She was once as famous as Jackie O. And then she tried to take down a President. THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT is an archival documentary portrait of the unlikeliest of whistleblowers: Martha Mitchell, a Republican cabinet wife who was gaslighted by the Nixon Administration to keep her quiet. It offers a female gaze on Watergate through the voice of the woman herself.
Debra McClutchy is a Brooklyn, NY based documentary filmmaker, consultant, archival researcher & producer, with experience that spans development to distribution. She co-originated and co-directed THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, distributed by Netflix and nominated for a 2023 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, internationally at Hot Docs Film Festival, and was an official selection at several more festivals.
Debra's Archival Producer credits include SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED, and THE SECRET MALL APARTMENT, two feature documentaries premiering at SXSW 2024.
In 2019, she co-produced THE BOOKSELLERS, which premiered at the New York Film Festival and is distributed by Greenwich Entertainment. For eleven and a half years, she was a senior creator at Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent film distributor in NYC. She was also a producer or the world-renowned distributor The Criterion Collection, as well as an associate producer in documentary television.
Debra has served as a guest juror and panelist at film festivals all over the US and world, and as a presenter at universities. Her early work included media literacy and production skills instruction for underserved young women in the Midwest. Debra is a member of the Archival Producers Alliance and serves as its Industry Liasion. She also serves on the advisory group for Missing Movies, an organization that works to preserve film as an art form.