August 11, 2020 4:19 pm
We Are Witnesses: Chicago has been nominated for "Outstanding New Approaches: Documentary" at the 41st Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards.
Produced and directed by Maggie Bowman and Stacy Robinson, We Are Witnesses: Chicago is an immersive short-video series presenting intimate portraits of Chicagoans who have been touched by the criminal justice system. Produced by The Marshall Project in partnership with Kartemquin Films and Illinois Humanities, these films explore the nature of crime, punishment and forgiveness.
Watch all fifteen episodes here for free now.
We Are Witnesses: Chicago was released in 2019 in partnership with WBEZ, the Chicago Reader and Univision Chicago, which translated the series into Spanish, and was part of Envisioning Justice, a city-wide initiative sponsored by Illinois Humanities to foster a better criminal justice conversation through the arts. Envisioning Justice artworks, including the We Are Witnesses films, were on view at the Sullivan Galleries of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from August 6 - October 12, 2019. In collaboration with the Chicago Public Library, free screenings and discussions of the series were then held in over 30 library branches across the city.
In 15 beautifully composed, direct-to-camera testimonies, the series gives voice to Chicagoans affected by the justice system, including crime victims, affected youth, police officers, judges, families, prison guards and more. We hear from a North Lawndale teenager who is continually targeted by law enforcement; a couple whose daughter was murdered in a park; a prosecutor in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office; a former Chicago police officer dealing with the rising number of officer suicides; a mother who forgives her son’s killer; the ex-warden of the Cook County Jail; and more.
The Emmy awards will be presented on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020 at 8 p.m. EDT. Each ceremony will be streamed live on NATAS’ dedicated viewing platform powered by Vimeo, available on the web at watch.theemmys.tv and via The Emmys® apps for iOS, tvOS, Android, FireTV, and Roku.