Pamela Yates

How a U.S. Supreme Court decision made judges the ultimate gatekeepers of what makes good science in the courtroom.

The award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler died at the age of 93. We interviewed him last year for a film that profiled his life. 

Filmmaker Pamela Yates profiles legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler for her latest documentary premiering at the New York Film Festival.

In the early 1980s, an estimated 200,000 Guatemalans were killed in a genocide carried out by the country’s military. Documentary filmmaker Pamela Yates was there in 1982 shooting footage of the struggle for her documentary, “When the Mountains Tremble.” On today’s Backstory, Yates discusses the efforts to prosecute some of Guatemala’s highest ranking generals for the genocide, and how her film footage has been used to help build a case against them. She tells the story in her latest film, “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator.” We’ll also be joined by Fredy Pecerelli, a forensic anthropologist who’s leading a team of anthropologists in combing through some of the mass graves in Guatemala.

“Granito: How to Nail a Dictator” is playing at the IFC Center. 

Pamela Yates’s documentary "The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court" follows International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and his team for three years, across four continents, as he issues arrest warrants against perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. "The Reckoning" is playing as part ...