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If there’s one thing every documentary director knows all too well, it’s the “big board”. It’s fretted over, it’s tinkered with, it’s argued about. All that fuss over a cork board with story-beat cards!

But when the cards (and scenes) line up in just the right order, you get clarity, emotion and hopefully an unforgettable story.

Luckily, this year’s Film Independent Documentary Story Lab Fellows are up for the challenge. In its second year, the one-week intensive focuses on projects in post-production, where filmmakers can hone story structure and editing, and ends with a final pitch event with industry execs.

“This year’s Documentary Story Lab Fellows are not united by geography or genre, but a fearless and tenacious commitment to telling the truth,” said Daniel Cardone, Senior Manager of Nonfiction Programs & Fiscal Sponsorship at Film Independent. “Whether exploring identity, justice, legacy or the fragility of our environment,...

As we gear up for the big afternoon on the beach this Saturday, now’s a great time to get to know your nominees. Hopefully you’ve seen their films, and if you’re a Film Independent member, watched your screeners and voted too. But there’s nothing quite like hearing about the process from the creative minds themselves.

That’s exactly what we did with this year’s Directors Close-Up, where we brought together the nominees from some of the top filmmaking categories, to talk shop. Over two weeks this February, we held Zoom sessions for our members, where these creators tell how exactly they got their projects off the ground, the creative choices they made, and what inspires them.

If you missed them live, we’ve got you covered. Let’s take a look at all the action from this year’s Directors Close-Up:

Spirit Of...

The charms of “Patrice: The Movie” are abundant — which doesn’t mean this inventive, warmhearted documentary, directed by Ted Passon, won’t infuriate. Much of the bristling will be on behalf of titular star, Patrice Jetter, and Garry Wickham, her betrothed. Or, at least, they would be engaged if the government Supplemental Security Income (Ssi) benefits program reflected the evolving moment when it comes to the lives — and loves — of people with disabilities.

Administered by the Social Security Administration, Ssi’s “marriage penalty” means that if these two beloveds get married — or even cohabitate — they’ll either lose their benefits or have them drastically cut. Garry would lose his medical insurance. The rule was written in 1972, when those enacting laws didn’t imagine people with disabilities having loving, even independent lives. It has remained unchanged.

Patrice and Garry met while working and started off as friends. Living with cerebral palsy,...

On Wednesday October 2 2024, ABC broadcasts Good Morning America!

Episode 314 Episode Summary

The next episode of “Good Morning America” on ABC is set to be an engaging mix of entertainment, culture, and inspiration. The show will feature a conversation with Patrice Jetter and director Ted Passon about their latest project, “Patrice: The Movie.” This film explores the life and experiences of Patrice, and viewers can expect insightful discussions about the creative process and the themes presented in the movie.

Actor Peter Krause will also join the lineup, sharing updates about his latest work and insights into his career. Known for his compelling performances, Krause’s appearance promises to captivate fans and provide a glimpse into his artistic journey.

Additionally, TikTok star Reesa Teesa will bring a fresh perspective to the episode, sharing her experiences in the world of social media and how she has built her following. To round out the show,...

On paper, “Patrice” sounds like a heartbreaking story — but the documentary is as joyous and life-affirming as they come. Now streaming on Hulu, Ted Passon’s film follows Patrice Jetter and her partner, Garry, as they navigate the news that if they marry (or even live together) as two people with disabilities, the government will end their benefits.

Yes, in the year 2024, the United States government still penalizes people for getting married, and “Patrice” doesn’t shy away from the inhumanity of that. But it also follows Jetter’s buoyant example: there is no obstacle that she doesn’t seem capable of surmounting.

Passon had known Jetter for years before making the documentary, and the film stemmed from his desire to work with her again after she appeared on the Netflix series “Worn Stories.” “Her segment was the most popular in the entire series,” Passon told IndieWire. “So it was like,...

