PBS’ Frontline Launches Production and Distribution Arm Frontline Features
After garnering the 2024 Oscar for the Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” Frontline’s editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath knew that, despite streamers’ aversion to political fare, audiences around the world were hungry for investigative journalistic content. Aronson-Rath’s conviction has led to the formation of Frontline Features, a new documentary production and distribution initiative.
The first four official Frontline Features productions include two Oscar contenders — “2000 Meters to Andriivka” and “Antidote” — the short doc “Status: Venezuelan,” and an upcoming feature documentary, “One in a Million.”
The new banner will be led by Aronson-Rath, an Oscar-winning producer who has expanded the PBS Frontline series’ traditional broadcast reporting into the critically acclaimed documentary space. Under Aronson-Rath’s leadership, Frontline has earned three Academy Award nominations since 2018 for “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” “For Sama,” and “20 Days in Mariupol,” which garnered the Oscar for best documentary feature in 2024.
“I see Frontline Features as an extension of our [Frontline] mission — to produce trustworthy, impactful journalism that’s widely accessible to all audiences,” says Aronson-Rath.
Each year, Frontline Features will either commission or come in at the early stages of three to five doc projects — both features and shorts. Each film will premiere at a festival, go on the fest circuit, and then have a theatrical run of at least two weeks.
“We would prefer to partner with theaters like we recently did with the Film Forum on ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka,'” Aronson-Rath says. “But we will just be strategic because we really do believe in the power of the theater. We believe in people convening and being together. It sounds so simple, but it really is so powerful still.”
A Frontline Features doc’s theatrical release will be followed by a PBS broadcast debut and a worldwide streaming launch on PBS App and YouTube, under PBS’s multiyear deal with the streaming giant. The Frontline YouTube channel has 3.2 million subscribers and offers more than 70 feature-length films and over 300 Frontline documentaries.
“Hopefully, our contribution to the documentary community is that Frontline Features films start with distribution,” says Aronson-Rath. “We can’t do everything. We can’t fix the whole marketplace, but we can contribute because we really do believe in the documentary form as a form. Platforms have films, but for us, we have a different mission in mind, which is to ensure that these films are seen. They should be in front of the paywall and should be accessible to everyone. So, it’s a different strategy, but I think it’s a really important one. I mean, it shouldn’t be the only strategy, but it certainly is a good strategy for a world that needs these films.”
“20 Days in Mariupol,” directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov, screened at 350 theaters worldwide and currently has 3.7 million views on YouTube.
“Before I made ’20 Days in Mariupol,’ I knew as a journalist investigator, how hard things are in the documentary community and for those people who make social impact of films because they are not easy to watch and because sometimes they are political,” says Chernov. “Certain streamers or distributors don’t want to deal with those topics. They would rather deal with more entertaining topics. But Frontline has never been afraid to deal with these difficult topics, and they have this dedicated audience. So, Frontline Features is exciting because everybody seems to be doing worse and worse in our community. So for someone to actually make an attempt to expand the reach and to make a bigger impact, and to support more filmmakers — it’s invaluable.”
According to Aronson-Rath, young people are watching Frontline doc features on mobile devices, which is why her team will create short clips from the feature films for Instagram and other social media platforms.
“Mini shorts reach millions of people,” says Aronson-Rath. “Hopefully, those will bring people back to the long form. We are taking a very wide-reaching, audience-driven approach to this, so we can reach people all across the globe.”
Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, says, “Frontline Features is an exciting evolution of our longstanding commitment to serving audiences with trusted journalism.”
The Frontline Features division will be led by Frontline’s senior editorial team. The Frontline Features advisory council will be led by Oscar-winning filmmaker Nina Fialkow, and will include filmmakers and journalists such as Simon Kilmurry, Michelle Mizner, Dan Edge, and Chernov.
“I’m very devoted to the whole idea of public television and, in particular, Frontline,” says Fialkow, a leading member of Impact Partners. “I believe in fact-based journalistic documentaries, and I want to continue to support the documentary community and support Raney in the best way that I can.”
“2000 Meters to Andriivka” is the latest collaboration between Fronline and The Associated Press. Frontline’s “Status: Venezuelan” is in partnership with ProPublica and premiered at Double Exposure Film Festival and the upcoming “One in a Million” was made in partnership with BBC Storyville and will premiere in 2026.
