Philly D.A.

Premiered April 20, 2021
Directed by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar

He sued police over 75 times. Now he’s the D.A. Can his team make change from the inside?

About the Documentary

In 2017, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had one of the highest incarceration rates of any major city in the United States. And it’s become the epicenter of a historic experiment that could shape the future of prosecution in America for decades to come. When civil rights attorney Larry Krasner mounted a long-shot campaign to become District Attorney, he ran on a bold pledge: to end mass incarceration by changing the culture of the criminal justice system from within. He shocked the establishment by winning in a landslide.

Now, the bureaucrats he spent his campaign denigrating are his co-workers; the police he alienated are his rank-and-file law enforcers. Pressure comes from all sides of a system resistant to reform. Krasner’s unapologetic promise to use the power of the D.A.’s office for sweeping change is what got him elected; now that he’s in office, that same stubbornness threatens to alienate those he needs to work with the most. From the eye of this political storm, filmmakers Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar gained unprecedented access into Krasner’s office and behind the scenes of the criminal justice system. Over the course of eight episodes, Philly D.A. explores the most pressing social issues of our time—police brutality, the opioid crisis, gun violence, and mass incarceration—through the lens of an idealistic team attempting fundamental overhaul from within the system.

The Filmmakers

Ted Passon

Ted Passon is an award-winning director and video artist. He has directed episodic series for Netflix and Disney. He is a 2016 Sundance Lab Fellow, a recipient of the Pew Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship Grant, and a 2016 Headlands Artist in Residency. He has exhibited his award-winning short films in festivals and galleries around the US and abroad including exhibitions by the Whitney Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and 96 Gillespie in London.

Yoni Brook

Yoni Brook is a twice Independent Spirit-nominated cinematographer and producer. As a director, his films have screened at the Berlinale, New York and Toronto Film Festivals, True/False, and IDFA. For PBS’s POV series, Brook co-directed Bronx Princess (with Musa Syeed). Brook co-directed The Calling, a four hour series about young religious leaders for Independent Lens. His directorial debut A Son’s Sacrifice for Independent Lens, won Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Nicole Salazar

Creator and producer Nicole Salazar is a documentary filmmaker and journalist who has worked on investigative and breaking news stories in the US and internationally for over a decade. She was a producer for the Emmy Award-winning investigative series, Fault Lines on Al Jazeera. Credits include Guatemala’s Disappeared, Lost in the System, Undocumented in Trump’s America (Headline Award Winner), and worked as a producer and journalist for the award-winning independent daily news program Democracy Now!

Documentaries Available to Watch Now

Documentaries Coming Soon

Awards

Peabody Award

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award

Gotham Award

Breakthrough Nonfiction Series

Learn More About the Documentary

Woman (LaTonya Myers) in a San Antonio Spurs hat, celebrates a job offer
Beyond the Films

UPDATE: LaTonya Myers Inspires Others to Reform the Justice System
Photograph of Raymond Burr and William Talman the CBS-TV series Perry Mason
Beyond the Films

Which of These 8 Fictional District Attorney Characters Do You Remember?
4 members of Philly D.A's office in designed group shot
Beyond the Films

Who’s Who in Philly D.A.
Larry Krasner looks over a ton of file boxes from way back, in Philly D.A.
Behind the Films

Before Krasner: The Wild and Wooly Saga of Philadelphia District Attorneys
Philly D.A. team, Ted Passon, Nicole Salazar, Yoni Brook (l-r)
Behind the Films

How the Team Behind “Philly D.A.” Captured History for Epic Docuseries
Larry Krasner and his team celebrates their victory on election night in Philadelphia
Beyond the Films

Philadelphia Has a Long History of Fights Over Criminal Justice Reform

Private: Take the Philly D.A. Survey

Promotional Resources

Discussion Guide