On Wednesday morning, Good Morning America will feature Patrice Jetter alongside director Ted Passon to discuss Patrice: The Movie. The show will also include a segment from lifestyle contributor Lori Bergamotto in the “Shop GMA” series, focusing on fall denim. Actor Peter Krause will talk about his role in 9-1-1, TikTok star Reesa Teesa will […]

Good Morning America: Patrice Jetter, Ted Passon...

On Tuesday, October 1st, The View will feature actress and author Kate McKinnon discussing her book The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science. Also on the show are Patrice Jetter and director Ted Passon, who will talk about their project, Patrice: The Movie. Plus what’s happening the rest of this […]

The View: Kate McKinnon, Patrice Jetter (ABC Tuesday October 1)...

There’s only so much you can do when you catch your spouse stepping out on you – cry, get a divorce, forgive.

In China, they’ve come up with an additional option when such circumstances present themselves (an admittedly not infrequent scenario for couples all around the world). There, you can hire someone to “intervene” in the love triangle, in surreptitious fashion.

This phenomenon is explored in Mistress Dispeller, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival before heading to TIFF for its international premiere and on to the Camden International Film Festival for its U.S. premiere. At Camden, Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast caught up with director Elizabeth Lo, who shared insights about her intriguing new film and how she negotiated its inherent ethical considerations.

At Ciff, located on Maine’s bucolic central coast, we also talked with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Petra Costa, who brought Apocalypse in the Tropics to...

The 20th Camden International Film Festival has wrapped the in-person portion of the event in coastal Maine with the announcement of awards in several categories, including one that will launch a filmmaker into the Oscar race.

Kix, a documentary shot in Budapest, Hungary, won Ciff’s prestigious Harrell Award. Bálint Révész and Dávid Mikulán directed the film that charts the trajectory of Sanyi from “unruly” 8-year-old to young adult in need of a second chance.

“While there are many impressive films that give us a bird’s eye view of the failure of institutions and society, [Kix] showed us what it was like from the ground,” the Harrell jury, comprised of Poh Si Teng, Bing Liu and Courtney Sexton, wrote. “It was delicate and raw, and captured humanity over time.”

The jury also awarded a special mention to Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller, which made its U.S. premiere at Camden...

Leading documentary sales outfit Autlook Filmsales has appointed Stephanie Fuchs as new CEO.

Fuchs takes over from Salma Abdalla, who is stepping down after almost a decade at the helm of the Vienna-based company.

Abdalla is credited with expanding Autlook’s international reach – most recently entering the US market through a collaboration with LA-based senior executive Jason Resnick – while cultivating a strong network of partnerships and championing some of the strongest filmmakers in the sector.

Among the many award-winning documentaries Abdalla spearheaded for sales are Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, The Remarkable Life Of Ibelin, The Mother Of All Lies and For Sama.

ABC News Studios, in collaboration with All Ages Productions, Ess Projects, and Cedar Road, is set to release the feature-length documentary, Patrice: The Movie, on Monday, September 30, on Hulu, following its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Peabody and Gotham Award-winning filmmaker Ted Passon, the film offers a unique […]

Hulu’s Patrice: The Movie – A Documentary About Love and Disability...

Autlook has taken on international sales, excluding the US, for Ted Passon’s documentary Patrice: The Movie, ahead of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Hulu has US rights to the film, which plays in TIFF Docs.

Patrice: The Movie combines observational documentary and fantastical stage-play recreations to follow Patrice Jetter who has found the love of her life, Garry Wickham. Both are disabled, and want to get married and live together, but doing either could jeopardise the government benefits they need to make ends meet. With long-time friend, director Passon, Jetter recreates scenes from her life,...

ABC News Studios, in partnership with All Ages Productions and in association with Ess Projects and Cedar Road, today announced Patrice: The Movie, a feature-length documentary from Peabody and Gotham Award-winning director Ted Passon and producers Kyla Harris (We Might Regret This), Innbo Shim (Amend), and Emily Spivack (Worn Stories).

