Projects

Recentprojects

High on the Hog Season Two, now streaming on Netflix

High on the Hog Season 2

The show’s host, chef and sommelier Stephen Satterfield and his mentor and food anthropologist Jessica Harris, Ph.D. are back in Season Two of High in the Hog, as they take a journey throughout America. That journey starts at emancipation of the enslaved and weaves its way to modern times, uncovering untold Black stories that emphasize the oversized role that “Black hands in the pot” played in strengthening and defining what it means to be an American.

High on the Hog premiered on November 22, 2023 on Netflix

Executive Producers: ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GEOFF MARTZ, CRAIG PILIGIAN, SARBA DAS, FABIENNE TOBACK, KARIS JAGGER, JESSICA B. HARRIS, STEPHEN SATTERFIELD, MICHELE BARNWELL
Cinematographer: JERRY HENRY
Hosted by STEPHEN SATTERFIELD
Based on the book High on the Hog by JESSICA B. HARRIS
Directed by: KAMILAH FORBES (episode 1), ERIK PARKER (episodes 2, 3 and 4)
Producer: IMANI JOHNSON, ALEXANDRIA V. QUEEN, NAZENET HABTEZGHI
Editors: UMA SANASARYAN, LAUREN GIORDANO, SALMAN SYED

Stamped from the Beginning

Stamped from the Beginning, a hybrid documentary/scripted feature based on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas,” is directed and produced by Roger Ross Williams through One Story Up.

Williams’ documentary adaptation uses vivid animations that illuminate figures and moments both well-known and obscure, both historical and contemporary.

Leading Black women academics and activists such as Dr. Angela Davis, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Dr. Jennifer L. Morgan, and Dr. Kendi guide viewers through a searing account of how racist tropes and imagery were developed and enshrined in American culture.

Director: ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS
Cast: DR. IBRAM X KENDI, DR. ANGELA DAVIS, DR. AUTUMN WOMACK, BRITTANY PACKNETT CUNNINGHAM, BRITTNEY COOPER, DR. CAROL ANDERSON, DR. DOROTHY ROBERTS, DR. ELIZABETH HINTON, HONORÉE JEFFERS, DR. IMANI PERRY, DR. JENNIFER L. MORGAN, DR. KELLIE CARTER-JACKSON, LYNAE VANEE, DR. RUHA BENJAMIN, DR. STEPHANIE E. JONES-ROGERS
Producers: ALISA PAYNE, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, DAVID TEAGUE
Writer: DAVID TEAGUE

Laikipia

The Battle of Laikipia

Unresolved historical injustices and climate change raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.

The Battle of Laikipia was made with support from Wild Lives Foundation, Sundance Institute, Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, Bertha Foundation, Berkeley Film Foundation and Docubox.

Directed by DAPHNE MATZIARAKI and PETER MURIMI
Produced by ONE STORY UP and TONI KAMAU
Co-produced by MAYA CRAIG
Executive Producers ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS and GEOFF MARTZ

TLC Forever

Directed by Matthew Kay, the new Lifetime and A&E special TLC Forever trails the original lineup’s rise to superstardom, their friction, T-Boz and Chilli’s attempts to pick up the pieces after losing their bandmate and friend, and their rehearsals as they prepare to perform at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival. The two-hour documentary includes charming, intimate scenes of the now-duo sitting in a theater, revisiting old videos and interviews.

Director: MATT KAY
Executive Producers: ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GEOFF MARTZ, TIONNE “T-BOZ” WATKINS, ROZONDA “CHILLI” THOMAS, BILL DIGGINS, RICK KRIM, ELAINE FRONTAIN BRYANT and BRAD ABRAMSON
Producer: LAUREN FULTON

The Super Models

Directed by Roger Ross Williams and Larissa Bills, the four-part series The Super Models spotlights the remarkable careers of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. Unprecedented access to the models takes viewers behind the camera and beyond the catwalk, revealing how they dominated the elite modeling world while illuminating a bond that single-handedly shifted the power dynamic of an entire industry.

