After winning the 2024 Oscar for the Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” Frontline editor-in-chief and executive producer Laney Aronson-Russ knew that viewers around the world were hungry for investigative content, despite the streamer’s aversion to political content. Aronson-Russ’ belief led to the creation of Frontline Features, a new documentary production and distribution effort.
The first four official FRONTLINE features include the two Oscar-nominated films “2000 Meters to Andriuka” and “The Antidote,” the short documentary “Status: Venezuela,” and the upcoming feature documentary “One in a Million.”
The new banner will be helmed by Oscar-winning producer Aronson Russ, who has expanded the traditional broadcast reporting of the PBS Frontline series into the realm of critically acclaimed documentaries. Under the direction of Aronson-Russ, FRONTLINE has received three Academy Award nominations since 2018, including Abacus: Small enough to go to prison, For Summer, and 20 Days in Mariupol, which won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“I see Frontline Features as an extension of our (Frontline) mission to produce trusted, impactful journalism that is widely accessible to all audiences,” Aronson-Russ said.
Each year, Frontline features are commissioned or installed in the early stages of three to five documentary projects, both long and short. Each film premieres at a festival, tours the festival circuit, and then plays in theaters for at least two weeks.
“We would like to partner with theaters, as we recently did with Film Forum on 2000 Meters to Andriivka,” says Aronson-Russ. “But we’re going to be strategic. Because we really believe in the power of theater. We believe in people coming together and coming together. It sounds so simple, but it’s actually still very powerful.”
The theatrical release of the Frontline feature doc will be followed by its PBS broadcast debut and the launch of worldwide streaming on the PBS App and YouTube under PBS’ multi-year agreement with the streaming giant. The Frontline YouTube channel has 3.2 million subscribers and features over 70 feature films and over 300 Frontline documentaries.
“We hope that starting a Frontline Features film in distribution is our contribution to the documentary community,” says Aronson-Russ. “We can’t do everything. We can’t fix the entire market, but we can contribute because we truly believe in documentary as a format. We have films on our platform, but for us we have another mission in mind: to make sure these films are seen. Movies should be behind paywalls and should be accessible to everyone. So I think it’s a different strategy, but it’s a very important one. I mean, it shouldn’t be the only strategy, but it’s certainly a good strategy for a world that needs these movies. ”
20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporter Mstislav Chernov, has been shown in 350 theaters around the world and currently has 3.7 million views on YouTube.
“Before making 20 Days in Mariupol, as a journalist-investigator, I knew how difficult the situation was for the documentary world and for those who influence society, because films are not easy to watch and are sometimes political,” says Chernov. “Some streamers and broadcasters don’t want to deal with those topics. They want to deal with more interesting topics. But Frontline is never afraid to deal with these difficult topics and they have a loyal audience. So Frontline The feature is exciting because it seems like things are getting worse for everyone in our community, so it’s invaluable for people who are really trying to expand their reach and make a bigger impact and support more filmmakers.”
Aronson-Russ said that because young people are watching Frontline documentary features on mobile devices, her team will create short clips from the feature films for Instagram and other social media platforms.
“Mini shorts reach millions of people,” says Aronson Russ. “We hope this will get people back to the long format. We’re taking a very broad audience-driven approach to this and can reach people all over the world.”
“Frontline Features is an exciting evolution of our long-standing commitment to providing trusted journalism to our viewers,” said Paula Karger, president and CEO of PBS.
The Frontline feature department is led by Frontline’s senior editorial team. The Frontline Features Advisory Board is led by Oscar-winning director Nina Fialkow and includes filmmakers and journalists including Simon Kilmurry, Michelle Mizner, Dan Edge and Chernoff.
“I’m very passionate about the whole idea of public television, especially Frontline,” says Fialkow, a key member of Impact Partners. “I believe in fact-based journalistic documentaries, and I look forward to continuing to support the documentary community and supporting Laney in the best way I can.”
“2000 Meters to Andriivka” is the latest collaboration between Fronline and The Associated Press. Frontline’s “Status: Venezuelan,” in partnership with ProPublica, premiered at the Double Exposure Film Festival, and the upcoming “One in a Million,” produced in partnership with BBC Storyville, will premiere in 2026.
FRONTLINE is supported by PBS, various foundations, and private funders.