The documentary will premiere on Monday, Sept. 30, on Hulu, following its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

Patrice: The Movie is a documentary romantic comedy about the next frontier of marriage equality — disability. Patrice Jetter has finally found the love of her life, Garry Wickham, who is also disabled.

They want nothing more than to get married, but if they do — or even if they just move in together — the government benefits they need to survive would be cut. Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future.

Exclusive: Patrice: The Movie, a rare nonfiction film that can truly be described as a “documentary rom-com,” will bow on Hulu on September 30, following its world premiere this Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film directed by Ted Passon (Philly D.A.) comes from ABC News Studios, in partnership with All Ages Productions and in association with Ess Projects and Cedar Road. It documents the relationship of a disabled couple – Patrice Jetter and the love of her life, Garry Wickham – and the dilemma they face that marriage equality does not extend to people with disabilities.

Patrice and Garry “want nothing more than to get married, but if they do — or even if they just move in together — the government benefits they need to survive would be cut,” notes a release about the film. “Despite the scrutiny they’re under, they decide to plan a commitment ceremony that could risk their entire future.

A profile of the late Irish literary giant Edna O’Brien and a story about the haenyeo fisherwomen of South Korea are among the 21 TIFF Docs selections unveiled by Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday.

Joining Sinéad O’Shea’s Blue Road - The Edna O’Brien Story and Sue Kim’s The Last Of The Sea Women are Men Of War, an exploration of a failed coup in Venezuela from the team behind Cocaine Cowboys, and The Last Republican from Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink, who looks at how former Congressman Adam Kinzinger broke ranks and stood up to Donald Trump.

Documentaries about the rise and fall of media company Vice, former Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and disability rights activist Patrice Jetter are heading to the Toronto Film Festival.

TIFF’s Docs program gets underway Sept. 5 and will feature 21 nonfiction films from 24 countries. The program will open with the world premiere of Eddie Huang’s “Vice Is Broke,” an investigation into the once high-flying digital news outlet that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year after boasting a valuation of $5.7 billion in 2017.

Huang, the former host of Vice’s “Huang’s World” has a unique perspective on the story, said Thom Powers, lead TIFF documentary programmer. “Eddie gives an insider account of what happened at Vice Media,” said Powers. ” He has a personal axe to grind because when the company filed for bankruptcy, he was one of its many creditors. The film is both funny and poignant as he interviews...

Nonfiction films about conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Venezuela, as well as documentaries about politician Adam Kinzinger, Irish writer Edna O’Brien and disability rights activist Patrice Jetter will screen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, event organizers announced on Wednesday.

TIFF’s Docs program will consist of 21 films, two-thirds of them world premieres and 16 of them available for distribution. “The lineup is like holding up a mirror to what’s going on in the world today, which includes a lot of different things,” TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers told TheWrap.

The opening night film will be Eddie Huang’s “Vice Is Broke,” in which the former Vice host details the rise and fall of that media organization.

Other films include “From Ground Zero,” an anthology consisting of 22 short films made over the past year by directors who live in Gaza; Anastasiia Bortuali’s “Temporary Shelter,” about Ukrainian refugees; Hind Meddeb’s “Sudan,...

Eddie Huang, creator of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat comedy, is set to open the Toronto Film Festival’s TIFF Docs sidebar with a world premiere for Vice is Broke, a documentary about the rise and fall of Vice Media.

Huang will chronicle events leading up to Shane Smith’s Vice Media, a scrappy media player once valued at $5.7 billion, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023 to open the way for a sale of the company.

There’s also world bows in Toronto’s documentary strand for Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story, directed by Sinéad O’Shea, who did hours of interviews with the legendary Irish novelist in the last year of O’Brien’s life; Jen Gaiten and Screwball doc maker Billy Corben bringing Men of War, about a former U.S. Green Beret caught up in a failed 2020 coup to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; and...