Frontline is supported by PBS, various foundations, and individual financial contributors.
The first four official Frontline Features productions include two Oscar contenders — “2000 Meters to Andriivka” and “Antidote” — the short doc “Status: Venezuelan,” and an upcoming feature documentary, “One in a Million.”
The new banner will be led by Aronson-Rath, an Oscar-winning producer who has expanded the PBS Frontline series’ traditional broadcast reporting into the critically acclaimed documentary space. Under Aronson-Rath’s leadership, Frontline has earned three Academy Award nominations since 2018 for “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” “For Sama,” and “20 Days in Mariupol,” which garnered the Oscar for best documentary feature in 2024.
“I see Frontline Features as an extension of our [Frontline] mission — to produce trustworthy, impactful journalism that’s widely accessible to all audiences,” says Aronson-Rath.
Each year, Frontline Features will either commission or come in at the early stages of three to five doc projects — both features and shorts. Each film will premiere at a festival, go on the fest circuit, and then have a theatrical run of at least two weeks.
“We would prefer to partner with theaters like we recently did with the Film Forum on ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka,'” Aronson-Rath says. “But we will just be strategic because we really do believe in the power of the theater. We believe in people convening and being together. It sounds so simple, but it really is so powerful still.”
A Frontline Features doc’s theatrical release will be followed by a PBS broadcast debut and a worldwide streaming launch on PBS App and YouTube, under PBS’s multiyear deal with the streaming giant. The Frontline YouTube channel has 3.2 million subscribers and offers more than 70 feature-length films and over 300 Frontline documentaries.
“Hopefully, our contribution to the documentary community is that Frontline Features films start with distribution,” says Aronson-Rath. “We can’t do everything. We can’t fix the whole marketplace, but we can contribute because we really do believe in the documentary form as a form. Platforms have films, but for us, we have a different mission in mind, which is to ensure that these films are seen. They should be in front of the paywall and should be accessible to everyone. So, it’s a different strategy, but I think it’s a really important one. I mean, it shouldn’t be the only strategy, but it certainly is a good strategy for a world that needs these films.”
“20 Days in Mariupol,” directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov, screened at 350 theaters worldwide and currently has 3.7 million views on YouTube.
“Before I made ’20 Days in Mariupol,’ I knew as a journalist investigator, how hard things are in the documentary community and for those people who make social impact of films because they are not easy to watch and because sometimes they are political,” says Chernov. “Certain streamers or distributors don’t want to deal with those topics. They would rather deal with more entertaining topics. But Frontline has never been afraid to deal with these difficult topics, and they have this dedicated audience. So, Frontline Features is exciting because everybody seems to be doing worse and worse in our community. So for someone to actually make an attempt to expand the reach and to make a bigger impact, and to support more filmmakers — it’s invaluable.”
According to Aronson-Rath, young people are watching Frontline doc features on mobile devices, which is why her team will create short clips from the feature films for Instagram and other social media platforms.
“Mini shorts reach millions of people,” says Aronson-Rath. “Hopefully, those will bring people back to the long form. We are taking a very wide-reaching, audience-driven approach to this, so we can reach people all across the globe.”
Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, says, “Frontline Features is an exciting evolution of our longstanding commitment to serving audiences with trusted journalism.”
The Frontline Features division will be led by Frontline’s senior editorial team. The Frontline Features advisory council will be led by Oscar-winning filmmaker Nina Fialkow, and will include filmmakers and journalists such as Simon Kilmurry, Michelle Mizner, Dan Edge, and Chernov.
“I’m very devoted to the whole idea of public television and, in particular, Frontline,” says Fialkow, a leading member of Impact Partners. “I believe in fact-based journalistic documentaries, and I want to continue to support the documentary community and support Raney in the best way that I can.”
“2000 Meters to Andriivka” is the latest collaboration between Fronline and The Associated Press. Frontline’s “Status: Venezuelan” is in partnership with ProPublica and premiered at Double Exposure Film Festival and the upcoming “One in a Million” was made in partnership with BBC Storyville and will premiere in 2026.
Frontline is supported by PBS, various foundations, and individual financial contributors.