Philly DA (Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicola Salazar 2021) is an eight-part production on the administration of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s new progressive District Attorney that aired on the PBS series Independent Lens. Each episode take on a specific issue that the District Attorney is tasked with addressing (gun control, bail, police misconduct) shaped from the hundreds of hours of observational footage the filmmakers shot. In addition to getting the viewer to engage with some of the defining political issues of our time, the show is really entertaining. Seeing Krasner’s subversive campaign to change Philadelphia is the meat and potatoes of the show. But the show also uses its platform to highlight local residents contributing to Philadelphia politics, like LaTonya “T” Myers, a parole-reform activist featured in one episode of the show. The show is not just about Krasner but highlights the work of on the ground activists and what they think about the defining issues of the city in this generation. Filmmakers Ted Passon and Yoni Brook visited class along with Assistant Editor and Swarthmore alum Julian Turner to talk about the filmmaking process, and Book, Myers, and Krasner's chief of staff, attorney Mike Lee, participated on a panel discussion moderated by Swarthmore professor Nina Johnson on Krasner's administration and Philaddelphia activism around criminal justice reform.

Check out the show at: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/philly-da/

- Mateo Zules