
Dawn Porter
Directing
Biography
Dawn Porter is an American documentary filmmaker known for Trapped (2016), Gideon's Army (2013) and John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020) and founder of production company Trilogy Films.
Known For

Historic footage and leading voices of the era examine the "Bobby Phenomenon" of the 1960s and the legacy of the man who helped redefine the country.
Bobby Kennedy for President

Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry join forces to guide honest discussions about mental health.
The Me You Can't See

This new installment of the landmark 1987 documentary series Eyes on the Prize illuminates the bold stories of people and communities who continue to work for equity and racial justice in the years since the birth of the American Civil Rights movement.
Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015

After her adulterous husband asks for a divorce, a high-powered attorney takes him captive, refusing to release him until he commits to working on their marriage together. When his impatient mistress shows up, not to mention an opportunistic gardener, things start to get seriously complicated.
Serious Moonlight

In 1983, author Ta-Nehisi Coates learned that a 14-year-old boy was murdered in his Baltimore middle school. Upon revisiting the case, he uncovers the truth: Three innocent teenagers were wrongfully convicted and spent 36 years in prison — creating a lasting impact on the accused, the witnesses, and their community.
When a Witness Recants

An alarmingly disproportionate number of Black women are failed every year by the U.S. maternal health system. Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac were vibrant, excited mothers-to-be whose deaths due to childbirth complications were preventable. Now, their partners and families are determined to sound a rallying cry around this chilling yet largely ignored crisis.
Aftershock

The documentary tells the inspiring story of Title IX – the hard-fought battle to push for equal rights in education and athletics; the decades-spanning effort to nullify its impact; and the rippling impacts of the landmark civil rights law that continue to resonate today.
37 Words

Documentary series examining the vital role the Supreme Court plays in the context of America’s shifting political landscape. Each of the four episodes features an in-depth look at pivotal cases that altered the state of the union.
Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court

Sheds light on the criminal justice system by following a journalist and a man convicted of murder and the connection they formed within the walls of Sing Sing Correctional Facility.
The Sing Sing Chronicles

A groundbreaking inside look at the long shot election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia's unapologetic District Attorney, and his experiment to upend the criminal justice system from the inside out.
Philly D.A.

Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza's journey as a person with top secret clearance and total access to the President.
The Way I See It

Luther Vandross started his career supporting David Bowie, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, and more. His undeniable talent earned platinum records and accolades, but he struggled to break out beyond the R&B charts. Intensely driven, he overcame personal and professional challenges to secure his place amongst the greatest vocalists in history.
Luther: Never Too Much

The timely biopic focuses on John Lewis’ longstanding prominence as a civil rights champion and his continuing crusade for racial and social equality. The documentary illuminates the 80-year-old Congressman’s life as it chronicles the moments on the extraordinary journey that have shaped his place in history and make him such a galvanizing figure today as protests circle the globe. Lewis’ schedule has increased ten-fold as he has become the go-to figure for TV news shows, podcasts and newspapers and magazines from the Washington Post to Vanity Fair, commenting on and leading the way forward through today’s worldwide protests and demonstrations.
John Lewis: Good Trouble

The empowering and unlikely true story of how a group of professional women's basketball players took on a WNBA team owner and rallied behind now-Senator Raphael Warnock, forever changing the landscape of their sport and the course of U.S. politics.
Power of the Dream

Driven by extensive archive material and interviews with those who know her, this is the astonishing story of how a triple outsider – a woman, a scientist, and an East German – became the de facto leader of the “Free World”, told for the first time for an international audience.
Merkel

From award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter comes "The Lady Bird Diaries," a groundbreaking all-archival documentary film about Lady Bird Johnson, one of the most influential and least understood First Ladies. The feature film looks at the 123 hours of personal and revealing audio diaries that Lady Bird recorded during her husband’s administration. The film reveals Lady Bird as an astute observer of character and culture and a savvy political strategist. It recasts her crucial role in LBJ’s presidency and brings viewers behind the scenes of one of the most tumultuous and consequential periods in modern American history.
The Lady Bird Diaries

Spies of Mississippi tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain white supremacy. The anti-civil rights organization was hidden in plain sight in an unassuming office in the Mississippi State Capitol. Funded with taxpayer dollars and granted extraordinary latitude to carry out its mission, the Commission evolved from a propaganda machine into a full blown spy operation. How do we know this is true? The Commission itself tells us in more than 146,000 pages of files preserved by the State. This wealth of first person primary historical material guides us through one of the most fascinating and yet little known stories of America's quest for Civil Rights.
Spies of Mississippi

Chronicles the life of the legendary Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach.
Breaking Glass: The Pat Summitt Story

As Cirque du Soleil reboots its flagship production, O, more than a year after an abrupt shutdown, performers and crew members face uncertainty as they work to return to their world-class standards in time for the (re)opening night in Las Vegas. With unfettered access, filmmaker Dawn Porter captures the dramatic journey of the world's most famous circus act on its way back from the brink.
Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net

Comes one hundred years from the two-day Tulsa Massacre in 1921 that led to the murder of as many as 300 Black people and left as many as 10,000 homeless and displaced.