How ‘Frontline’ Turned Into an Oscar-Winning Documentary Juggernaut — SkimNews
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- Frontline won its first documentary Oscar in 2024 for "20 Days in Mariupol," the account of AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues in the Ukrainian city as it withstood Russia's invasion in early 2022.
- Raney Aronson-Rath, who has led Frontline since 2015, has collected 44 Emmys and roughly 20 documentaries a year; Steve James credits her with seeking more innovative ways to tell powerful true stories.
- Frontline Features launched last November as a dedicated studio premiering feature and short-form documentaries in festivals and theaters ahead of PBS airings.
- One in a Million, from Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes, follows 11-year-old Israa over 10 years as her family flees war-torn Syria to Turkey before settling in Germany; it won the Audience Award at Sundance and is poised for an Oscar nomination.
- Frontline's YouTube channel counts 4.8 million subscribers and passed 1 billion views in July with 422 million hours watched.
- Frontline has three features lined up for 2027, including Mstyslav Chernov's next film and a Dan Edge project Aronson-Rath has been working on for 20 years about a character who came back from Iraq.
- Mstyslav Chernov said Frontline helped him transition from journalism to cinema and that for socially and politically relevant projects without a home or distributor, Aronson-Rath is "the last hope" to get the film made and find its audience.
Why it matters: Public television's marquee documentary brand now reaches theaters and festivals through Frontline Features before films air on PBS, backed by a YouTube channel with 4.8 million subscribers and 422 million hours watched. Filmmakers without a distributor gain a landing spot: Chernov says Aronson-Rath is "the last hope" for socially and politically relevant projects.
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