By PBS
Photos: PBS
(San Francisco, CA) July 10, 2024— Pulling the curtain back on the Electoral College and examining the system that governs presidential elections in the United States, “One Person, One Vote?”, will premiere on INDEPENDENT LENS on September 30, 2024, ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The Electoral College documentary follows Derrick Wilburn, a Republican activist and founder of the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives; Polly Baca, a Mexican-American Democratic Party elder; Patricia McCracken, a student and first-time voter affiliated with the Green Party; Kit Maclean, a humorous yet bona fide elector for Kanye West; and Dean Jelani Cobb, an expert in film and staff writer at The New Yorker, while providing historical context by exploring the Electoral College’s origins in slavery. “One Person, One Vote?” offers a nonpartisan understanding of the institution, revealing its origins in a bygone era and its centrality to questions of the modern day.
“One Person, One Vote?” debuts on PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS on September 30, 2024, at 10 p.m. (check local listings). The film will be available to stream on the PBS App.
Directed and produced by Maximina Juson, produced by Daresha Kyi, and co-produced by Christie Herring, the film dissects the uniquely American and often misunderstood mechanism for electing a president, the Electoral College. An array of voices throughout the film representing all sides of current electoral college events is intercut with commentary from dynamic subject matter experts including Lead Historian Dr. Paul Finkelman, Columbia School of Journalism Dean Jelani Cobb, and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Carol Anderson, who place the Electoral College in its historical context.
Visit the “One Person, One Vote?” page on INDEPENDENT LENS to learn more about the film.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Maximina Juson, Director, Producer, Cinematographer
Maximina Juson is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of HUMovies, a film production company in Los Angeles. Her debut feature film, “One Person, One Vote?” is a National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient that world premiered at the Pan African Film Festival, taking home the Programmers’ Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Daresha Kyi, Producer
Producer Daresha Kyi directs narratives and documentaries in Spanish and English. Her films about conservative Christian mothers accepting their LGBTQ+ children; “Trans In about iconic singer Chavela Vargas.
Christie Herring, Co-producer
Christie Herring is an award-winning director, producer, and editor. Directing includes ITVS-funded “The Campaign” about Prop 8 and the LGBTQ marriage struggle. Her producing and editing work has appeared on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and PBS and includes “23 Mile,” “The Big Scary ‘S’ Word,” “
Director Maximina Juson
Producers Maximina Juson
Daresha Kyi
Executive Producers Lois Vossen
Dale and Don Franzen
ABOUT INDEPENDENT LENS
INDEPENDENT LENS is an Emmy® Award-winning PBS documentary series. With founding executive producer Lois Vossen, the series has been honored with 10 Academy Award nominations and features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Acton Family Giving, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. Stream anytime on the PBS app. For more visit pbs.org/independentlens
ABOUT ITVS
Independent Television Services (ITVS) is the largest co-producer of independent documentaries in the United States. For more than 30 years, the San Francisco nonprofit has funded and partnered with documentary filmmakers to produce and distribute untold stories. ITVS incubates and coproduces these award-winning titles and premieres them on our Emmy Award-winning PBS series, INDEPENDENT LENS. ITVS titles appear on PBS, WORLD, NETA, and can be streamed on various digital platforms including the PBS App. ITVS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Acton Family Giving, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wyncote Foundation. For more information, visit itvs.org.
