John Beder
John Beder (he/him) is an Emmy Award winning filmmaker whose works have been published by The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera, and have been official selections at 14 Oscar qualifying film festivals. His documentaries explore themes of resistance, social justice, medicine, and substance use, often illuminating overlooked or underrepresented voices with care and urgency. His latest film, How to Sue the Klan, a collaboration with renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, won an NAACP Image Award and tells the story of five Black women who helped bring down a local Klan chapter through a pivotal civil suit. He previously directed Dying in Your Mother’s Arms, an Emmy nominated co-production with The New York Times about pediatric palliative care. John is the co-founder of Bedrock Productions and an active member of the Asian American Documentary Network, the Documentary Producers Alliance, and The Video Consortium.
Presentations from Facing Race 2026
America sold the U.S. public a poster: the “American Worker.” The American Worker belongs here. He is patriotic and free. He is white and male. He built the nation, so the nation belongs to him. This film tears the myth open. In the wreckage of decades of mythmaking, an AAPI immigrant filmmaker embarks on a journey across time and geography to uncover how race, labor, and power have shaped belonging and exclusion in America’s story of work.
Directed by Thien Dinh, Produced by John Beder and Anthony Banua-Simon