Film Forum

Award-winning writer/filmmaker Karen Thorsen finds inspiration at the intersection of art and social justice. Her heroes are game-changers, the artist/activists who shape history; her films tell stories without narration, weaving first-person narratives with archival treasures. Her first feature-length documentary as producer/director was the award-winning JAMES BALDWIN: THE PRICE OF THE TICKET—with co-producers Bill Miles & Douglas K. Dempsey, and executive producers Albert Maysles & Susan Lacy-- for PBS/American Masters. Widely considered a classic, the film has been honored in twenty-five countries and is a centerpiece of Thorsen’s non-profit initiative, the JAMES BALDWIN PROJECT (JPB). In 2015, JBP launched a nationwide series of film screenings, live presentations and public forums focused on inclusion, diversity and the meaning of brotherhood. In 2024-25, JBP will celebrate the James Baldwin Centennial by exploring the theme Identity, Then & Now, one community at a time.
 
Thorsen’s other recent projects include the play-on-film NICE MAN COMETH: a collaboration with Douglas Dempsey, Michael Tucker & Jill Eikenberry, presented online by a series of theater companies in 2021-22, and JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS—a feature-length portrait of the man behind New York’s Public Theater and free Shakespeare in the Park, co-produced/co-directed by Tracie Holder & Karen Thorsen. Currently in development is Thorsen & Dempsey’s THOMAS PAINE: VOICE OF REVOLUTION.

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