Sally Jo Fifer is stepping down after 22 years as CEO of Independent Television Service, the documentary production and funding powerhouse. She will stay in her role while the Itvs board searches for a successor to Fifer, who joined the organization in 2001 after a stint as executive director of the Bay Area Video Coalition.

“What a gift it has been these past 22 years to serve film artists who engage and transform our hearts and minds — make us more empathetic, more just, more wise,” Fifer said in a statement. “They give us hope for a better future.”

Itvs said in a release, “Fifer has executive produced more than 1,000 films and docuseries in association with partners like the National Multicultural Alliance, Firelight Media, Kartemquin Films, Wnet, Weta, and Wgbh. Her credit appears on 16 Oscar nominees, 37 Primetime Emmy winners, 35 Peabody Award recipients. These critically acclaimed films and docuseries include titles such as I Am...

Click here to read the full article.

Mad Gene Media is making moves.

Oscar Isaac and Elvira Lind’s production company has signed a first-look deal with Endeavor Content that will see the married pair collaborate with the studio’s TV, film and documentary teams to develop and produce content for all platforms. At the same time, Mad Gene Media has scooped up its first executive, hiring Gena Konstantinakos to serve as head of development and production.

The deal marks the first production pact for the company, founded in 2019 and announced in November 2020 by Lind on Instagram with a post teasing that they had “podcasts, shorts, docs, fiction and graphic novels in the making.” They made a splash with one of their first projects, a live-action short film titled The Letter Room, written and directed by Lind (Bobbie Jene) and starring Isaac.

The Letter Room went on to be nominated...

Exclusive: Philly D.A., the docuseries from PBS’ Independent Lens that shines a light on Larry Krasner, who fought the city’s district attorney’s office as a civil rights lawyer for 30 years before he was elected to the position himself, has won a Peabody Award.

The eight-part series from All Ages Productions, Department of Motion Pictures and Itvs will be bestowed the honor Tuesday in the Documentaries section of the annual honors, which go to the year’s most powerful content across the fields of entertainment, docs, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming.

The awards, in their 82nd year, hail from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Kevin Bacon announced the honor for Philly D.A. virtually as part of Peabody’s rollout this week of its 30 overall awards. Philly D.A. directors and Philadelphia natives...

Cinema Eye Honors, an influential bellwether in the race for documentary awards, kicked off its 15th year with non-fiction award-winners announced at its annual Los Angeles lunch attended by many top filmmakers. Steve James’ five-part Chicago series “City So Real,” and Spike Lee’s filmed portrait of David Byrne’s Broadway show “American Utopia” lead the Cinema Eye Honors broadcast nominations list with three nods apiece. “David Byrne’s American Utopia” is one of five films up for Outstanding Broadcast Film, while “City So Real” joins five other series in the Nonfiction Series category. Both projects were nominated for Outstanding Broadcast Editing and Cinematography.

“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director Aj Schnack. The beloved documentary veteran, who died last week, was an Executive Producer on both “City So Real” and “American Utopia.

Cinema Eye Honors, an influential bellwether in the race for documentary awards, kicked off its 15th year with non-fiction award-winners announced at its annual Los Angeles lunch attended by many top filmmakers. Steve James’ five-part Chicago series “City So Real,” and Spike Lee’s filmed portrait of David Byrne’s Broadway show “American Utopia” lead the Cinema Eye Honors broadcast nominations list with three nods apiece. “David Byrne’s American Utopia” is one of five films up for Outstanding Broadcast Film, while “City So Real” joins five other series in the Nonfiction Series category. Both projects were nominated for Outstanding Broadcast Editing and Cinematography.

“It is notable that both of this year’s most nominated Broadcast entries are part of the creative legacy of Diane Weyermann,” said Cinema Eye Founding Director Aj Schnack. The beloved documentary veteran, who died last week, was an Executive Producer on both “City So Real” and “American Utopia.

