David France

Directing

David France

David France is an American investigative reporter, non-fiction author, and filmmaker. He is a contributing editor for New York magazine, a former Newsweek senior editor, and has published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and others. France is best known for his investigative journalism on LGBT topics.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Welcome to Chechnya poster
6.9

This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.

Welcome to Chechnya

2020

Welcome to Chechnya poster
6.9

This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.

Welcome to Chechnya

2020

Welcome to Chechnya poster
6.9

This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.

Welcome to Chechnya

2020

Free Leonard Peltier poster
NR

Leonard Peltier, one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction. A new generation of Native activists is committed to winning his freedom before he dies.

Free Leonard Peltier

2025

Free Leonard Peltier poster
NR

Leonard Peltier, one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction. A new generation of Native activists is committed to winning his freedom before he dies.

Free Leonard Peltier

2025

Free Leonard Peltier poster
NR

Leonard Peltier, one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction. A new generation of Native activists is committed to winning his freedom before he dies.

Free Leonard Peltier

2025

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson poster
7.1

Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

2017

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson poster
7.1

Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

2017

How to Survive a Plague poster
6.8

A story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.

How to Survive a Plague

2012

How to Survive a Plague poster
6.8

A story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.

How to Survive a Plague

2012

How to Survive a Plague poster
6.8

A story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.

How to Survive a Plague

2012

How to Survive a Pandemic poster
4.1

An inside look at the historic, multi-national race to research, develop, regulate, and roll out COVID-19 vaccines in the war against the coronavirus pandemic.

How to Survive a Pandemic

2022

How to Survive a Pandemic poster
4.1

An inside look at the historic, multi-national race to research, develop, regulate, and roll out COVID-19 vaccines in the war against the coronavirus pandemic.

How to Survive a Pandemic

2022

It's Okay poster
NR

A quiet take on a very noisy subject—the rise of hate and intolerance against the LGBTQIA+ community—as two young brothers observe and absorb their first Drag Story Hour. A refrain of “It’s okay” underscores their experience, and this simple utterance takes on a multitude of meanings in its repetition, from assurance to question, hope to fear.

It's Okay

2024