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THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT
by Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk
SYNOPSIS
Three decades ago, the world was poised to stop global warming. Using exclusively archival material, THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT tells the origin story of the climate crisis and how a political battle in the George H.W. Bush administration changed the course of history.
DETAILS
96mins
2024
USA
English
BIOGRAPHY
BONNI COHEN, PEDRO KOS AND JON SHENK
Bonni Cohen is an acclaimed documentary director and creative producer, as well as the co-founder of Actual Films and the Catapult Film Fund. Recent projects include producing the Oscar-nominated short Lead Me Home (Netflix) and directing Make a Splash (ESPN). Prior, she co-directed the feature Athlete A, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and was a Netflix top 10 film for many weeks running. Previously, Cohen co-directed An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which was selected as the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival, shortlisted for the Oscars, and was BAFTA-nominated for Best Documentary. Cohen co-directed the Peabody Award winner Audrie & Daisy, which premiered in competition at Sundance and was picked up as a Netflix Original. In addition to her directing work, Cohen produced The Island President, winner of the People’s Choice Award for Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her work as producer and director on The Rape of Europa earned her both PGA and WGA award nominations, and the film was shortlisted for the Oscars. Cohen also produced Jon Else’s Sundance film Wonders Are Many, and the pair teamed up to co-direct Inside Guantanamo, an Emmy nominee for Best Documentary. Cohen has Executive Produced works for HBO, Disney+, and PBS including Art and Craft and 3.5 Minutes, 10 Bullets, both of which were Oscar shortlisted. She strives to be a positive connector and contributor to the documentary community and continues to serve on the Catapult Film Fund Board of Directors and as a member of the PGA and the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Doc Branch.
Pedro Kos most recently co-directed the Netflix Original Documentary Short Lead Me Home (2021) with Jon Shenk, which was nominated for an Academy Award. His latest documentary feature film, Rebel Hearts, which he directed, wrote, and edited, premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was released worldwide by Discovery+. Prior to that, he wrote and produced Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer’s Netflix Original Documentary The Great Hack, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA award. His feature directorial debut, Bending the Arc (co-directed with Kief Davidson), premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Previously, he edited Jehane Noujaim’s Academy Award nominee The Square, which earned Pedro an Emmy Award for Best Editing for a Non-Fiction program; Lucy Walker’s Academy Award nominees Waste Land and The Crash Reel (2013 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award winner); Jon Shenk’s The Island President (2011 TIFF Documentary People’s Choice Award winner), among others. Pedro is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and received his B.A. in Theater Directing from Yale University.
Jon Shenk is an Academy Award®-nominated Director and Cinematographer, as well as the co-founder of Actual Films. His current work includes directing In Waves & War with his partner Bonni Cohen, and directing and producing The White House Effect. Previously, he co-directed the Oscar®-nominated short film Lead Me Home, which premiered at Telluride and is a Netflix Original. Shenk and Bonni Cohen also co-directed Athlete A (Netflix), which won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and received five Critics’ Choice Documentary Award nominations, winning for Best Sports Documentary. Before that, Shenk co-directed and shot An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Participant), which premiered as the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival, was shortlisted for the Oscars, and was a BAFTA nominee for Best Documentary. The year prior, Shenk co-directed and filmed the Peabody Award winner Audrie & Daisy (Netflix), which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Shenk also directed The Island President (Goldwyn Films), winner of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award and the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award. His previous work includes serving as the Director of Photography on the Academy Award-winning Smile Pinki and winning an Emmy for Blame Somebody Else (PBS). Early in his career, Shenk won an Independent Spirit Award for directing Lost Boys of Sudan (Shadow Distribution/PBS). Before co-founding Actual Films, Shenk worked on in-house documentaries for LucasFilm and graduated from the Stanford Documentary Program. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Doc Branch.
SELECT FESTIVALS
TELLURIDE 2024〡IDFA 2024〡CAMDEN 2024〡HAMPTONS FF 2024〡FESTIVAL DO RIO 2024
PRESS
“Essential viewing”
— Variety
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