Philly D.A. Photo: Yoni Brook Philly D.A., BBC Four, 10pm and 11pm, Tuesday and repeated Thursday at 11.40pm and 12.40pm

These first two episodes of  Yoni Brook, Ted Passon's eight part documentary series are so good that they were packaged up as a film and played extensively on the festival circuit last year. They follow Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner - who many see as the very definition of poacher turned gamekeeper as prior to taking the job he was a long-serving civil rights lawyer who sued the Philadelphia Pd more than 70 times. Krasner is a progressive - and was elected on that mandate - and these first two episodes of what promises to be an excellent series show how he immediately locks horns with many of the old-timers in his department. Krasner is not a man that hangs about and the documentarians, while clearly hoping he succeeds,...

As a civil rights attorney in private practice, Larry Krasner sued the Philadelphia Police Department roughly 75 times. Not exactly the kind of guy you would expect to run for district attorney of Philadelphia. Or to win.

But that’s exactly what happened in 2017. Not even Krasner gave himself good odds of victory when he first entered the race.

“It was a laughable shot,” he tells Deadline, “but somehow it worked.”

Krasner swept into office as part of a wave of progressive D.A.s elected in cities around the country, an iconoclastic group dedicated to taking on a system many critics see as systemically racist and unfair.

“This administration is going to have a progressive and frankly activist approach to criminal justice reform,” Krasner articulated early in his tenure, promising to “substantially” alter charging and sentencing practices and cash bail policies that have contributed to mass incarceration. “You’re not going to see slow,...

The video above was produced by IndieWire’s Creative Producer Leonardo Adrian Garcia. The conversation below relates to PBS docuseries “Philly D.A.,” an eight-part look inside the district attorney’s office of Philadelphia and the challenges faced by Larry Krasner, a longtime progressive defense attorney elected as the city’s prosecutor. Helmed by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar the docuseries is available to stream in full via the PBS app and website.

Libby Hill, TV Awards Editor: Ben, I have to be honest with you. It’s not often that you completely blindside me, recommending a series that wasn’t on my radar whatsoever. And yet, here we have “Philly D.A.” Are you just pulling my leg? Are you sure this show actually exists?

Ben Travers, TV Critic: Libby, not only am I sure “Philly D.A.” exists, but I’m relatively sure it’s the best documentary series...

While it eventually evolved to become a sprawling, eight-part look inside a Philadelphia institution at a crucial pivot point, “Philly D.A.” didn’t start out that way. Ted Passon and Yoni Brook began filming a smaller-scale documentary project on the longshot local campaign of Larry Krasner, a longtime progressive defense attorney running for the city’s district attorney job.

After Krasner’s surprising victory, the two showed up throughout the transition process and in the opening weeks of the new Da’s tenure. Over time, producer Nicole Salazar joined as an integral part of the series’ core team, helping to expand the scope of a unique journalistic endeavor. After a Sundance premiere and a weekly run as part of PBS’ “Independent Lens,” “Philly D.A.” now stands as a record of an undertaking seemingly as mammoth as the downtown office building where much of it takes place.

Pick any...

Independent Lens, the PBS documentary anthology series, has announced its upcoming spring slate. The weekly program, produced in partnership with Itvs, will spotlight a range of topics, from criminal justice reform to the plight of the American dream.

Among the first to air will be “Philly D.A.,” an eight-episode deep dive into local-policy making and the fight for criminal justice reform. For the series, filmmakers Ted Passon and Yoni Brook gained unparalleled access into the office of Philadelphia Defense Attorney Larry Krasner as he and his team attempt to fight inequities in the justice system and institute real change. It premieres on April 20 on Independent Les and will be available to stream on the PBS Video App.

The first two hours of “Philly D.A.” premiered at Sundance Film Festival to strong reviews. In Variety’s review, Kiko Martinez called the series “compelling” and “empowering.”

“For anyone looking for a leader...

