Dawn Porter

Award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter has emerged in the entertainment industry as a leader in the art of storytelling; directing and producing critically acclaimed projects that have impacted generations of people from all walks of life. In 2021, Porter directed and executive produced Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry’s documentary series on mental illness and mental well-being, titled “The Me You Can’t See” for Apple TV+. In addition, Porter directed the 2022 NAACP Image Award-nominated “Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer” (National Geographic) which sheds new light on a century-old period of intense racial conflict — and comes one hundred years after the two-day Tulsa Massacre in 1921.

Porter’s documentary short “Bree Wayy: Promise Witness Remembrance” (MTV Documentaries) also premiered in 2021 and examines how the art world responded to the death of Breonna Taylor by using art not only as a form of protest, but as a space to heal. In 2020, Porter released two Emmy® Award-nominated documentaries, “The Way I See It” (Focus Features) which is a look into two American presidencies, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, from the lens of official White House photographer Pete Souza, and “John Lewis: Good Trouble” (CNN, Magnolia Pictures), the story of the congressman and civil rights icon. As a two-time Sundance film festival director,

Porter discovered her passion for filmmaking following her time as an attorney. She made her feature directorial debut in 2013 with “Gideon’s Army,” which premiered on HBO, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and an Emmy, won Best Editing at Sundance, and is now part of the
U.S. Department of State’s American Film Showcase. Her 2016 film “Trapped,”  which explores laws regulating abortion clinics in the South, won the Special Jury Social-Impact Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and a Peabody Award. Additional credits for Porter include Netflix’s 2018 four-part series “Bobby Kennedy for President,” PBS’ “Spies of Mississippi,” and The Discovery Channel’s “Rise: The Promise of My Brother’s Keeper.”