Filmmaker-Activist Dawn Porter to Speak at Smith on Otelia Cromwell Day

A few years ago, attorney Dawn Porter experienced a career-changing “aha moment.”

At an Alabama training program for public defenders, Porter saw what she believed was the best of the American legal system in action.

“I realized that many people don’t understand how public defenders can do the work they do,” representing people accused of crimes, said Porter, who is now a filmmaker and activist.

“Watching those young people, I thought, ‘This is what lawyers are supposed to be doing.’”

That moment became the inspiration for Porter’s award-winning 2013 documentary, Gideon’s Army, about public defenders working in the American south. The experience also led to Porter’s emergence as a crusader for criminal justice reform. Porter, who founded Trilogy Films, has become an outspoken critic of the nation’s incarceration rate, which is currently the highest in the world. The United States, which represents less than 5 percent of the world’s population, houses 22 percent of the global prison population.

Porter will share her thoughts on criminal justice in a keynote address at this year’s Otelia Cromwell Day celebration Tuesday, Nov. 3. The celebration, created to honor the college’s first African American graduate, is organized this year around the theme of “Incarceration: Intersections of Criminal Justice, Social Justice and Activism.”

Her keynote address, which takes place at 1 p.m. in Sweeney Concert Hall, is on “Defending America in the Age of Mass Incarceration.”  (Overflow viewing space is in Earle Recital Hall.)

Porter also will offer a workshop on “Interviewing for Documentary Features” at 2:45 p.m. in Neilson Browsing Room.

Additional workshops planned for the Nov. 3 Otelia Cromwell Day celebration will explore restorative justice, activism on the Web, and reflections on the life and values of Otelia Cromwell by her niece, Adelaide McGuinn Cromwell ’40, a professor emerita at Boston University.

(For a full schedule of Otelia Cromwell Day events, go to: www.smith.edu/events/otelia-cromwell.php.)

Dwight Hamilton, Smith’s chief diversity officer, said the theme of this year’s Otelia Cromwell Day comes at an opportune time, as calls for reforming the criminal justice system are gaining attention across the political spectrum.

“The Smith community has recognized criminal justice reform as an urgent social justice issue and the timing couldn’t be better to address it,” Hamilton said.

Porter, who grew up in New York City in a family committed to social justice, said she is looking forward to her first visit to Smith.

“I like speaking on college campuses because I think young people aren’t getting the credit they deserve,” she said. “A lot of activists on these important issues around the country are young. We shouldn’t underestimate their power.”

Gideon’s Army screens on campus at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, in Weinstein Auditorium. A discussion co-sponsored by the Student Events Committee will follow the screening.

The film—financed with a grant from the Ford Foundation—tells the story of lawyers working to defend low-income people accused of crimes. The title refers to Clarence Earl Gideon, who was arrested in 1961 for minor theft in Florida and went on to win a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the right to counsel in criminal court.

Porter also produced Spies of Mississippi, a film about the taxpayer-funded Mississippi Sovereignty Commission’s efforts to derail civil rights organizing in the 1960s.

Here’s what she had to say about her work as a filmmaker and activist.

Why do you think so few people are informed about the workings of the criminal justice system?

Porter: “It’s not something a lot of people are confronted with directly, so it’s hard to appreciate how truly Kafkaesque the system is. Eighty percent of people in the criminal justice system are represented by public defenders. That means that most people in the system are poor. I do think things are starting to change—there’s a lot more discussion going on about why so many people are in prison. Politicians are beginning to come to some consensus that the system we have doesn’t work. The recent crime bill that passed the Senate attacks mandatory minimum sentencing, which is a primary cause of over-incarceration. I do see some momentum for change, and I’m glad my film could be part of that.”

How did you make the leap from being a lawyer to being a filmmaker?

Porter: “I had always wanted to be a lawyer and I was very happy doing that. When I moved to New York City, I started working for ABC Television as a lawyer and then for the news division. As litigators, our job is to go out and interview people and tell stories. So there was a natural progression for me to journalism to see how reporters do that. As an African American woman, I didn’t see a lot of stories out there reflecting a different point of view. I had strong writing and fundraising skills and I had a lot of contacts when I went into the film business. I got some lucky breaks. I don’t consider myself a recovering lawyer. I’m using the skills I have to do something else that I love.”

What are some of your favorite recent documentaries?

Porter: “I love The Overnighters [a 2014 film about the North Dakota oil boom] and Amy, the new documentary about Amy Winehouse. Those films tell you about something you may think you know about, but actually don’t at all. Amy, for example, looks at what role the public had in her death. We’re in such a great time for documentaries. There is a lot of attention being paid to storytelling and drama.”

What is your latest film project?

Porter: “I’m working on a film about abortion clinics that have been closed across the country. For the past two years we’ve been filming with different clinics in California, Alabama and Texas. I’ll bring a trailer of that one with me to Smith.”

How do you feel about being part of the college’s Otelia Cromwell Day celebration?

Porter: “I’m very excited about it! I’m a big fan of liberal arts education. There are so many young women out there who are considering what to do with their talents, trying to think about their skills in a broad way. A message I want to share is that your path can be unexpected. I’m going to be doing a classroom exercise where I’ll share some interview techniques. I also want to talk about the ethics of documentaries—the implications of our being dependent on other people sharing the intimate details of their lives with us.”

Filmmaker and criminal justice reformer Dawn Porter will give the keynote address for Otelia Cromwell Day Tuesday, Nov. 3.