The Super Models premiered on September 20, 2023 on Apple TV+

Directors: ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, LARISSA BILLS
Starring NAOMI CAMPBELL, CINDY CRAWFORD, LINDA EVANGELISTA, CHRISTY TURLINGTON
Executive Producers: BRIAN GRAZER, RON HOWARD, SARA BERNSTEIN, JUSTIN WILKES, BARBARA KOPPLE, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GEOFF MARTZ, NAOMI CAMPBELL, CINDY CRAWFORD, LINDA EVANGELISTA, CHRISTY TURLINGTON

The 1619 Project

The six-part limited series The 1619 Project is an expansion on the long-form journalism endeavor developed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times Magazine. The 1619 Project connects the centrality of slavery in U.S. history with an account of the racism that endures in so many aspects of American life today.

Hannah-Jones hosts the limited series, as well as executive-produces, alongside Oprah Winfrey, director Roger Ross Williams, The New York Times’s film and television editorial director Kathleen Lingo, and the project’s editor Caitlin Roper.

The 1619 Project premiered on January 26th, 2023 on Hulu.

Directors: CHRISTINE TURNER, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, JONATHAN CLASBERRY, KAMILAH FORBES, SHOSHANA GUY, NAIMAH JABALI-NASH, PHIL BERTELSEN
Editors: EPHRAIM KIRKWOOD, ED BARTESKI, ADRIANA PACHECO, STEFANIE MARIDUEÑA
Executive Producers: NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, SHOSHANA GUY, CAITLIN ROPER, KATHLEEN LINGO, HELEN VERNO, OPRAH WINFREY
Co-Executive producers: GEOFF MARTZ, CARLA GARDINI

Master of Light

George Anthony Morton is a classical painter who spent ten years in federal prison for dealing drugs. While incarcerated, he nurtured his craft and unique artistic ability. Since his release, he is doing everything he can to defy society’s unlevel playing field and tackle the white-dominant art world.

Now, he is on a journey back to his hometown of Kansas City, where he tries to heal the broken relationship with his mother– who’s in-and-out of jail– and paint family members in the style of the Dutch Old Masters.

Through the completion of seven portraits of childhood friends, going back forces George to face his past in his quest to rewrite the script of his life and discover the contribution of African influences to the realist tradition.

Afilm by ROSA RUTH BOESTEN & GEORGE ANTHONY MORTON
Produced by VULCAN PRODUCTIONS and ONE STORY UP
In collaboration with DOCMAKERS
Director ROSA RUTH BOESTEN
Produced by ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, ANOUSHA NZUME, ILJA ROOMANS
Executive Producer GEOFF MARTZ

Civil

Maverick Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump is on a mission to raise the value of Black life. This intimate, vérité documentary follows Crump as he challenges America to come to terms with what it owes his clients -including the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

The film is directed and produced by Nadia Hallgren and produced by Kenya Barris, Roger Ross Williams, and Lauren Cioffi. Netflix released CIVIL on Juneteenth (June 19th, 2022).

Director: NADIA HALLGREN
Producers: KENYA BARRIS, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, LAUREN CIOFFI, NADIA HALLGREN
Executive Producers: ERYNN SAMPSON, MATTHEW CARNAHAN, GEOFF MARTZ
Cinematography: NADIA HALLGREN
Editing: LINDSAY UTZ, ACE, ENAT SIDI, NATHAN PUNWAR
Original Music: MAKAYA MCCRAVEN

Ranger

Set within Kenya’s Maasai community, 12 women undergo a profound rite of passage to become East Africa’s first all-female anti-poaching unit.

Ranger made its world premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival, October 2021.

“We wanted to acknowledge the remarkable women who participated in the Ranger program who are actively pushing back in a patriarchal society and participating in a program that encourages them to harness their strength and create a new path of opportunities for their children and peers.” – Jury Statement, Woodstock Film Festival

Directed by AUSTIN PECK
Produced by KATE GARWOOD, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS and JOCHEN ZEITZ
Executive Producer GEOFF MARTZ, MARCY MCCALL MACBAIN
An INDIKATE PRODUCTION in Association with ONE STORY UP

High on The Hog

High on the Hog

A four-part documentary limited series for Netflix.

Based on the book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by the phenomenal Jessica B Harris, High on the Hog tells the moving story of a people’s triumph via the food that has knit generations together and helped define the American Kitchen. It taps into our culture’s food obsession; it’s the history of Fried Chicken, Hoppin John, Gumbo and Grits and how it got there. Hosted by chef and food writer Stephen Satterfield.

