Phil Bertelsen (Directing)

Seen and Heard

From executive producer Issa Rae, Seen and Heard is a two-part documentary that travels through time, creating a kaleidoscopic portrait of Black talent being “seen,” to Black creatives being “heard,” shaping today’s Golden Age of Black television.

Release Date:2025-03-08

Department:Directing

Job:Director

761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers

The riveting story of the first all-Black tank battalion to fight in US military history. Under General George Patten's command, the 761st fought heroically throughout WWII and were the furthest east of all US troops in the European theater of war.

Release Date:2023-08-20

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

The 1619 Project

In keeping with the original project, this series seeks to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

Release Date:2023-01-26

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:14

The Picture Taker

From his Memphis studio, Ernest Withers’ nearly 2 million images were a treasured record of Black history but his legacy was complicated by decades of secret FBI service revealed only after his death. Was he a friend of the civil rights community, or enemy—or both?

Release Date:2022-10-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Who Killed Malcolm X?

Decades after the assassination of African American leader Malcolm X, an activist embarks on a complex mission seeking truth in the name of justice.

Release Date:2019-09-30

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:19

Hope & Fury: MLK, the Movement and the Media

A documentary following the civil rights movement and how the media, in particular the burgeoning TV, was used to fight for equality in the 1960s. From Selma to Charlottesville, we also see how modern activists use today's technology to continue fighting injustice today.

Release Date:2018-03-24

Department:Directing

Job:Director

School of the Future

Researchers and educators highlight the gaps in the U.S. education system and share their visions for innovative and meaningful learning environments.

Release Date:2016-09-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

The Blacklist

Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

Release Date:2013-09-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:3218

Finding Your Roots

Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.

Release Date:2012-03-24

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:12

Rock the Paint

A coming-of-age story ignites when teenager Josh Sendler has to pack up his hoop dreams and move from the lush cornfields of Indiana to the harsh inner-city playgrounds of Newark, N.J.. He meets and befriends basketball phenom, Antwon Jackson, on the local court and together they make a run for the high school state championship. Their friendship is tested along the way and ultimately must prove itself in the face of the explosive n-word.

Release Date:2005-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

The Sunshine

Portrait of the Sunshine Hotel, a flop house on the Bowery in New York's skid row. We meet Vic, the desk clerk, who paints watercolours and pastels; Jonesy, a janitor who talks about bedbugs; Bruce, a voluble alcoholic who makes runs for residents, picking up beer or sandwiches for them and sharing his philosophy with us; Vinnie, on methadone, caring for caged birds; Cashmere, a prostitute, the only woman at the hotel; Earl, who works downstairs in the Bowery's last factory, and Mike, the general manager, who talks about the changing face of the Bowery. The film concludes with tourists outside the Sunshine, hearing from Seth Kamil of Big Onion Walking Tours.

Release Date:2000-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director