By Mabel Pais

‘Double Exposure’ Investigative Film Festival for its eighth annual season presents the 11 investigative feature films selected for the highly curated film festival and symposium series. It takes place in-person, October 13-16 in Washington, DC.

Based in Washington D.C., the epicenter of power in the United States, if not the world, Double Exposure is the first and only U.S. film festival solely dedicated exclusively to investigative storytelling. A project of the investigative news organization 100Reporters, Double Exposure combines film screenings for the public followed by in-depth filmmaker Q&As that frequently include film protagonists and subject experts, and that dig much deeper than traditional Q&As. These are paired with a professional conference for filmmakers and journalists whose work is driven by the investigative instinct.

This year’s slate is a testimony to the incredible dedication of journalists and filmmakers who risk it all to go beyond the headlines.” said Double Exposure founder and co-director Diana Jean Schemo. “This year’s lineup reveals the value of long form storytelling to offer depth and nuance to headline news,” says festival co-director Sky Sitney. “The films take us viscerally and visually into the stories that shape our world today, often at the profound risk and extraordinary sacrifice of the filmmaker and journalist behind the lens. One film in our lineup, Myanmar Diaries is credited to an anonymous filmmaking collective to protect their identity: a group of local filmmakers working tirelessly in Myanmar to expose crimes committed by the military. While Mantas Kvedaravičius, the Lithuanian director behind Mariupolis 2, was tragically killed during the filming of his project – arrested by Russian soldiers when he attempted to leave the city and reportedly murdered. The film was completed by co-director Hanna Bilobrava.”

TICKETS & PASSES

For Tickets & Passes, and more information visit dxfest.com

2022 DOUBLE EXPOSURE FILM LINEUP

OPENING NIGHT

The Grab

Dir: Gabriela Cowperthwaite l USA l 1h 42m

An investigative journalist uncovers the money, influence, and alarming rationale behind covert land grabs by some of the world’s most powerful countries.

CLOSING NIGHT

Retrograde

Dir: Matt Heineman l USA l 1h 34m

The story of the last months of the 20-year war in Afghanistan through the intimate relationship between American Green Berets and the Afghan officers they trained.

CENTERPIECE FILM

American Pain

Dir: Darren Foster l USA l 46m

American Pain traces the rise and fall of twin bodybuilders from Florida who became the kingpins of the largest oxycodone trafficking network in US history.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

Body Parts

Dir: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan l USA l 1h 30m

Hazing

Dir: Byron Hurt l USA l 1h 43m

Into the Weeds

Dir: Jennifer Baichwal l USA l 1h 36m

The Killing of a Journalist

Dir: Matt Sarnecki l Denmark/Czech Republic/USA l 1h 40m

Mariupolis 2

Dir: Mantas Kvedaravičius l Ukraine l 1h 52m

Myanmar Diaries

Dir: Anonymous l Myanmar l 1h 10m

The New Greatness Case

Dir: Anna Shishova l Russia l 1h 32m

Pray for our Sinners

Dir: Sinéad O’Shea l Ireland l 1h 21m

SYMPOSIUM PANELS LINEUP

REFRAMING REPRESENTATION

Participants: Patricia Aufderheide, Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh, June Cross

Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s decade-long work has focused on developing a new visual and narrative language for telling stories of under-represented voices in India – ranging from farming communities and journalists working to create transformative change for their communities to refugees and LGBTQ artists finding ways of platforming critical issues around citizenship. In this session, Thomas and Ghosh will talk about how they maintain the delicate balance between filmmaker–participant relationships and the stakes and challenges of storytelling in a dynamically evolving and complex democracy. With Patricia Aufderheide, media scholar and a member of the Documentary Accountability Working Group, they will look at the internal process of working with subjects, and the external pressures that swirl around films that challenge power in an increasingly polarized and dangerous world.

