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The FRONTLINE Dispatch

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FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath sits down with series filmmakers for probing conversations about the investigative journalism that drives each FRONTLINE documentary and the stories that shape our time.

Copyright 2017 WGBH Educational Foundation

FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath sits down with series filmmakers for probing conversations about the investigative journalism that drives each FRONTLINE documentary and the stories that shape our time.

Copyright 2017 WGBH Educational Foundation

Capturing ‘American Voices’ in a Year of Turmoil

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November 21, 202025min 8sec

When the pandemic hit, Dr. Blair Woodbury picked up the phone. He called his old friend, filmmaker Mike Shum, and urged him to get out and start recording the first draft of history. 

That's how the new FRONTLINE documentary "American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil" was born. Shum, Woodbury and a team of independent filmmakers across America have been documenting how people are living through this tumultuous year — from the pandemic, to the widespread protests over racial injustice, through the historically polarized presidential election.

Shum and Woodbury join this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss the ambitious project and how the story of 2020 continues to evolve.