Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland

In 2015, Sandra Bland, a politically active 28-year-old black woman from Chicago was arrested for a traffic violation in a small Texas town. Three days later, Sandra was found hanging from a noose in her jail cell. Dash cam footage revealing her violent arrest went viral, leading to national protests claiming that this was a case of racially-motivated murder. Sandra quickly became a poster child for police brutality, leaving millions to question 'What really happened to Sandra Bland?'

Includes a post-film discussion with Directors/Producers Kate Davis & David Heilbroner; Sister of Sandra Bland, Sharon Cooper; Attorney Cannon Lambert; and Charles H.F. Davis, III, Assistant Professor of Clinical Education, Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Research, USC Race and Equity Center. Moderated by Jarrett Hill, Journalist and VP, Nat. Assoc. of Black Journalists of LA.

Kate Davis studied filmmaking at Harvard and has made acclaimed documentaries for twenty years.  An AMPAS member, her film Southern Comfort won dozens of awards including The Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, The Berlin Film Fest Special Jury Award and First Prize at Hot Docs and Seattle Film Festival, and The Grierson Award in England. Kate and her partner, David Heilbroner, were nominated for an Academy Award (2018) for their film, Traffic Stop. Davis and Heilbroner co-directed/co-produced The Cheshire Murders, The Newburgh Sting (Peabody Award), directed Jockey (Emmy Award, Best Direction), Stonewall Uprising (Peabody Award) for American Experience, and Scopes: The Battle Over America's Soul for the History Channel.  They are currently completing a music film titled Born into the Gig, and for HBO, are releasing a documentary on the national case of Sandra Bland, titled Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland.

David Heilbroner has worked in film and television for over 20 years.  For A&E Television Networks, he produced Untying the Straight Jacket, Anti-Gay Hate Crimes and The Dark Side of Parole, among others.  He was Senior Producer on Crime Stories, a series for Court TV, as well as on American Babylon (2003) a feature Court TV documentary.  A former prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and Federal District Court law clerk, David wrote the critically acclaimed non-fiction books Rough Justice (Pantheon 1990) and Death Benefit (Crown/Harmony 1993).