Non-fiction filmmakers who tell truth to power often face aggressive attack from powerful individuals, governmental bodies, businesses and associations. How are independent makers, often working outside of media institutions for long periods of time, and sometimes untrained in journalistic practices, working with this reality? What are the risks, and can they be mitigated to encourage more and better expression on the important issues of the day?
This report finds that the risks of doing such work are well-established in the investigative journalism community, but not always well known in the documentary film community. It documents attitudes, practices, and problems. It then addresses how makers of such work may best mitigate known risks, and what kinds of support may help them more than they are today.
It finally suggests next steps to expand opportunities and share existing knowledge about how to lower risks while telling truth to power. Graduate fellows Stephanie Brown and Olga Khrustaleva assisted with research. Consultant Deborah Goldman contributed legal research. Legal fellow Anuj Gupta assisted Ms. Goldman with legal research. Documentary makers often produce work that challenges the terms of the status quo, whether through investigative reporting, revealing an underrepresented viewpoint, or signaling an overlooked trend.
Such work is widely recognized as having an important role to play in a democracy. Non-fiction filmmakers who take on the task of bringing these issues to light often find themselves facing aggressive attack from individuals, governmental bodies, businesses and associations with substantial connections and resources at their disposal.
Filmmakers who take on such projects run a real risk that one or more of their subjects will attack them, whether it is through surveillance during or after production, litigation or its threat, or through a smear campaign. They face risks even long after their work is completed, as a recent terror attack at a screening of the film Vessel , about an abortion doctor who works offshore, shows. And their subjects often share their risks. This study looks at recent situations where makers of long-form, non-fiction, moving-image work have faced such challenges in order to draw lessons from past experience and learnโfrom filmmakers and their lawyers, insurers, producers and programmersโwhat kinds of support are available and what kinds of support are needed.
