SELECTED FILMS:
Time Bomb Y2K (HBO, 2023)
As the clock counted down to the the 21st century, the world faced a potential technological disaster: a bug that could cause computers to misinterpret the year 2000 as 1900. Crafted entirely from archival footage and featuring first-hand accounts from computer experts, survivalists, scholars, militia groups, conservative Christians, and pop icons, Time Bomb Y2K is a prescient and often humorous tale about the power and vulnerabilities of technology.
Directors: Brian Becker & Marley McDonald, Producer: Brian Becker, Executive Producers: Penny Lane & Gabriel Sedgwick, Edited with: Marley McDonald
Premiere: 2023 True/False Film Festival
Broadcast: HBO, December 30, 2023
Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union (HBO, 2021)
Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union is a three-part documentary series chronicling the personal and political journey of President Barack Obama as the country grapples with its racial history. Weaving together conversations with colleagues, friends, and critics, and interspersed with his own speeches and news interviews, the series begins with Obama’s childhood and takes us through his perspective as the son of a white mother from Kansas and an African father, his spiritual formation informed by a generation of Black leaders, and his hopes for a more inclusive America.
The documentary series forms a cohesive picture of America under its first Black president. Obama’s presidency was unique in America’s history, but what was a historic step forward for the country also exposed the ever-present need to address issues about race, racial justice and the country’s history. Encapsulating both the man and the president, the documentary highlights the vision he had for the nation shaped by his own experiences and identity. Through today’s lens, the series reflects on the Obama administration with new understanding about the personal obstacles he faced and the challenging pursuit for equality in America.
Director: Peter Kunhardt, Producers: George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt, Matthew O. Henderson, Maya Mumma & Andrea Ortega-Williams, Executive Producers: Peter Kunhardt; Andi Bernstein, Mona Sutphen, Jelani Cobb & Jacqueline Glover, Co-Editors: Ryan Dilts & Charnelle Quallis
Premiere: 2021 AFI DOCS
Broadcast: HBO, August 3-5, 2021
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality (HBO, 2019)
In the last half-century, America has become the nation with the highest rate of incarceration in the world, authorized the execution of hundreds of condemned prisoners and continued to struggle to recover from a long history of racial injustice.
For more than three decades, Alabama public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned, seeking to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. An intimate portrait of this remarkable man, True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality follows his struggle to create greater fairness in the system and shows how racial injustice emerged, evolved and continues to threaten the country, challenging viewers to confront it.
Director & Producers: Peter Kunhardt, George Kunhardt &Teddy Kunhardt
Premiere: 2019 AFI DOCS opening night film
Broadcast: HBO, June 26, 2019
Awards: 2019 Peabody Award / Outstanding Social Issue Documentary, 2020 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
Nominations: Outstanding Documentary (Film), 2019 NAACP Image Awards
King in the Wilderness (HBO, 2018)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership during the the bus boycotts, the sit-ins, and the historic Selma-to-Montgomery marches is now considered the stuff of legend. But left out of the history books is much of what happened afterward, during the last three years of his life. King in the Wilderness reveals a conflicted leader who, after the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum; the Black Power movement saw his nonviolence as weakness, and President Lyndon B. Johnson saw his anti–Vietnam War speeches as irresponsible. King’s fervent belief in peaceful protest became a testing point for a nation on the brink of chaos. Thanks to revelatory conversations with his inner circle of friends, King in the Wilderness unearths a stirring new perspective into Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence, and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his assassination in 1968. With clarity and compassion, filmmaker Peter Kunhardt invites a sense of penetrating intimacy and insight into one of the most profound thinkers of our time.