WHISTLEBLOWERS AND THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Participants: Karim Amer, Ed Pierson, Mary Inman, and Amber Scorah

Theranos. WeWork. Uber. Anna Delvey. Harvey Weinstein. Over the past year, the entertainment industry has brought true stories of corporate fraud, scandal, and power abuse to the screen, as part of a growing trend in Hollywood to transform adaptations of non-fiction journalism into film and television. Whistleblowers are also beginning to take to storytelling via social media and podcasts, transcending the gatekeepers of book agents or journalists to share valuable information with the public and achieve virality on their own terms. This panel will explore what it means to incorporate the whistleblower into the process of making a movie – narrative or documentary – or a television show or series about their story.

DOCUMENTALITY FOR FILMMAKERS AND JOURNALISTS

Participants: Malikkah Rollins, Dr. Meryl Heyliger

Documentary filmmakers, as well as journalists, often engage with issues related to trauma, injustice, and abuse, but there has been very little institutional or even community support, let alone recognition of the burden of witnessing. DocuMentality, an initiative of The D-Word, Film in Mind and Malikkah Rollins, recognizes the hidden impact of this work on the frontlines. We seek to normalize a conversation about mental health and well-being in the documentary industry, and to provide best practice guidance and information for documentary filmmakers – and for journalists as well – to become more resilient resources for themselves, their teams and the people who entrust them with their stories.

FACING GOLIATH

Participants: Byron Hurt, Jennifer Baichwal, Nate Halverson, Amanda Pike

Investigative filmmakers and journalists are committed to holding power to account and following a covert trail of misdeeds wherever it may lead. But what happens when the trail lands them on the doorstep of the most powerful governments, corporations, and institutions in the world? In three remarkable films in this year’s lineup, filmmakers and their subjects dare to stand up to powerful, perhaps even untouchable institutions.

REFLECTION IS KEY: HOW VALUES-BASED FILMMAKING CAN REDUCE HARM

Participants: Natalie Bullock Brown, Molly Murphy

Filmmakers come up with ideas for new documentaries every day. But should they be made? This panel will explore how the Documentary Accountability Working Group’s framework for values, ethics, and accountability in non-fiction filmmaking can be utilized to deeply consider the merits and possibilities for harm during the very first phase of production: reflection.

LUNCHTIME CONVERSATION: READING THE SUPREME COURT ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Participants: Max Mishkin, Jennifer Nelson, Alison Schary

First Amendment at a Changing Supreme Court:  Discussing what the new, right-leaning Supreme Court means for First Amendment issues, including potential changes to anti-SLAPP laws and the “actual malice” standard in defamation liability.

VANISHING ACT: CAPTURING THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY

Participants: Anna Shushova, Matt Sarnecki

In Myanmar Diaries, anonymous filmmakers mix chilling footage of police arrests and killings filmed by citizen journalists with fictionalized scenes by an anonymous filmmaker collective that gave voice to fear and despair, struggle and resistance, following that country’s military takeover in February 2021. Anna Shushova, in The New Greatness Case, zeroes in on a KGB sting that entrapped teenagers into challenging the authority of Vladimir Putin, landing them in prison, to convey how fear can be engineered to rise and choke civic engagement. The Killing of a Journalist begins with a very tight focus on two people in Slovakia, 27-year-old investigative journalists and his fiancée, coldly murdered at home. Their killing prompts a sprawling investigation and nationwide protests, with surprising results. Each of these films tackles an increasingly urgent question for filmmakers in an age of crisis: How do you capture the death of freedom, when it becomes a way of life?

MEET THE FUNDERS WHO ARE MEETING THE MOMENT

Participants: Eric Ferrero, Keisha Knight, Lauren Pabst

This year’s edition of a perennial favorite at Double Exposure, the Meet the Funders panel, comes with a particular focus, in response to assaults on freedom across the planet, captured so vividly in this year’s film slate, and the looming threat to democracy closer to home. We’ve asked participating funders to talk about their grantmaking as it supports work to investigate and expose efforts to dismantle democracy and freedom.

OBTAINING AUDIO & VISUAL MATERIALS THROUGH PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS

Participants: Gunita Singh, Ken Klippenstein, Lauren Feeney

Police body cam footage, military training videos, surveillance recordings from government buildings — these are just a few examples of the types of audio/visual material that can be obtained via public records requests and incorporated into your documentary films and video journalism. In this workshop, we’ll talk about what sorts of materials you might be able to find and offer helpful tips on how to navigate the notoriously complex process. This workshop will have a special focus on audio and video material but will also explore how to access other types of documents.

WORLD BUILDING FOR STORYTELLERS: A VIEWERS LIKE US CASE STUDY

Participants: Olivia Aylmer, Grace Lee, Tony Patrick

As storytellers, documentarians, and investigative journalists, we are also world builders: actively shaping the future and seeding change through the questions we raise, the histories we document, and the fresh perspectives we gather. In this interactive workshop, Tony Patrick will walk attendees through the basic tenets of a world-building session, wherein a group of participants connect with each other and collectively envision the future of XYZ organization/industry/city/institution, unlocking a blueprint for actionable change, consensus, and problem-solving in the process.

LEGAL BOOT CAMP: INVESTIGATIVE BASICS FOR FILMMAKERS

Participants: Jennifer Nelson, Lisa Zycherman

A primer on journalists’ legal rights and responsibilities, including safety tips for investigative journalism, recording laws, and common legal issues that may arise while filming (e.g., intrusion, trespass, recording laws), how to avoid them, and related resources. Lawyers will field your questions at the end of the presentation.

NAVIGATING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES IN DOCUMENTARY FILM

Participants: Tom Hentoff, Jen Nelson

Legal experts will provide intellectual property training, including advice regarding fair use, clearance of music, and visuals and archival materials, with a focus on issues affecting the investigative documentary film community. Time will be set aside for questions from the audience.

FOR PRINT JOURNALISTS: BEYOND THE PITCH

Participants: Douglas Blush, Erica Berenstein

So, you’ve just seen your groundbreaking investigation in print, and you believe it would make a riveting film. But how do you get there? This session will demystify the process. You’ll learn how to evaluate your story’s cinematic and storytelling potential and tease out creative points of entry for a visual story.

THE ART, CRAFT AND HEART OF A GREAT PITCH

Participant: Judith Helfand

A two-hour pitching workshop led by Judith Helfand, award-winning filmmaker. Helfand will lead a series of exercises meant to engage the storyteller in you. This session will prepare you for round table meetings and fast intros at the festival, in part by showcasing examples of pitches that incorporate best practices while honoring the unique voice of the filmmaker and proposed film. Helfand believes in the wonder of wordsmithing and the power of context, in using words with edges and delighting in detail. She will push you to identify the core inquiry and fundamental question at the heart of your story.

TENDING THE UNSPOKEN WOUNDS: THE ROLE OF SELF-REFLECTION IN CULTIVATING A HEALING-CENTERED ETHIC IN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM & DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING

Participant: Dr. Kameelah Mu’Min Rashad

Many in the industry find themselves standing (or struggling) at an exquisitely perplexing crossroad: how do we document and share the stories unfolding in a world which is experiencing such upheaval and uncertainty? How do we both bear witness and process the painful AND joyous events in the lives of our storytellers? How does one acknowledge and cope with vicarious trauma in a field which prioritizes (the myth of) objectivity as the gold standard of professionalism? This workshop will explore these questions from the lens of self-awareness, critical consciousness, and healing justice.

Double Exposure

Double Exposure, a project of the nonprofit investigative news organization 100Reporters, showcases the best new films inspired by the investigative instinct, in a bid to raise public recognition of this vital form of reporting that doesn’t just ask tough questions, but delivers answers. It pairs film screenings with a concurrent symposium for journalists and filmmakers to connect with each other, and with the producers, editors, funders, and experts who can advance their work. To learn more, visit dxfest.com