Early on in the last episode of “Worn Stories,” a number of unrelated people of all ages and backgrounds offer their ideas about love. For a show ostensibly about clothing, that may seem like a bit of a leap. But after watching the seven episodes prior, “love” seems like the only place to end a season-long look at our collective relationship to the clothes we wear.

The series, adapted from writer Emily Spivack’s book of the same name, offers a kaleidoscopic view of human experience, a collection of stories all gathered around people’s most treasured items of clothing. Each episode revolves around a thematic connection, drawing together a handful of first-person accounts of life experiences inextricably linked to whatever the storyteller wore during a particularly fateful time. These range from split-second, life-changing surprises to gradual and persistent periods where one specific item became an irreplaceable constant.

If “Worn...

Documentary festival aims to host physical as well as online events.

Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has revealed the line-up of competition titles for its 2021 edition, which it aims to host as a hybrid event from April 15-25.

A total of 142 films from 58 countries have been selected, including 82 world premieres.

Scroll down for competition titles

The 13-strong international feature film competition includes the world premiere of Tomasz Wolski’s documentary 1970, which uses stop motion animation and archive footage to recount what happened when striking workers in communist Poland demonstrated against price increases. Poland’s Wolski won the jury...

Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has revealed the full lineup for its 52nd edition, which, for the second year running, will screen as a online event, this round round over April 15-25.

The program, which comprises of 142 films originating from 58 countries, was revealed live in a Zoom press conference this morning, broadcast from the Cinéma Capitole in the festival’s host town of Nyon, Switzerland.

Among the 13 titles competing in VdR’s main, a doc feature exploring a health system in the throes of change. The zeigeisty debut feature of Swiss filmmaker Marie-Eve Hildbrand will also open the festival on 15 April.

The festival also announced 37 medium-to-short films from first-time directors. In a statement Emilie Bujès, artistic director of Visions du Réel praised this year’s “powerful and eclectic” selection.

“It will once again enable us to take into account the independence and the emancipation of contemporary documentary filmmaking,...

Philly Da, which premiered at Sundance and is also screening in Berlin, is the first two hours of what will ultimately run on television as an eight episode series about Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner - who many see as the very definition of poacher turned gamekeeper, although he is most certainly not in the business of maintaining the status quo.

A civil rights lawyer for decades, he had sued the Philadelphia Police Department more than 70 times before deciding to run for office. Yoni Brook, Ted Passon and Nicole Salazar's series - which, going on the first two episodes upon which this review is based, runs wide and deep - begins with his first policy meeting after gaining the position before rewinding to give a flavour of his run for power, filling in archive footage about his activism and career as they go.

Krasner made no secret of his progressive attitude on.

"I am a career civil rights lawyer." Dogwoof has revealed the first trailer for Philly D.A., a new doc made by filmmakers Yoni Broo & Ted Passon. This just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as one long 110 minute feature film. However, the project is being sold/distributed as a series with 8x hour-long episodes in total. Philly D.A. is a groundbreaking documentary embedded inside the shocking election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, the most controversial District Attorney in the nation, and his mission to upend the criminal justice system from within. It reminds me of Frederick Wiseman's recent doc City Hall, but this series seems to have a more nuanced focus with Krasner and his plans for the city. "Directors Ted Passon & Yoni Brook rigorously bring to life the people impacted and incensed by the failings of the system, as well as those fighting to maintain the status quo.

In today’s TV news roundup, FX announced premiere dates its spring slate, and Netflix announced additional cast members for “Pieces of Her.”

Casting

Gil Birmingham, Terry O’Quinn and Calum Worthy have been cast in Netflix’s thriller series “Pieces of Her.” They join previously announced cast members Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, Jessica Barden, David Wenham, Joe Dempsie, Jacob Scipio and Omari Hardwick. “Pieces of Her,” based on Karin Slaughter‘s New York Times bestseller, follows 30-year-old Andy Oliver (Heathcote) and her mother Laura (Collette) whose lives are turned upside-down following a random act of violence in their quiet Georgia town. Looking for answers, Andy journeys across the country to uncover the mysteries of her family. Executive producers are showrunner Charlotte Stoudt, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Janice Williams, Slaughter, Minkie Spiro, Lesli Linka Glatter and Casey Haver.

