FRACTURED –– a co-production of FRONTLINE, WFAE & Firelight Media –– investigates the long waits for mental health care that defendants who are deemed too sick to stand trial face in North Carolina.
In recent years, the U.S. has been experiencing what’s been called a mental health crisis. The documentary FRACTURED examines how that crisis is playing out within the criminal justice system in North Carolina, a state where it’s been harder to access mental health care than in most others.
From FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, the Charlotte, North Carolina, NPR station WFAE, and Firelight Media, Fractured investigates the long waits for mental health care that defendants who are deemed too sick to stand trial face in North Carolina. The documentary explores how the long waits for care affect not only these defendants, but also the criminal justice system itself.
Débora Souza Silva is an award-winning Afro-Brazilian filmmaker whose work examines systemic racism and inequality, while highlighting movements of Black resistance. Her work has been featured on NETFLIX, The New York Times, FRONTLINE | PBS, BBC, Reveal News, and KQED, among other platforms. Débora received the Les Payne Founder's Award from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and was selected for a The New York Times Institute Fellowship. She is a Board Member of the Studio IX, an organization supporting emerging women and nonbinary nonfiction filmmakers.
Débora is a recipient of the 2021 Creative Capital Award, a member of the 2020 Chicken & Egg(celerator) Lab and the 2019 Firelight Media Lab. She is also a recipient of the Athena Film Festival Breakthrough Award. Her work has also been funded by the Sundance Institute, Glassbreaker Films, the Investigative Reporting Program, Tribeca Film Institute, Fork Films, Perspective Fund, Catapult Film Fund, The Center for Investigative Reporting, Berkeley Film Foundation, Sisters in Cinema, International Documentary Association, DocPich, and California Humanities.
Débora’s debut feature documentary, FOR OUR CHILDREN premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival, in 2022, and is currently streaming on NETFLIX.