Director: Peter Kunhardt, Producers: Peter Kunhardt, Taylor Branch, Trey Ellis, Jackie Glover, George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt & Jill Cowan, Edited with: Steven Golliday
Premiere: 2018 Sundance Film Festival
Broadcast: HBO, April 2, 2018
Awards: Outstanding Historical Documentary, 2019 News & Documentary Emmys
Nominations: Outstanding Documentary (Television), 2019 NAACP Image Awards
Daughters of Destiny (NETFLIX, 2017)
Five girls from India's most impoverished families attend a boarding school designed to create opportunities as they strive for a brighter future. Since 1997, the Shanti Bhavan school has provided free education for some of India’s most impoverished and underrepresented children – the “poorest of the poor.” In Daughters of Destiny: The Journey of Shanti Bhavan, director Vanessa Roth tells viewers the unforgettable story of a school that has changed countless lives for the better. With any luck, it might even inspire others to do the same.
Director: Vanessa Roth, Producers: Vanessa Roth, Lisa Nishimura. Jason Spingarn-Koff, Livio Sanchez & Devorah Palladino, Edited with: Geeta Gandbhir & Karen Sim, Co-Editor: Ryan Dilts
Release: July 2017
Awards: 2018 Television Academy Honor
Nominations: Best Limited Series, 2017 IDA Awards
It is the defining cultural tale of modern America - a saga of race, celebrity, media, violence, and the criminal justice system. And two decades after its unforgettable climax, it continues to fascinate, polarize, and even, yes, develop new chapters. O.J.: Made in America revisits - and redefines - it all. The domestic abuse. The police investigation. The white Bronco chase. The trial of the century. The motive, the blood, the glove. The verdict. The aftermath. Drawing upon more than seventy interviews- from longtime friends and colleagues of Simpson to the recognizable protagonists of the murder investigation to observers and commentators with distinct connections to the story - the documentary is an engrossing, compelling, and unforgettable look at a tantalizing saga. Because at the end of what seems like a search for the real truth about O.J. Simpson, what's revealed just as powerfully is a collection of indelible, unshakeable, and haunting truths about America, and about ourselves.
Director: Ezra Edelman, Producers: Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow, Tamara Rosenberg, Nina Krstic, Libby Geist & Connor Schell, Edited with: Bret Granato & Ben Sozanski, Associate Editor: Ryan Dilts
Premiere: 2016 Sundance Film Festival
Theatrical release: May 2016
Broadcast: June 2016 on ABC and ESPN
Awards (Selected): Best Feature Documentary awards - Academy Award, Independent Spirit Award, Critics Choice Award, Gotham Award, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, International Documentary Association
Editing Awards: Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program / ACE Eddie Award, Best Edited Documentary Feature / LA Film Critics Association, Best Editing
A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers (PBS, 2019)
An in-depth look at a Bangladeshi unit of female paramilitary police officers who choose to travel far from their families, friends and all that is familiar to join the United Nations Stabilizing Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The film examines the experience and impact of the female peacekeepers in Haiti and within the larger context of the male-dominated peacekeeping arena. We follow three remarkable women from recruitment, into training, and throughout their tour of duty in Haiti until their return home. A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers casts light on the unique contribution female police make in crisis situations and answer the following questions: are women the key to lasting conflict resolution and peace building—and at what cost or benefit to themselves, their families, those they impact on the ground, and the traditional structure of the communities they come from?
Directors: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy & Geeta Gandbhir, Producers: Geeta Gandbhir, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Irfan Izhar & Perri Peltz, Associate Editor: Nandita Ahmed
Premiere: 2015 Toronto International Film Festival
Broadcast: Women, War & Peace II series, PBS/WNET, 2019
Awards: Humanitarian Award, 2016 RiverRun International Film Festival / Best Documentary, 2016 Bentonville Film Festival
Pioneering the journey from rhythm and blues to funk, James Brown forever changed the face of American music. Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown follows the journey of Brown as he escaped his impoverished Southern roots to become the biggest name in soul music, and one of the most important music talents of the 20th Century. The film utilizes never-before seen concert footage and photographs, interviews of Brown from a variety of sources (including vintage TV series like The Mike Douglas Show and Soul Train), and recent insights from band members and others who knew and were influenced by the singer, to tell the remarkable story of this supremely gifted and enormously influential American musical icon.
Director: Alex Gibney, Producers: Mick Jagger, Victoria Pearman, Peter Afterman & Blair Foster, Edited with: Geeta Gandbhir, Associate Editor: Alex Keipper
Premiere: 2014 Tribeca Film Festival
Broadcast: HBO, 2014
Awards: 2014 Peabody Award
Nominations: Best Music Film, 2016 Grammy Awards / Outstanding Documentary (Television), 2015 NAACP Image Awards
OFFICIAL SITE
Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley (HBO, 2013)
Often referred to as “the funniest woman in the world,” the iconic African-American standup comedienne Jackie “Moms” Mabley broke racial and sexual boundaries and continues to inspire comedians to this day. In her directorial film debut, a modern-day comedy favorite pays homage to this pioneering talent. Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley features recently unearthed photographs, rediscovered performance footage and the words of entertainers and historians, including interviews with Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers, Sidney Poitier, Kathy Griffin, Harry Belafonte, Bill Cosby, Quincy Jones, Arsenio Hall, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, who emphasize how Mabley paved the way for female comedians and performers everywhere in provocative stand-up routines that challenged racism, sexism and ageism.
Director: Whoopi Goldberg, Producers: Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Leonardis & George Schlatter
Premiere: 2013 Tribeca Film Festival
Broadcast: HBO, 2013
Nominations: Outstanding Documentary, 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards / Outstanding Documentary (Television), 2014 NAACP Image Awards
OFFICIAL SITE
Photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington was always searching for the humanity within wartime conflict, as evidenced in his award-winning body of work. When he and Sebastian Junger spent a year filming a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in their Academy Award–nominated and Sundance Grand Jury Prizewinning film Restrepo, they weren’t simply looking for action; instead, they chose to focus on the many small moments that make war real. Hetherington’s footage of time he spent with the rebel army during Liberia’s civil war and in Libya prior to his untimely death from a mortar blast in 2011 conveys a rare sense of intimacy in sharp contrast to the violence surrounding him. Although he spent most of his time traveling to the epicenter of war zones, he was seeking the truth, rather than adventure. That is Hetherington’s enduring gift. Which Way Is The Front Line From Here: The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington gracefully weaves together footage of Hetherington at work and moving interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues to capture Director Sebastian Junger’s compatriot and friend’s unique perspective, compassion, and intense curiosity about the human spirit.
Director: Sebastian Junger, Producers: James Brabazon, Gretchen McGowan & Nick Quested, Edited with: Geeta Gandbhir
Premiere: 2013 Sundance Film Festival
Broadcast: HBO, 2013
Nominations: Best Documentary & Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming, 2014 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
OFFICIAL SITE
Restrepo (National Geographic Cinema & Channel, 2010) - Associate Editor
In 2008 Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington dug in with the men of Second Platoon for a year. Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, a stronghold of al Qaeda and the Taliban, has proven to be one of the U.S. Army's deadliest challenges. It is here that the platoon lost their comrade, PFC Juan Restrepo, and erected an outpost in his honor. Up close and personal, Junger and Hetherington gain extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of backbreaking labor and deadly firefights that are a way of life at Outpost Restrepo. Ever wonder what it's really like to be in the trenches of war? Look no further. Restrepo may be one of the most experiential and visceral war films you'll ever see. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers reveal the humor and camaraderie of men who come under daily fire, never knowing which of them won't make it home.
Directors & Producers: Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger, Producers: John Battsek & Nick Quested, Editor: Michael Levine
Premiere: 2010 Sundance Film Festival
Theatrical Release: National Geographic Cinema, 2010
Broadcast: National Geographic Channel, 2010
Awards (Selected): Grand Jury Prize, US Documentary, 2010 Sundance Film Festival / Outstanding Editing, 2011 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
Nominations: Best Documentary, 2011 Academy Awards