Pamela Yates is an American documentary filmmaker and

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

. She has directed films about

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

, racism, and

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

in the United States and Latin America, often with emphasis on the legal responses.

Biography

Pamela Yates was born and raised in the Appalachian

coal-mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

region of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

but left at a young age to live in New York City. She earned a Bachelor's degree from the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

in 1976. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, the Director of the Sundance Award winning

When the Mountains Tremble ''When The Mountains Tremble'' is a 1983 documentary film produced by Skylight Pictures about the war between the Guatemalan Military and the Mayan Indigenous population of Guatemala. Footage from this film was used as forensic evidence in the ...

, the Producer of the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

- winning ''Loss of Innocence'', and the Executive Producer of the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winning "Witness to War." She most recently directed the film ''Granito: How to Nail a Dictator'', which served as key evidence in the

Ríos Montt Rios, Ríos or Riós are Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician surnames. The name has numerous origins. In Germany, Italy, France, UK, and the Americas the Ríos surname can also be found in the surname history books. The name was derived from the ...

trial in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Previously Yates directed, ''The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court''," a

feature-length film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

and educational initiative and ''State of Fear'', a feature-length documentary that tells the epic story of Peru's 20-year war on terror based on the findings of the Peruvian

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

. Pamela is a co-founder and partner o
Skylight Pictures
a company committed to producing artistic, challenging and socially relevant independent media and media strategies on issues of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and the quest for justice.

Work

Her 2006 film, '' State of Fear: The Truth about Terrorism'', about the findings of

concerning the

internal conflict in Peru The internal conflict in Peru is an armed conflict between the Government of Peru and the Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path. The conflict's main phase began on 17 May 1980 and ended in December 2000. From 1982 to 1997 the Túpac Amaru Rev ...

, was translated into 44 languages and broadcast in 157 countries. '' The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court,'' released in 2009, is about the work of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

. In 2010, Yates was nominated for two

Emmys The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for it – Best Documentary Film and Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Long Form Documentary. ''The Reckoning'' was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. Her 2011 film, ''Granito: How to Nail a Dictator'', is a sequel to ''

''. In it, Yates uses her archives to provide evidence for a war crimes tribunal set in Spain (using the concept of

universal jurisdiction Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows Sovereign state, states or International organization, international organizations to prosecute individuals for serious crimes, such as genocide, War crime, war crimes, and crimes against hu ...

) in its efforts to prosecute the genocide in Guatemala. The film was an official selection included in the Premiere Documentary Section of the 2011

, and was also nominated for an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Long Form Documentary. Yates received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

for her work on the film, which served as key evidence in the Ríos Montt genocide trial in Guatemala. On May 3, 2015, the film won the White Camel award at the FiSahara.

Accolades

Four of Yates' films — ''

'', '' Poverty Outlaw'', ''

Takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

'', and '' Teatro!'' — were nominated for the

Grand Jury Prize A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent date and depe ...

at the

, and ''When The Mountains Tremble'' won the award in 1984. Her film, '' State of Fear: The Truth about Terrorism'', won the 2006

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

Award for "Best Reporting in Any Medium on Latin America". Awards and nominations for her 2011 Documentary, Granito: How to Nail A Dictator include: Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival, 2011; Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Investigative Journalism: Long Form, 2013; Opening Night Film, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, 2011; Grand Prix for Best Creative Documentary, Paris International Human Rights Film Festival; Peace & Reconciliation Prize, The Geneva International Human Rights Festival, 2011 Jury Grand Prize, The Politics on Film Festival, 2011; Honorable Mention, Overseas Press Club Award; 2012 Founder's Award, Traverse City Film Festival, 2011

Selected filmography

*'' Resurgence: The Movement for Equality vs. The Ku Klux Klan'' (1981) *''

'' (1983) *'' Nicaragua: Report from the Front'' (1983) *'' Teatro!'' (1990) *''

'' (1990) *'' Poverty Outlaw'' (1997) *'' Outriders'' (1999) *'' Brotherhood of Hate'' (1999) *'' Battle for Broad'' (2000) *'' Cause for Murder'' (2002) *'' Presumed Guilty: Tales of the Public Defenders'' (2002) *'' State of Fear: The Truth about Terrorism'' (2005) *'' Living Broke in Boom Times'' (2007) *'' The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court,'' (formerly ''The Court of Last Resort'') (2008) *''Granito: How to Nail a Dictator'' (2011) *'' Rebel Citizen'' (2015) *'' 500 Years'' (2017) *''Borderland'' (2024)

References

External links

*
Skylight Pictures website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Pamela American film producers American documentary filmmakers American human rights activists American women human rights activists Tisch School of the Arts alumni Living people Activists from Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from Pennsylvania American women documentary filmmakers Sundance Film Festival award winners