Elyse Frenchman

Elyse is a documentary filmmaker and advocate based in Brooklyn, New York. For the past decade she has been making feature documentaries, including: "Fragments of Paradise," (Winner, Best Documentary on Cinema, Venice Film Festival 2022); "True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality" (HBO 2019, Winner, Peabody, Emmy & NAACP Awards); "The Soul of America" (HBO, 2020); "King in the Wilderness" (HBO, 2018; Winner, Emmy Award). Elyse is also an advocate for social and environmental justice issues. She is a long-time volunteer with the Parole Preparation Project, helping people prepare for parole hearings. She worked with Sea Shepherd, living aboard a decommissioned coast guard cutter in the Gulf of California to document interdiction efforts in order to prevent illegal poaching of the Vaquita Porpoise. And for the past several years, she’s collaborated with public and federal defenders to create pre-sentencing mitigation and clemency videos for their clients. This work along with her work with Bryan Stevenson and his team on “True Justice” inspired her to create The Way We See. Elyse is a former professional figure skater, cactus mom, cereal connoisseur, aspiring slam poet and cave exploring enthusiast.