Helen Whitney


Helen Whitney is an American producer, director and writer of documentaries and feature films that have aired on PBS, HBO, ABC and NBC.
Whitney's subjects have included youth gangs, the 1996 American presidential candidates, a Trappist monastery in Massachusetts, the McCarthy Era in the United States, Pope John Paul II, and the late photographer Richard Avedon.
Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, was a PBS two-hour television special on the 9/11 attacks, which explored the spiritual aftershocks of this event. Whitney's film, The Mormons, was a four-hour PBS series and the first collaboration between the PBS programs American Experience and Frontline.
Whitney's film, Forgiveness: A Time to Love & A Time to Hate, examines the power, limitations - and in rare cases - the dangers of forgiveness through stories ranging from personal betrayal to international truth and reconciliation commissions. This three-hour series aired on PBS in April 2011.
Whitney's 1982 ABC News Close-Up documentary about the McCarthy Era, American Inquisition, provoked a libel suit brought by journalist Victor Lasky. Whitney and ABC News were defended by First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams. The court ruled in favor of Whitney and ABC News. Abrams remarked, "we won and the broadcast was totally vindicated."
In her feature film work, Whitney has directed actors such as Lindsay Crouse, Austin Pendleton, Blair Brown, Brenda Fricker, and David Strathairn.
Her films have received an Oscar nomination, the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, an Emmy Award and the George Foster Peabody Award.

Education

Whitney grew up in New York City, where she attended the Chapin School. She received a BA in English literature from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965 and a master's degree in Victorian literature from the University of Chicago in 1967.

Documentary Films - Producer, Director, Writer

TitleAiring NetworkDurationYear Released
First EditionPBS30 minutes1975
Youth Terror: The View From Behind The GunABC60 minutes1978
The MonasteryABC90 minutes1980
HomosexualsABC60 minutes1982
American InquisitionABC60 minutes1983
They Have Souls TooABC60 minutes1992
Society Class In Great BritainTurner Network60 minutes1992
Richard Avedon: Darkness and LightPBS: American Masters90 minutes1994
The Choice '96PBS: Frontline2 hours1996
John Paul II: The Millennial PopePBS Frontline3 hours1998
Faith and Doubt At Ground ZeroPBS: Frontline2 hours2002
The MormonsPBS: Frontline and American Experience4 hours2007
Forgiveness: A Time To Love And A Time To HatePBS3 hours2011

Dramatic Feature Films - Director

Beginning in 1982, following her acceptance by the Sundance Institute, Whitney wrote and directed several dramatic features for television.
TitleAiring NetworkYear Released
A Town's RevengeABC1997
In The GloamingTrinity Playhouse1997
Every Day Heroes1990
Lethal InnocenceAmerican Playhouse1991
First Love. Fatal LoveHBO1991

Scripts - Writer & Co-Writer

TitleRoleAiring Station/Location
The SiegeCo-writerCommissioned by Trinity Playhouse
Change of HeartCo-writerCommissioned by American Playhouse
Kale MessengerCo-writerCommissioned by Warner Brothers
K.589Co-writerSelected by The Sundance Film Festival
Prejudice: Take OneWriterCommissioned by Highgate Productions
Willa Cather: The Road HomeCo-writerPBS American Masters
The Rise and Fall of Mark TwainCo-writerPBS American Masters
DeliveranceCo-writerCommissioned for PBS for the 50th anniversary of WW2
Black, White and BlueCo-writerHBO
The Song of the LarkCo-writerLifetime Television

Book

In 2011, following the release of her two-part PBS documentary "Forgiveness: A Time To Love & A Time To Hate", Whitney wrote a companion book to the film with the same title and a foreword by the Dalai Lama.

Abbreviated List of Awards and Nominations

YearBody of WorkAward Received
1977First EditionAcademy Award Nomination: Best Documentary Short
1978Youth Terror: The View From Behind The GunThe San Francisco International Film Festival Award
1978First EditionThe Robert Flaherty Film Seminar Award
1985American InquisitionThe Edward R. Murrow Award
1988They Have Souls TooThe Humanitas Prize
1990A Town's RevengeThe Humanitas Prize
1995Richard Avedon: Darkness and LightThe Director's Guild of America: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Film
1995Richard Avedon: Darkness and LightThe Hamptons International Film Festival Award for most popular film
1996The Choice '96The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award
1996The Choice '96George Foster Peabody Award
1996The Choice '96Emmy Award for Outstanding Analysis of a Single Current Story
1996The Choice '96The Writer's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Script for Television Documentary
2002Faith and Doubt At Ground ZeroThe Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award
2002Faith and Doubt At Ground ZeroThe Christopher Award
1999John Paul II: The Millennial PopeThe Writer's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Script for Television Documentary

Film and Lecture Presentations

Whitney has delivered keynote addresses and lectures at Yale University, the University of California Berkeley, Pomona College, the Harvard Divinity School, the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Bellarmine University, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Syracuse University, the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Roanoke College. In 2012, she presented the William Belden Noble Lectures at Harvard University.
She has also spoken at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, KY, and the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C,

Endowed Lectures

As a 2009 Woodrow Wilson scholar, Whitney has taught at Flagler College, Roanoke College and St. Mary's College.

Associations