Katy Chevigny

Katy Gale Chevigny (born 1968 or 1969)^[1] is an American documentary filmmaker. She has produced or directed more than 30 documentary films and won a number of awards for her work.

Katy Chevigny
Born	Katy Gale Chevigny 1968 or 1969
Occupation	Documentary filmmaker
Years active	1997–present
Notable work	Deadline (2004), E-Team (2014), Dark Money (2018)
Spouse	Jack Smith ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	1
Awards	Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award (for Deadline)

Early life and education

Chevigny was born in 1968 or 1969 to Bell Gale Chevigny and Paul Chevigny. Chevigny graduated cum laude from Yale University.^[1]

Her father taught law at New York University and led the university's human rights clinic. Her mother taught literature at the State University of New York at Purchase and edited Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing (1999).

Career

Chevigny was a social worker who started out in film in Chicago and then moved to New York City to start Big Mouth Productions in 1997 with a friend from college, Julia Pimsleur.^[2] Pimsleur left the company in 2002.^[2] As of 2004 Chevigny's partner in the company was Dallas Brennan.^[2] By 2022, Marilyn Ness had joined the company.^[3]

With Kirsten Johnson she co-directed Deadline (2004), which won a Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award.^[4] The film, an examination of Illinois governor George Ryan's decision to commute the death sentences of everyone awaiting execution in the state, was purchased and broadcast on Dateline NBC, a rare example of a major commercial network acquiring an independent documentary.^[5][6][7][a]

Chevigny directed Election Day which premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival in 2007 and was broadcast on POV in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

She co-directed with Ross Kauffman the feature-length documentary E-Team, which won Best Cinematography at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival^[9] and was released as a Netflix Original in October 2014.^[10] She produced the 2014 documentary 1971.^[6]

She directed one of six segments of Hard Earned, which aired on Al Jazeera America in 2015 and won an Alfred I. duPont Award.^[11]

With Kimberly Reed, Chevigny co-produced Dark Money (2018). PBS purchased distribution rights to the film, planning to include it in the docu-series POV.^[12]

Recognition

Chevigny received a MacDowell Fellowship in 2008.^[13]

Two films she co-produced have been nominated for an Emmy, in 2020 Becoming and in 2021 Dick Johnson Is Dead,^[14] which also won the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling at Sundance in 2020.^[15]

Film work

• Brother Born Again (2001)^[6]
• Innocent Until Proven Guilty (2001)^[6]
• Journey to the West: Chinese Medicine Today (2001)^[4]
• Nuyorican Dream (2001)^[6]
• Outside Looking In: Transracial Adoption in America (2001)^[6]
• Deadline (2004)^[6]
• Arctic Son (2006)^[6]
• Election Day (2007)
• The Teacher (2009)
• Camp Victory, Afghanistan (2010)
• (A)sexual (2011)^[4]
• Pushing the Elephant (2011)^[6][4]
• The Internet Must Go (2013)
• 1971 (2014)
• E-Team (2014)^[16][17]
• Cameraperson (2016)
• Hard Earned, episode 2 (2016)^[4]
• Trapped (2016)
• Sasaba (2017)
• Charm City (2018)
• Dark Money (2018)
• Don't Be Nice (2018)
• Becoming (2020)
• Dick Johnson Is Dead (2021)
• The First Step (2021)
• My Two Months in Harlem (2022)

Television work

• Great Performances
• Independent Lens
• POV

Personal life

Chevigny married Jonathan Chen in 2001;^[1] they later divorced.

In July 2011, she married Jack Smith, a prosecutor working for the U.S. Department of Justice.^[18] They have a daughter.^[19] The couple lived in the Netherlands from 2018 until 2022, when they moved to Washington, D.C.^[20][21]

Notes

1. A partial transcript of the film is available online.^[8]

References

1. "Weddings: Katy Chevigny, Jonathan Chen". The New York Times. September 30, 2001. ISSN 0362-4331. from the original on November 19, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
2. Angell, Elizabeth (2004-03-01). "The Girl Team". Independent Magazine. from the original on 2022-11-20. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
3. "Big Mouth Productions - Team". Big Mouth Productions. from the original on 2022-11-19. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
4. "Enterprise Documentary Fund Advisory Board - Katy Chevigny". International Documentary Association. April 5, 2017. from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
5. Johnson, Steve (July 30, 2004). "Effective 'Deadline' gets 'Dateline' airing". Chicago Tribune. from the original on November 20, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
6. "December 2014 Filmmaker of the Month - Katy Chevigny". DC.gov. December 2014. from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
7. Villaseñor, Irene (2008). "Election Day by Katy Chevigny: A Film Discussion Guide". from the original on 2023-04-27. Retrieved 2022-11-19 – via Academia. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
8. "'The Abrams Report: Deadline" for July 30". NBC News. August 2, 2004. from the original on November 20, 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
9. Patten, Dominic; Yamato, Jen (January 25, 2014). "Sundance Awards: 'Whiplash' & 'Rich Hill' Win Grand Jury Prizes; Dramatic Directing Goes To Cutter Hodierne For 'Fishing Without Nets'". Deadline. from the original on June 12, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
10. Gilman, Greg (September 17, 2014). "Netflix's 'E-Team' Trailer Exposes Terrifying Human Rights Abuses". The Wrap. from the original on November 20, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
11. "Hard Earned - Al Jazeera America & Kartemquin Films". duPont-Columbia Awards. from the original on November 20, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
12. Ramos, Dino-Ray (2018-03-01). "PBS Acquires Rights To Sundance Docu 'Dark Money'". Deadline. from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
13. "Katy Chevigny". MacDowell. from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
14. "Katy Chevigny". Television Academy. from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
15. "U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling — Dick Johnson Is Dead". Sundance Film Festival. from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
16. Tungekar, Rehman (February 28, 2014). "'E-team' explores the human side of Human Rights Watch". KBIA BBC World Service. from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
17. Burde, Dana (November 1, 2015). "E-Team by Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman". Comparative Education Review. 59 (4): 804–806. doi:10.1086/684072. ISSN 0010-4086. from the original on April 27, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
18. "Class Notes". Harvard Law Bulletin. Vol. 63. 2012. p. 58. from the original on 2023-03-18. Retrieved 2023-04-27. On July 23, Jack Smith and Katy Chevigny were married on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York by the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis. Smith is serving as the chief of the public integrity section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where the couple lives.
19. "Masters/Tri Q&A: Jack Smith". Nashville Aquatic Club (Interview). January 31, 2018. from the original on November 20, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
20. Eisenstadt, Marnie (December 14, 2022). "How Jack Smith went from Liverpool football bench to a starring role in Trump investigation". syracuse.com. from the original on December 14, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
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