X
- 2023
- Context Move
- 1 h 38 m
- 2023
- Context Move
- 1 h 38 m
Summary When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring its free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government's corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian country.
Directed By: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
- 2023
- Context Move
- 1 h 38 m
- 2023
- Context Move
- 1 h 38 m
Bad Press
80
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring its free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government's corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian country.
Directed By: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
80
100% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 Critic Reviews
80
100% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Through Ellis’ eyes, it’s impossible to stay uninvested. We watch, stomach bottoming out, as the law is repealed with a simple vote. We watch, sitting on our hands, as the new amendment is introduced.
We follow Angel and her fellow journalists as they must struggle through year after year, celebrating their wins and mourning their losses. There's no glossy sheen, no dramatic score. Bad Press brings us into the trenches of their push and pull with local politics, and it is made all the better for it.
Following events over the course of several years, this cautionary tale has an impact not unlike watching the rise of similar anti-transparency policies and politicians elsewhere of late: dismaying, yet with all the lurid appeal and colorful personalities of any juicy public scandal.
What ensues is a long battle that has all the trappings of a small-town political thriller: corrupt officials, refuted elections, reporters fighting for their rights at the risk of their own livelihoods… It’s a story we’ve seen before, but never in this kind of setting.
Bad Press is a resounding documentary because of its quietness. It considers all the topics of the day — misinformation, government overreach, election scandals, and the list goes on. The filmmakers do so by showing that even the smallest, quietest town matters and that moral decay is always allowed to fester in the little places first.
Landsberry-Baker and Peeler could linger more on details about the people involved instead of the horse-race suspense of vote counts. But who can blame them when freedom is in the balance, and as local media outlets dwindle nationally.
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Awards
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Savannah Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Sun Valley Film Festival, US
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination