What’s it like for independent doc filmmakers, accustomed to making all their own decisions, to work with a top-notch doc series like PBS’s Frontline, with its strict journalistic guidelines? That’s the main topic I discuss with award-winning doc filmmakers Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein, whose terrific 2022 film American Reckoning began as an indie project but eventually turned into a Frontline project.

Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein are well-known both separately as a team, Yoruba for films including 2023’s The Cost of Inheritance, which premiered at DOC NYC, Brad for films including 2022’s Emmy Award-winning When Claude Got Shot. More about Yoruba here, and Brad here.

Films mentioned in this episode:

American Reckoning (2022), Dir. Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein

The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show (2020), Dir. Yoruba Richen

When Claude Got Shot (2021), Dir. Brad Lichtenstein

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (2022), Dir. Yoruba Richen and Johanna Hamilton

Black Natchez (1967), Dir. Ed Pincus and David Neuman

Other mentions:

St. Clair Bourne

Bill Moyers

The Un(re)solved Project

Dawn Porter

Frontline

Hillary Bachelder

Raney Aronson-Rath

The Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act

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Special thanks for helping make this series happen: Sara Archambault, Florence Barrau-Adams, Jon Berman, Ben Cuomo (music), Jax Deluca, Pallavi Deshpande, Nancy Gibbs, Kathleen Hughes, Caroline Kracunas, Laura Manley, Alexis Pancrazi, Liz Schwartz, Jeff Seelbach, Lindsay Underwood (logo/graphics)

This episode was supported by a fellowship at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.