Chuck Todd Hopes Meet the Press Film Festival Humanizes Those Who’ve Become ‘Weaponized in Our Political Dialogue’

thewrap.com:

As “Meet The Press” unveils their slate of documentaries for the sixth annual Meet The Press Film Festival in New York City, Chuck Todd has embraced highlighting films boiling political tensions to bring a new understanding to these issues outside of the red blue prism.“If you run towards the controversy, you can break a barrier,” Todd told TheWrap ahead of the festival’s debut. “Make the people three-dimensional figures so they’re not treated like two-dimensional political props.”This year’s festival, which is set in New York for the first time, spotlights short documentaries that dive deep into global migration, equality in sports, civil and gender rights, and racism in the criminal justice system — issues that heavily drove voters to the polls in last week’s midterm election.

As results continue to come in, Todd imagines the election’s aftermath might enhance, or even shift, audience’s understanding of a film.“When you see the public react the way they react to the current political climate, your own interpretation of watching some of these subject matters may change more than you realize,” Todd said.As “Dear Noah: Pages from a Family Diary,” which depicts a family’s move from Texas to protect their transgender teenage, makes its world premiere at the festival, Todd celebrates the life-affirming humanity at the center of the slated films.“A good documentarian brings some humanity to the person; that is the centerpiece of the story, and in that humanity, makes you understand the second side of the story,” Todd said. “We’ve seen how much particularly the transgender community has been weaponized in our political dialogue and [the film displays] the impact is on this family that does nothing but love each other.”Though.