ABOUT THE FILM

In early 2019, directors Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy began researching, developing, and creating an independent, archival-based, documentary film about a little known figure in Watergate history, Martha Mitchell. Producers Judith Mizrachy and Beth Levison came aboard in 2020 and a core team of four women creators was born. Foothill Productions and Netflix partnered with the production team in 2021.

The Martha Mitchell Effect premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and later premiered internationally at the 2022 HotDocs film festival in Toronto. The film was also an official selection at Aspen Shorts Fest, Full Frame Documentary Festival, Milwaukee Film Festival, Berkshires Int’l Film Festival, Provincetown Film Festival, DC/DOX, Meet The Press Film Festival, DocNYC, and ShortsTV.

The in-person New York City Premiere was held at The Paris Theater in June 2022. Netflix released the film on its platform globally on June 17, 2022, the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in.

The Martha Mitchell Effect was nominated for a 2023 Academy-Award for Best Documentary Short film.

In summer 2023, the film was invited to participate in American Film Showcase, the premier American film diplomacy program of the U.S. State Department in partnership with the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.

LOGLINE
She was once as famous as Jackie O. And then she tried to take down a President. The Martha Mitchell Effect is a 40-minute 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.

Watch the film on Netflix.