Double Exposure, a project of the investigative news organization 100Reporters, celebrates the finest new films inspired by the investigative instinct. It combines film screenings for the public with a professional symposium for journalists and visual storytellers.
Moving towards its eleventh edition, DX does more than just identify and celebrate a new genre of filmmaking. It casts this vital body of work toward recognition as a coherent artistic vision. It connects audience appreciation for creative output to the rights of reporters and filmmakers to pursue investigations in the public interest; it ties stirrings of artistic curiosity to practical consequences and groundbreaking storytelling to policy changes.
As the 2025 festival approaches, public awareness of investigative reporting’s importance for a vibrant democracy has never been more urgent. As grave as may be the efforts to stifle watchdog journalism, however, there is also light: a rebirth of relentless investigative reporting alongside exciting new forms of storytelling that mix journalism with film, serial podcasts in audio and video, hybrid storytelling, virtual reality–even poetry.
David Simon moderates post-screening discussion of 2015 Opening Night Film, Spotlight, with (from left to right) film subjects and investigative reporters Mike Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, screenwriter Josh Singer, director Tom McCarthy, Ben Bradlee, Jr., Walter Robinson, and Martin Baron.
Undercover journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, speaks on a DX 2017 symposium panel discussing “Embedded: From Cinema Verité to Immersive Journalism.”
Double Exposure Symposium (Oct. 30 – Nov. 2, 2025) will welcome filmmakers and journalists, both established and emerging, for two days of intensive discussion and training, in a collegial atmosphere. Here, practitioners can examine the challenges and opportunities of investigative storytelling in the current political climate, hear from peers experimenting with exciting new forms of storytelling, connect with industry insiders who can advance projects through the festival’s DX Access and DX Pitch initiatives, learn from experts in press law, cyber security and technology, and meet the commissioning editors, producers, investors and distributors who can advance their work.
The symposium offers a range of formats including panels, master classes, workshops and small group meetings. It also includes a Pro Bono Legal Clinic for filmmakers and journalists, with leading press attorneys who have agreed to consider representing participants on a continuing basis. Past programming has taught concrete skills such as safety in the field, encryption, protecting whistleblowers and taking stories from print to screen; made introductions to key investors, editors and producers; and tackled big-picture issues: illicit tax havens, whistleblower protections, and the democratization of investigative reporting and practices.
Speakers at Double Exposure have included national treasures of filmmaking and journalism: Martin Baron, Lowell Bergman, Alexis Bloom, Garrett Bradley, Elizabeth Bruenig, Nancy Buirski, Elisabeth Bumiller, Lyric Cabral, Ramona Diaz, Kirby Dick, Caitlin Dickerson, Ezra Edelman, Stephen Engelberg, Feras Fayyad, Charles Ferguson, Bryan Fogel, Yance Ford, Alex Gibney, Rachel Grady, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ann Hornaday, Kristi Jacobson, Steve James, Suki Kim, Brian Knappenberger, Barbara Kopple, Penny Lane, Wesley Lowery, Stephen Maing, Jane Mayer, Mark Mazzetti, Tom McCarthy, Alexander Nanau, Marilyn Ness, Soledad O’Brien, Sam Pollard, Janet Reitman, Maria Ressa, James Risen, Hanna Rosin, Topher Sanders, Nancy Schwartzman, David Simon, Cheryl Thompson, Christiaan Triebert, Nanfu Wang, Ryan White, Alex Winter, Lawrence Wright, Pamela Yates, and scores mor
Tom McCarthy, Director, Spotlight