Dates

FX announced that the fourth season of “Cake” will premiere March 11 at 10 p.

The first three years of Larry Krasner’s tenure as Philadelphia District Attorney is the focus of the upcoming PBS docuseries Philly D.A. Ahead of the eight-part series arrival on April 20th, Rolling Stone has an exclusive clip that gives viewers an inside look into Krasner’s office.

In the clip, the freshly elected Krasner arrives in the D.A.’s office with a radical plan to reform and overhaul Philadelphia’s oppressive bail policies. “They didn’t do a damn thing in this office in terms of changing these policies for 30-effing years,...

It’s the most common question whenever an outsider — be it Ross Perot or Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump — runs for a position of power in an entrenched political system: Having big ideas or exciting the electorate is one thing, but when you challenge the political orthodoxy, how do you actually govern if you happen to win?

This is the backdrop of Ted Passon, Yoni Brook and Nicole Salazar’s eight-part Independent Lens docuseries Philly D.A., which is premiering its first two hours as part of the virtual Sundance Film Festival and will launch on PBS later this year....

It’s the most common question whenever an outsider — be it Ross Perot or Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump — runs for a position of power in an entrenched political system: Having big ideas or exciting the electorate is one thing, but when you challenge the political orthodoxy, how do you actually govern if you happen to win?

This is the backdrop of Ted Passon, Yoni Brook and Nicole Salazar’s eight-part Independent Lens docuseries Philly D.A., which is premiering its first two hours as part of the virtual Sundance Film Festival and will launch on PBS later this year....

No one said starting a revolution, even at a local level, was going to be easy. Nor did they say it would be a painless experience figuring a way to sustain it and persuading others to buy into the radical ideas it would take to fundamentally transform how the criminal justice system operates from within.

Such is the case with former civil rights attorney Larry Krasner, who was elected District Attorney of Philadelphia in 2017 with promises of confronting contentious issues like eliminating bail payments, declining to prosecute low-level offenders, and holding police officers accountable for bad behavior.

Krasner’s rise to the role of D.A. was monumental because as a former defense attorney and critic of the D.A.’s office for the last 30 years, someone as progressive-minded as he was never supposed to reach a position that is usually reserved for a bureaucrat set on taking a tough,...

Sometimes the best way to make an institution reform is to change it from the inside. That was what longtime Philadelphia civil rights advocate and criminal defense attorney Larry Krasner thought when he launched his bid to become his city’s next district attorney. He won that 2017 election, and “Philly D.A.,” an eight-part documentary series for PBS’ “Independent Lens” banner, shows what happened next. Suddenly, this longtime advocate against mass incarceration was Philadelphia’s top prosecutor.

Krasner entered his role as D.A. with a mission: to end cash bail, something which results in defendants being jailed simply because they’re poor, and find other ways to reform an approach to criminal justice that has resulted in Philadelphia being the most incarcerated major city in the U.S. A few things seem like no-brainers: increase the amount of drugs an arrestee is carrying before major prison time is imposed,...

Back in 2017, longtime civil rights attorney Larry Krasner, a man who sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times in his law career, did what seemed impossible: he was elected as the city’s District Attorney, a longshot campaign that unexpectedly put Krasner at the top of an office he clashed with for years.

“Not a ton surprised me because I had been in court four to five days per week for years,” Krasner tells Gold Derby in an interview from the Sundance Film Festival. “But I will say, the truth is, it was worse than I thought. The truth is, from the inside, when you actually start to open all the closets and find the skeletons, there are more skeletons than you thought there were. But I cannot tell you I was that surprised. I thought the institution was broken before I came in, I came in and it was broken.

