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The Body Politic

Directors

Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough

Executive Producers

Rudy Valdez, Marilyn Ness, Katy Chevigny

Producers

Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough, Dawne Langford

Editors

Thomas Niles

Cinematographers

Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough, John Benam

The Body Politic is a harbinger of hope in a country plagued by gun violence. Our protagonist is Brandon Scott, a young Mayor who grew up during Baltimore’s most troubling years and sets out, with unyielding idealism, to change the course of his battered and beloved city. Scott is elected Mayor amid the George Floyd uprising, and he introduces an ambitious plan for violence reduction and police reform that he promises will lower the city’s murder rate. Pundits claim Brandon’s political health and the city’s health are tied to the number 348 – the total murders Baltimore had the previous year, more homicides than NYC, a city fifteen times its size. After entering office and barely getting a chance to enact his first safety reforms, violence surges to new highs. As the media and political foes attack his holistic approach, Brandon’s commitment to his principles put his future as a politician at risk.

TheBodyPolitic_G. Goodenough

Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough

Director, The Body Politic

Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough is a proud third-generation resident of Baltimore, Maryland. He is passionate about crafting documentaries that challenge conventional narratives about people from places like his hometown. He began his career as a camera assistant on projects such as A Beautiful Mind, The Sporanos, and The Wire. He served as a camera operator on the HBO series K Street and has been a cinematographer on documentaries for PBS, Netflix, and HBO. In 2017 he co-produced the Mexican/USA co-production of the documentary Agave: The Spirit of a Nation (SXSW, 2018). From 2018-19 he worked in the Philippines photographing and co-producing Ramona Diaz’s Emmy Award-Winning documentary A Thousand Cuts. After returning from the Philippines, Gabriel was diagnosed with bone cancer. Treatment for the disease has left him partially disabled and without full mobility in his right leg. Unable to return to his previous career as a full-time vérité cameraperson, he has kept his passion for documentaries alive by shifting his focus to directing. The Body Politic represents his first time as a feature documentary director. Gabriel is a USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate, a Katherine Davis Fellow For Peace, and a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Grantee.