The second annual Floodlight Summit convened top international investigative journalists who presented their reporting to leading producers, screenwriters, and filmmakers for potential screen adaptations. The invite-only event took place from December 6 to 8 in Cartagena, Colombia, with participants from more than 25 countries across five continents.
"Floodlight seeks to infuse the investigative reporting spirit into films and television series so that critical thinking is augmented in an era when humans need this power more than ever,” said OCCRP and Floodlight Co-Founder Paul Radu.
Established by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Gabo Foundation, and film industry veterans Philippa Kowarsky and Alesia Weston, the year-round Floodlight program includes a rigorous selection process and culminates in the annual Floodlight Summit.
In a joint statement, Floodlight’s Chief of Creative Alesia Weston and Executive Producer Philippa Kowarsky said: “We have been overwhelmed by the response and commitment from the entertainment industry for both editions of Floodlight. The alchemy that we have witnessed at play in Cartagena is already seeding impactful new stories and we can’t wait to see what will come of this year’s event.”
The 17 Floodlight Select Journalists for 2024 embody the fearlessness, resilience, and determination required to be an investigative reporter in the modern era — working through war zones and from exile; battling threats, harassment, and surveillance; and being among the last independent journalists in their countries as press freedom continues to shrink globally.
This year’s journalists are: Eyal Abrahami (Shomrim, Israel), Roman Anin (IStories, Russia), Aubrey Belford (OCCRP), Liliana Botnariuc (RISE Moldova), Mahtab Divsalar (Zamaneh, Iran), Diego Fernández Romeral (Página 12, Argentina), Kevin G. Hall (OCCRP), Alia Ibrahim (Daraj.com, Lebanon), Art Kane (author, “The Last Story: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist in Las Vegas,” U.S.), Ilya Lozovsky (OCCRP), Carlos Martínez (El Faro, El Salvador), András Pethő (Direkt36, Hungary), Ronna Rísquez (Alianza Rebelde Investiga, Venezuela), Julian Rubinstein (author and director/producer, “The Holly,” U.S.), Rinat Tuhvatshin (Kloop, Kyrgyzstan), and Kira Zalan (OCCRP). (Some are not listed for security reasons.)
The journalist’s pitches illuminated how deeply connected transnational organized crime is to high-level corruption, and how they both affect citizens. Their stories touched on topics including the illegal export of diseased meat — and how it ends up in the finest restaurants in Europe — and the calculated suppression of dissent in Hungary.
Film and television industry participants included multi-award-winners Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, One Day in September), Maria Schrader (She Said, Unorthodox), Ramin Bahrani (White Tiger, 99 Homes), William Horberg (The Queen’s Gambit, Milk), Ziad Doueiri (West Beirut, The Insult), Sarah Timberman (Justified, Unbelievable), Alexander Rodnyansky (Leviathan, Beanpole), and Rodrigo García (News of a Kidnapping, Mother and Child).
Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich, Unbelievable) attended both the inaugural Floodlight Summit last year and this year’s event: “It was a rare and invaluable opportunity to hear from a global group of investigative journalists who are doing some of the most important, consequential, and dangerous reporting in the world right now,” said Grant. “The Floodlight initiative is a huge gift to both the journalists and the filmmakers – and to the audiences who will benefit from these adaptations in the future.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists were featured speakers and shared their experiences translating their books to the screen, including Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (The New York Times, She Said). Patrick Radden Keefe (The New Yorker) spoke with producer Brad Simpson (Crazy Rich Asians, Hunger Games) about how they collaborated to turn Keefe’s book, “Say Nothing” into a highly-acclaimed Hulu television series of the same name.
Ryan Murphy Productions Senior Executive and Attorney Craig Emanuel attended and offered legal guidance.
"It was a privilege to celebrate this intersection of investigative journalism and fiction in Cartagena, honoring Gabriel Garcia Márquez, a creator who believed in the transformative power of stories to shape our world,” said Gabo Foundation Director Jaime Abello Banfi. “This year, the Floodlight Summit aligned with the global release of the ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ series, an adaptation of Márquez's masterpiece and the largest audiovisual production in Latin American history, highlighting new opportunities for stories from the Global South to reach wider audiences.”
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ABOUT FLOODLIGHT
Floodlight connects investigative reporting with the film and television industry to produce informed fiction in the public interest. We source and curate a selection of the most riveting investigations from top journalists, shape the material, and present it to leading filmmakers and television series creators for adaptations into rich stories. Created by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Gabo Foundation, and film industry professionals, Floodlight is a new approach to storytelling.
ABOUT OCCRP
With staff across six continents, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is one of the largest investigative journalism organizations in the world. Founded by veteran investigative reporters Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu in 2007, OCCRP collaborates with media outlets to publish 100+ stories a year that hold power to account. OCCRP investigations have helped return over $10 billion in illicitly acquired funds to the public sphere and led to more than 700 arrests, sentences, and indictments. Sullivan and Radu oversee investigative documentaries and are executive producers of the award-winning film, “The Killing of a Journalist.”
ABOUT GABO
The Gabo Foundation is an international non-profit created by Gabriel García Márquez (Gabo) in 1994. The Foundation's mission is to foster an active and better-informed citizenry by promoting the ethical and creative use of storytelling, inspired by the legacy of its founder and his workshop method. Over the past decade, the Foundation has led the preservation and promotion of Gabriel García Márquez’s legacy. Best known today as an inveterate storyteller and Nobel laureate, Márquez began his career as an investigative reporter and went on to work in film before he changed writing forever with his timeless stories. Floodlight honors Gabo's spirit by uniting the power of film with the gritty realism of investigative reporting.
