Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival

Double Exposure, a project of the investigative news organization 100Reporters, celebrates the finest new films inspired by the investigative instinct. It combines film screenings for the public with a professional symposium for journalists and visual storytellers.

Moving towards its tenth edition, DX does more than just identify and celebrate a new genre of filmmaking. It casts this vital body of work toward recognition as a coherent artistic vision. It connects audience appreciation for creative output to the rights of reporters and filmmakers to pursue investigations in the public interest; it ties stirrings of artistic curiosity to practical consequences and groundbreaking storytelling to policy changes.

As the 2024 festival approaches, public awareness of investigative reporting’s importance for a vibrant democracy has never been more urgent. As grave as may be the efforts to stifle watchdog journalism, however, there is also light: a rebirth of relentless investigative reporting alongside exciting new forms of storytelling that mix journalism with film, serial podcasts in audio and video, hybrid storytelling, virtual reality–even poetry.

Double Exposure screens timely, compelling films drawn from the notebooks and experiences of investigative journalists and visual storytellers working across a variety of media, whether in print, radio, or film. The films presented at Double Exposure include the Washington premiere of new narrative and documentary works that are either about investigative journalism or journalists, based on investigative reporting, or films that are investigations unto themselves. All screenings are followed by lively discussions with directors, producers, protagonists, subject experts and journalists.

Double Exposure Symposium (Nov. 7-10, 2024) will welcome filmmakers and journalists, both established and emerging, for three days of intensive discussion and training, in a collegial atmosphere. Here, practitioners can examine the challenges and opportunities of investigative storytelling in the current political climate, hear from peers experimenting with exciting new forms of storytelling, connect with industry insiders who can advance projects through the festival’s DX Access and DX Pitch initiatives, learn from experts in press law, cyber security and technology, and meet the commissioning editors, producers, investors and distributors who can advance their work.

The symposium offers a range of formats including panels, master classes, workshops and small group meetings. It also includes a Pro Bono Legal Clinic for ?lmmakers and journalists, with leading press attorneys who have agreed to consider representing participants on a continuing basis. Past programming has taught concrete skills such as safety in the ?eld, encryption, protecting whistleblowers and taking stories from print to screen; made introductions to key investors, editors and producers; and tackled big-picture issues: illicit tax havens, whistleblower protections, and the democratization of investigative reporting and practices.

Speakers at Double Exposure have included national treasures of ?lmmaking and journalism: Martin Baron, Lowell Bergman, Alexis Bloom, Garrett Bradley, Elizabeth Bruenig, Nancy Buirski, Elisabeth Bumiller, Lyric Cabral, Ramona Diaz, Kirby Dick, Caitlin Dickerson, Ezra Edelman, Stephen Engelberg, Feras Fayyad, Charles Ferguson, Bryan Fogel, Yance Ford, Alex Gibney, Rachel Grady, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ann Hornaday, Kristi Jacobson, Steve James, Suki Kim, Brian Knappenberger, Barbara Kopple, Penny Lane, Wesley Lowery, Stephen Maing, Jane Mayer, Mark Mazzetti, Tom McCarthy, Alexander Nanau, Marilyn Ness, Soledad O’Brien, Sam Pollard, Janet Reitman, Maria Ressa, James Risen, Hanna Rosin, Topher Sanders, Nancy Schwartzman, David Simon, Cheryl Thompson, Christiaan Triebert, Nanfu Wang, Ryan White, Alex Winter, Lawrence Wright, Pamela Yates, and scores more.

Date: November 7-10, 2024

Venues:
- Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW. Washington, DC
- U.S. Naval Heritage Center, 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC