Stephen Robert Morse

Stephen Robert Morse

Stephen Robert Morse is an American journalist and film director/producer. He specialises in creating documentaries, including the Emmy Award-nominated Amanda Knox and EuroTrump, focusing on Geert Wilders.[1]

Career

Early work

Morse studied at the University of Pennsylvania and worked for Mother Jones after graduation.[1] In college, he directed and produced the films Ain't Easy Being Green (Documentary) and Duet (Short), both in 2007.[2] In 2008, he shot a video of the New Black Panthers blocking entrances to polling booths in Philadelphia during the 2008 United States Elections. The video was posted on YouTube and went viral with over a million views, and opened debates about voter fraud in the US, causing a Congressional investigation.[3][4] Morse subsequently regretted the video's success, as it was regularly repeated on Fox News early in Barack Obama's presidential career. This allowed 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump to warn Pennsylvania voters to watch out for fraud from Democrat supporters, a charge that Morse refuted, citing that the incident he witnessed was isolated.[5]

In February 2009, Morse founded MyTwoCensus, a non-partisan, political watchdog group for the 2010 U.S. Census.[6][7] Morse also co-founded the graduate consultancy group Skillbridge, which was sold in 2016.[8]

He graduated with a MBA from the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School in 2016, where he learned how to produce high quality films on limited budgets.[9]

Amanda Knox and EuroTrump

In 2016, Morse co-produced the Netflix documentary Amanda Knox. The documentary covers Knox's life and wrongful prison sentence for murder and her subsequent acquittal.[10] The film was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special".[11][9]

Along with co-director Nick Hampson and co-writer Maria Springer,[12] Morse produced EuroTrump, a film about the right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has been compared to Trump.[13][14] Morse managed to gain Wilders' trust following his work on Amanda Knox; though he did not personally agree with Wilders on many issues, he felt it was important to respect them in order to find out more about Wilders' politics.[15] He was given permission to film Wilders during campaigning for the 2017 Dutch general election, and consequently gained more access to Wilders than other news organizations. It was released shortly after the election that March.[16][17] The film mentions the rise of Twitter in politics, and begins with Morse soliciting Wilders' involvement.[18] Morse has said that Wilders is "actually much smarter than Trump" and "knows what he's doing".[12] The film was screened at the International Film Festival in Ferrara, Italy.[19] EuroTrump was subsequently released on Amazon and Hulu in 2018.[20]

In a letter to the New York Times, Morse defended Trump campaigner Steve Bannon, despite disagreeing with his views, and believes Bannon should have been allowed to attend and speak at The New Yorker Festival, which was opposed by several prominent celebrities.[21]

Style

Morse has said that working effectively with small budgets and limited time are important in making modern documentaries that deliver impact, as 24-hour news coverage and the rise of social media means that documentaries must cover ground quickly. Because of his no frills approach to making documentaries while maintaining high quality, he has jokingly called himself the RyanAir of film-making.[22] Commenting on EuroTrump, he said, "We only shoot the scenes we need, and never use more crew than we absolutely have to."[15]

References

  1. 1 2 "Emmy-Nominated Saïd MBA Does 'Lean' Film". September 13, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Stephen Robert Morse". IMDb. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ DeMersseman, William (2010). Dissed Trust: America's Crisis of Truth, Faith, and Freedom. WestBow Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-449-70366-0.
  4. ↑ "GOP poll watcher behind 2008 New Black Panther video is anti-Trump". Philadelphia Inquirer. October 24, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  5. ↑ Reilly, Ryan J. (October 19, 2016). "His Poll-Watching Video Became A GOP Obsession. Now He Wants Trump To Rein In 'Rigged' Election Talk". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  6. ↑ CNN, By Liane Membis,. "Errors in census interviews misinterpret racial, ethnic identity - CNN.com". Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  7. ↑ "MyTwoCensus and the Future of Journalism". CBS News. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Talent Contest – 'War' Brewing In The Gig Economy". Forbes. April 20, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Documentary produced by Oxford MBA alumnus receives Emmy nomination". Oxford University Saïd Business School. 21 July 2007. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017.
  10. ↑ Spangler, Todd (August 9, 2016). "Netflix to Bow Amanda Knox Doc, Films From Leonardo DiCaprio, Werner Herzog at Toronto Festival". Variety. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Stephen Robert Morse". Emmys. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Is Geert Wilders Really The Dutch Donald?". newsweek. June 15, 2018.
  13. ↑ "EuroTrump". Sheffield Documentary Festival. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  14. ↑ "NTR zendt op 11 oktober de film WILDERS uit". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). September 22, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  15. 1 2 "EuroTrump documentary by MBA alumni airs on TV". Oxford University Saïd Business School. June 29, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  16. ↑ "The Dutch Donald Trump could be the Netherlands' next Prime Minister". Salon. March 16, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  17. ↑ Smith, Kelsey (October 24, 2017). "Meet the Man Who Trumps Donald at His Own Game". The Observer. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  18. ↑ "'EuroTrump' review". Hollywood Reporter. June 29, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Otto documentari per scoprire il mondo". Internazionale (in Italian). October 3, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  20. ↑ "What's on TV Monday: 'The Rape of Recy Taylor' and 'Strangers'". New York Times. July 2, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Was The New Yorker Right to Drop Bannon?". New York Times. September 4, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  22. ↑ Neilan, Catherine (June 9, 2017). "Wilders director Stephen Robert Morse on politics, perfection and picking winners". Broadcast Now. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
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