True Justice
USA. 2019. 102 min. George, Peter, and Teddy Kunhardt. HBO Films. English. PG-13.
March 25, 2026 (Only) FREE Special Student Screening and Q&A with George Kunhardt, True Justice Director and Executive Director of Life Stories, and Matthew Henderson, True Justice Producer and Program Director, Life Stories
For more than three decades, Alabama public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned, seeking to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. An intimate portrait of this remarkable man, directed by Emmy-winning filmmakers George, Peter, and Teddy Kunhardt, True Justice follows Stevenson’s struggle to create greater fairness in the system and shows how racial injustice emerged, evolved, and continues to threaten the country, challenging viewers to confront it.
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Time: 9:30 AM—Noon
Location: JBFC Theater, 364 Manville Rd., Pleasantville, NY 10570
Grade Level: High School
Note: Buses must arrive at the JBFC Theater by 9:15 AM. The JBFC will cover the cost of up to TWO buses for under-resourced schools. Bus availability is on a first-come, first-served basis. All bus invoices must be sent to JBFC within 60 days after the event in order to be paid.
Special Guest: George Kunhardt, Director of True Justice and Executive Director of Life Stories
George Kunhardt is a three-time Emmy Award winning producer. He most recently served as an Executive Producer on Fragments of Paradise, a film about the late filmmaker Jonas Mekas, which premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival in Italy. Prior to that, he served as an Executive Producer on the Apple TV+ series Lincoln’s Dilemma. Recent films he’s produced include A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks (HBO, 2021); The Soul of America (HBO, 2020); True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight For Equality (HBO, 2019, Emmy Award and Peabody Award Winner); John McCain: For Whom The Bell Tolls (HBO, 2018, IDA Award Winner); King in the Wilderness (HBO, 2018, Emmy Award Winner and NAACP Image Award Nominated); The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee (HBO, 2017, PGA Award Nominated); Becoming Warren Buffett (HBO, 2017); Jim: The James Foley Story (HBO, 2016, Emmy Award Winner) and Living With Lincoln (HBO, 2015). Kunhardt graduated from Wheaton College as the college’s first film major. He lives in Bedford, New York with his wife Jackie and their sons George Jr and James.
Special Guest: Matthew Henderson, Producer of True Justice and Program Director at Life Stories
Matthew Henderson has worked in the Film & Television industry for over fifteen years. Currently, Matthew is the Program Director at the Kunhardt Foundation where he supports KFF’s education initiatives by leading post-screening discussions with students and teachers, as well as building community partnerships with educational institutions and corporate partners. Matthew’s passion for storytelling coupled with his ability to conceptualize and create compelling and soulful visuals has allowed him to film all around the world. Whether it’s a remote aboriginal village in Eastern Australia, floating along the Venice like canals of Makoko, Nigeria in Africa, or filming at depths of five-hundred feet below the Atlantic Ocean, his approach to filmmaking is always the same – finding truth in a frame. Most recently, he has worked on True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality (HBO, 2019); John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls (HBO, 2018); King in the Wilderness (HBO, 2018); From the Ashes (National Geographic, 2017); AlphaGo (Reel As Dirt, 2017); Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge (HBO, 2017); and Before the Flood (National Geographic, 2016). Matthew and his wife Monisha live in Brooklyn with their boys, Myles and Memphis.
Photographs and video will be taken during this program by a JBFC staff member. By registering your students for this trip, you are consenting to the taking of photographs or video recordings of all students in attendance and authorize the use of all photos and video by the Jacob Burns Film Center. Photographs or video may be used indefinitely for internal or external purposes (i.e. social media, e-bulletins, and marketing materials). If students do not have permission to be photographed or recorded, teachers must alert the JBFC Education team in writing prior to the event.
