Amazon Studios has obtained the worldwide rights to production company Story Syndicate’s as-yet untitled documentary on voting rights, featuring insights from politician and lawyer Stacey Abrams.
The film is directed by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés, and will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video following a theatrical release. Abrams is a co-producer of the film along with Garbus and Cortés.
Garbus and Cortés traced the perennial issue of voter suppression from the civil rights movement and the 1960s to the present.
“It’s a monster movie where you think you’ve mortally wounded the beast, but it keeps rearing its ugly head, as last week's primary in Georgia so painfully demonstrated. And nothing less than democracy is at stake,” the duo said in a statement.
Abrams was the first African American woman nominated for governor by a major party when she became the Democratic nominee in Georgia’s 2018 gubernatorial election. She narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was accused by Abrams of mismanaging the election system through voter suppression after he refused to resign as secretary of state while campaigning at the time.
She later founded the Fair Fight 2020 initiative to educate voters about their rights and fight voter suppression.
“Raising the alarm about voter suppression is critical to the integrity of our democracy,” Abrams said about the documentary. “Justice in our criminal justice system and the sacred right to vote are not equal for all Americans and we must find a way to change these systematic inequalities.”
Abrams’ contributions to the documentary are “timely” and “important,” Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement.
“In this critical election year, Stacey's expertise and fearless stance against voter suppression will resonate strongly with audiences everywhere and can inspire positive change in supporting all Americans’ right to cast their vote,” she said.
The documentary is slated for release prior to the presidential election in November.