How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? When we began producing this docuseries in 2017, the national conversation around the role of systemic racism in the justice system was in a different place. Back then the city of Philadelphia, where we live, was immersed in a reckoning with its position as America’s most incarcerated big city. After a shocking election, Larry Krasner, an outsider committed to ending mass incarceration, took over the prosecutor’s office responsible for sending people to prison. We […]

The post "America's Most Incarcerated City": Directors Ted Passon, Yoni Brook and Nicole Salazar | Philly D.A. first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

How did events of 2020—any of them—change your film, either in the way you approached it, produced it, post-produced it, or are now thinking about it? When we began producing this docuseries in 2017, the national conversation around the role of systemic racism in the justice system was in a different place. Back then the city of Philadelphia, where we live, was immersed in a reckoning with its position as America’s most incarcerated big city. After a shocking election, Larry Krasner, an outsider committed to ending mass incarceration, took over the prosecutor’s office responsible for sending people to prison. We […]

The post "America's Most Incarcerated City": Directors Ted Passon, Yoni Brook and Nicole Salazar | Philly D.A. first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Poh Si Teng, producer of Oscar-nominated documentary short “St. Louis Superman,” has joined the International Documentary Association (IDA) as the new director of the IDA Funds and Enterprise program.

Poh will oversee and build IDA’s grants portfolio and serve as a key liaison with the documentary field in the U.S. and globally, working with IDA’s program officer Dana Merwin.

Poh succeeds Carrie Lozano who joined the Sundance Institute as director of the documentary film program in fall 2020.

Prior to joining IDA, Poh oversaw the U.S., Canada and Latin America as documentary commissioner and senior producer for Al Jazeera English’s flagship documentary strand, “Witness.” She was previously a journalist with The New York Times, where she received an Emmy nomination and other awards from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Nppa for her work.

Originally from Penang, Malaysia, Poh has also...

Six series will play in the festival with 10 titles in the Market.

A new anthology series titled This Is Music from directors including Wim Wenders and David Byrne is one of 10 international projects selected for the Co-Pro Series section of the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2021 (March 2-5).

The Berlinale Series has also selected six series to play in the online festival, which runs from March 1-5.

Scroll down for full list of Co-Pro Series, Berlinale Series and Series Market Selects titles

Produced by Norway’s Oslo Pictures, anthology series This Is Music is created by Bjørn Olaf Johannessen, who wrote Wenders...

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the six titles that will take part in the latest edition of Berlinale Series. The shows will screen online during the first week of March when the European Film Market runs, and the team are currently discussing plans for presenting some of the shows during the festival’s planned summer event.

The line-up includes Philly D.A., the strand’s first docuseries, which follows the most controversial District Attorney in the U.S. and will arrive from its premiere at Sundance. Deadline recently revealed that Dogwoof has boarded the project, which comes from Oscar-nominated duo Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald.

Latin American TV will be represented for the first time with two titles: Amongst Men (Entre Hombres), an Argentinian HBO production, and The Last Days of Gilda (Os últimos dias de Gilda) from Canal Brazil.

Russell T Davies’ drama set during the AIDS crisis,...

Exclusive: Factual specialist sales outfit Dogwoof has taken rights on two Sundance series titles this year: Dutch three-parter Seeds Of Deceit, about a high profile scandal, and eight-part Philly D.A., which is co-produced by PBS Independent Lens.

Seeds Of Deceit will world premiere in Sundance’s Indie Series strand. Directed by Miriam Guttman, the doc is an investigation into the revelation that a respected Dutch fertility doctor, Dr. Karbaat, clandestinely inseminated over 65 of his patients with his own semen. The series examines how he got away with it for so long and the repercussions that haunt those affected: the emotional trauma of coming to terms with a changed, uncertain genetic origin.

The show was produced by Monique Busman and Michiel van Erp for De Familie Film & TV and co-produced by Dutch broadcaster Vpro.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Dogwoof on our documentary series Seeds Of Deceit.