Dawn Porter (filmmaker)

Dawn Porter

Dawn Porter is an American documentary filmmaker.
Website http://www.trilogy-films.com

Dawn Porter is an American documentary filmmaker. Her directorial debut was Gideon's Army, about three black public defenders working in the American South. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, where it won the festival's Documentary Editing Award.[1] Gideon’s Army premiered on HBO in July, 2013[2] and was later nominated for an Emmy Award[3] 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, which debuted on PBS in 2014. It is a documentary 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.[4]

Trapped, Porter's latest film premiered at Sundance. It shows the impact of anti-abortion laws on abortion providers in the South along with chronicling the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi.[5] 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.[6]

Porter also produced a biography of Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli for the Cooking Channel.

Porter is a graduate of Swarthmore College (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. Porter owns a company called Trilogy Films.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Gideon's Army". Sundance. 2013. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  2. ↑ "Gideon's Army". HBO. 2013. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  3. ↑ "Nominees announced for the 35th annual news and documentary Emmy awards". Emmy Online. 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  4. ↑ Spies of Mississippi: Filmmaker Dawn Porter Tells Shocking Story February 7, 2014 by Craig Phillips Independent Lens, PBS
  5. ↑ ""Trapped": New film follows providers who are fighting to keep abortion accessible in the South". Democracy Now. 2016-01-25. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  6. ↑ "Abortion providers secretly arrive at Sundance to support the documentary Trapped". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  7. ↑ "Dawn Porter '88". Swarthmore College. 2011. Retrieved 2016-02-26.


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