Directed by ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, YORUBA RICHEN, and JONATHAN CLASBERRY
Produced by ONE STORY UP and PILGRIM MEDIA GROUP
Executive Producers ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GEOFF MARTZ, CRAIG PILIGIAN, FABIENNE TOBACK, SARBA DAS and KARIS JAGGER
Showrun by SHOSHANA GUY

Between the World and Me

First published in 2015, Between The World And Me was written as a letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ teenage son.

Based on the 2018 adaptation and built on the 2018 Apollo Theater stage production that was a story line in Roger Ross Williams documentary The Apollo, the HBO Special combines elements of the Apollo’s production, including powerful readings from Coates’ book, and incorporates documentary footage from the actors’ home life, archival footage, and animation.

Directed by KAMILAH FORBES
Produced by ALISA PAYNE
Executive Producers: TA-NEHISI COATES, KAMILAH FORBES, SUSAN KELECHI WATSON, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS and Co-Executive Producer GEOFF MARTZ
A ONE STORY UP Production

The Innocence Files

The Innocence Files is a American true crime documentary miniseries about wrongful convictions, and how they can affect the lives of everyone involved. The series, released by Netflix in April 2020, is based upon the work of the Innocence Project, which is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongfully convicted.

In a ground-breaking collaboration with filmmakers Alex Gibney and Liz Garbus, Roger Ross Williams directed the three opening episodes of the limited documentary series.

Directed by ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS
Produced by ONE STORY UP and FILM 45
Executive Producers ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GEOFF MARTZ, LIZ GARBUS, ALEX GIBNEY, MICHAEL ANTINORO, WILL STAEGER

One Story Up

Topic’s One Story Up

One Story up is over the moon to present its namesake series One Story Up in collaboration with streaming platform Topic.

Introducing emerging talent through a series of curated shorts, Roger Ross Williams says: “I am thrilled to introduce the industry to great filmmakers and innovative storytelling, and for a series which will provide more industry access for diverse and underrepresented communities.”

Roger Ross Williams hosts this illuminating series showcasing short films from some of the most talented emerging directors and underrepresented voices in film today.

Presented by ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS
Director ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS
Producer AISHA JAMA
Executive Producers GEOFF MARTZ, ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GENA KONSTANTINAKOS, RYAN CHANATRY
Cinematographer REGGIE CHELSON
Editors LAURA KARPAS, COOPER CONLEY-CURRIER

The Night Disco Died

Hillary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions has partnered with One Story Up and “The Inspection” director Elegance Bratton on a feature documentary about 1979’s Disco Demolition Night in Chicago.

Known as one of the darkest days in American music history, the incident saw 50,000 white teenagers descend on Chicago’s Comiskey Park to blow up records made by mostly Black artists.

The doc, which is called The Night Disco Died, is a co-production between HiddenLight and One Story Up, and will be presented by Impact Partners and Los Angeles Media Fund (LAMF).

Directed by ELEGANCE BRATTON
Produced by Chester Algernal Gordon
Produced by ONE STORY UP and HIDDENLIGHT PRODUCTIONS
Executive Producers ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS and GEOFF MARTZ

The Empire of Ebony

The Empire of Ebony explores the rise and the impact of America’s first black media empire, the Johnson Publishing company, which created Ebony magazine and its sister publication, Jet.

The company, started by John H. Johnson and Eunice W. Johnson with a five hundred dollar loan, grew to a readership base in the millions, and covered and preserved a vital part of American history and American culture that was largely ignored by mainstream media.

Directed by LISA CORTÉS
Produced by ONE STORY UP, LISA CORTÉS, ALYSE SHORLAND
Executive Producers: ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS, GEOFF MARTZ, LINDA JOHNSON RICE, BRENDA ROBINSON
Presented By ONE STORY UP, IMPACT PARTNERS
In Association With CHICAGO MEDIA PROJECT, MACRO, THE LAGRALANE GROUP, ARTEMIS RISING FOUNDATION
Special Thanks to FORD FOUNDATION, THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST, GOVERNOR JB PRITZKER AND FIRST LADY MK PRITZKER