After helping to navigate Donald Trump into the Oval Office in 2016, political consultant Steve Bannon was appointed chief strategist to the new administration but was forced to resign after a series of missteps. Now unconstrained by an official post, Bannon is free to peddle influence as a perceived kingmaker and anointing himself leader of the “populist movement,” he travels around the U.S. and the world spreading his hard-line anti-immigration message.
Director Alison Klayman’s The Brink is a fly-on-the-wall chronicle of Bannon’s global mission to spread extreme nationalism. Tracking his moves through the 2018 American mid-term elections, this startling documentary sheds light on his efforts to mobilize and unify far-right parties around the world.
Following the DGA Eastern Region Special Projects Committee’s Documentary Series screening in New York on March 15, Klayman discussed the making of the film in a conversation moderated by Director Kristi Jacobson (A Place at the Table).
In addition to The Brink, Klayman's filmography includes the documentary features Take Your Pills and 11/8/16 and episodes of the documentary series Enhanced and Op-Docs. She was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for her 2012 film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. Klayman has been a DGA member since 2017.
You can listen to Klayman's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.