American film director
Dawn Porter
is an American documentary filmmaker and founder of production company Trilogy Films.
[1]
Early life and education
[
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]
Porter is a graduate of the
Bronx High School of Science
,
Swarthmore College
(in 1988) and
Georgetown University Law School
. Trained as an attorney, she became a filmmaker and financed her first film with assistance from the
Ford Foundation
.
[2]
Career
[
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]
Porter started her film career by working as executive producer for various films. In 2009, she executive-produced director
Jon Bowermaster
's
Terra Antarctica
, Re-Discovering the Seventh Continent
, a 49-minute documentary exploring the Antarctica Peninsula and its evolution. In 2009, she also co-executive produced two other films:
Serious Moonlight
, and
What Would Darwin Think? Man v. Nature in the Galapagos
. In 2011, she co-executive produced
The Green
, a romantic drama feature film directed by
Steven Williford
.
Porter's directorial debut was the 2013 documentary film
Gideon's Army
,
[3]
about three black
public defenders
working in the American Deep South. The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
in 2013, where it won the festival's "Documentary Editing Award".
[4]
The film also won the Creative Promise Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
[5]
Gideon’s Army
premiered on
HBO
in July 2013,
[6]
and was later nominated for an
Emmy Award
,
[7]
and an
Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature
. The film also won the
Ridenhour Award
for best documentary film in 2014.
Porter's second film project was
Spies of Mississippi
,
[3]
which debuted on
PBS
in 2014. It is 53-minute documentary shot in black and white about
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
(MSSC) efforts to preserve
segregation
during the 1950s and 1960s, including the use of an extensive spy network and violent cover-ups.
[8]
The film was written by
Rick Bowers
and directed by Porter.
Trapped
, Porter's third film, premiered at
Sundance Film Festival
in 2016. It shows the impact of anti-abortion laws on abortion providers in the South along with chronicling the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi.
[9]
Porter says she decided it was her duty to make this film, after witnessing there was only one abortion clinic in the entire state of Mississippi.
[3]
The title of the documentary was derived from the term TRAP Laws ("Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers"), which have led to the closure of hundreds of southern US clinics mainly in areas that service poor women and women of color.
[10]
Due to the film's potent subject matter on abortion, police were hired to stand guard outside screenings, and to check for weapons at the door.
[3]
She also produced a biography of Chef
Alexandra Guarnaschelli
for the
Cooking Channel
.
[
citation needed
]
[11]
Filmography
[
edit
]
See also
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Trilogy Films"
.
- ^
"Dawn Porter '88"
. Swarthmore College. 2011
. Retrieved
February 26,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Houston, Shannon M. (February 3, 2016).
"10 Black Directors to Watch in 2016"
.
Paste
. Retrieved
February 9,
2017
.
- ^
"Gideon's Army"
. Sundance. 2013
. Retrieved
February 26,
2016
.
- ^
"Awards"
.
- ^
"Gideon's Army"
. HBO. 2013
. Retrieved
February 26,
2016
.
- ^
"Nominees announced for the 35th annual news and documentary Emmy awards"
. Emmy Online. July 15, 2014. Archived from
the original
on November 26, 2020
. Retrieved
February 26,
2016
.
- ^
Phillips, Craig (February 7, 2014),
"Spies of Mississippi: Filmmaker Dawn Porter Tells Shocking Story"
,
Independent Lens
, PBS.
- ^
"
"Trapped": New film follows providers who are fighting to keep abortion accessible in the South"
.
Democracy Now!
. January 25, 2016
. Retrieved
February 26,
2016
.
- ^
Van Syckle, Katie (January 25, 2016).
"Abortion providers secretly arrive at Sundance to support the documentary Trapped"
. Cosmopolitan
. Retrieved
February 26,
2016
.
- ^
"Chefography, Cooking Channel Alex Guarnaschelli"
. Retrieved
October 31,
2019
.
External links
[
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]