeld

Underwater Cinematographer: Laura DiFiglio

AC/Gaffer: Nina Ham

Underwater AC: Steve Fitzpatrick

Sound: Cindy Takehara

Hair and makeup: Betsy Marshall

PA: Kaitlyn Jeffers

Colorist: Noah Todd

Original score: Zubin Hensler

-Piano: Jake Sherman

-Vocals: Sara Lucas

Sound design & mix: Calvin Pia/One Thousand Birds

Assistant Editor: Jonathan Johnson