Alex Gibney to Exec Produce Doc About College Culture Wars and Freedom of Speech (EXCLUSIVE)
Oscar winner Alex Gibney has signed on to executive produce “Speechless,” a feature-length documentary about the culture wars being waged and the threats to freedom of speech on university and college campuses across the United States.
Directed by Ric Esther Bienstock (“Enslaved”), the doc will feature interviews with students, faculty, and administrators from a wide range of universities and colleges, including community colleges and the Ivys. “Speechless” will examine the fiery ideological clashes, stark political divides, and deeply personal battles shaping the future of higher education. Additionally, the current threat to freedom of speech and academic freedom on U.S. college campuses will be covered in the film. To convey the turbulent crossroads facing academia, the doc will include covert recordings inside Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices, a white professor’s landmark legal battle against racial discrimination, a conservative takeover of a Florida college, and the dramatic canceling of a Harvard biologist’s 20-year career.
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“As a society, we stand at a crossroads where the principles of free speech and intellectual inquiry are under siege,” says Gibney. “This documentary shines a much-needed spotlight on the critical issues facing higher education today and challenges us to confront the consequences of stifling dissenting voices.”
On March 4, in a social media post, President Trump threatened to stop federal funding for “any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” and proposed that “agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.”
“In these dangerously polarized times, I thought it was essential to investigate the institutions shaping the minds of our future citizens and leaders,” says Bienstock. “It’s easy to mock “woke” politics and rant about right-wing agendas, but the reality is more nuanced and, from what we’ve witnessed, way more dramatic. And now, with Trump in the White House and academia in his sights, the future of higher education has never been more precarious.”
“Speechless” is currently in production and is being backed by Toronto-based Good Soup Productions, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Storyville and The Why Foundation.
In addition to Gibney, Mette Hoffmann Meyer and Randi Kirshenbaum will serve as executive producers on the film. Producers are Bienstock and Garfield L. Miller (“Percy Vs Goliath”).
The documentary does not yet have a release date or U.S. distribution. CBC and BBC Storyville will distribute the doc in Canada and England, respectively.
Gibney is currently in production on “Musk,” about Elon Musk for HBO Documentary Films, and “Knife,” a tentatively titled documentary inspired by Salman Rushdie’s memoir “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” published in April.
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