As former Chief Official White House Photographer, Pete Souza played an integral role in capturing — and preserving — history in the making. Now Dawn Porter is turning the camera on him. A press release announced that the Sundance Special Jury Prize and Peabody Award-winning director is teaming up with Focus Features for an upcoming doc about Souza, who worked alongside President Obama and President Reagan.
Souza’s appointment offered him “unprecedented access to Presidencies on both sides of the political spectrum which has given him a unique vantage point on our current political landscape,” the press release details. “This view provided Souza with insights not related to policy or politics, but instead relating to the office of the Presidency more broadly, forcing him to confront challenging questions: What is leadership? What does it mean to be ‘Presidential?’ American? Empathetic? A leader of a global superpower?”
Currently untitled, the doc promises to capture the Pulitzer Prize winner’s “journey from a man with top secret clearance and total access to the President, whose job description meant he was required to be invisible, to a man who has turned his focus on the present day and who uses his art as commentary to help us understand where we are now as a country and what we might be missing.”
“For eight years during the Obama presidency, I was inside the room where it happened. My job was to visually document his Presidency, making more than 1.9 million photographs for the historical record. But I also strived to capture the fleeting moments of President Obama’s life to show what he was like as a human being,” said Souza. “On January 20, 2017, I left the White House and resumed my most important role as life-citizen. And it’s as citizen that I have chosen to speak out, using my photographs as commentary of where we were and how that contrasts with where we are today.”
Porter added, “Pete Souza is the voice we need now. His unprecedented access to the office of the President is a sober reflection on the importance of American leadership.”
“Bobby Kennedy For President,” “Trapped,” and “Gideon’s Army” are among Porter’s previous credits. She has a doc about Congressman John Lewis on the way. “Good Trouble” follows the Democratic politician and civil rights icon’s most recent congressional campaign and his role in the 116th Congress’ first year.
When we asked Porter her advice for other women directors, she said, “The same advice for any director — figure out what you want to say and keep asking yourself if you are saying it. Be decisive but also respectful of the people you are collaborating with, and pick people you enjoy working with. It’s always a long and involved process making a film,” she emphasized.
