Crime After Crime tells the dramatic story of the battle to free Debbie Peagler, an incarcerated survivor of brutal domestic violence. Her spirit remains uplifting, despite a harrowing saga of abuse, injustice, and decades of incarceration for her connection to the murder of the man who forced her into prostitution. Her story takes an unexpected turn when two rookie land-use attorneys attempt to set her free - and attract global attention to the troubled intersection of domestic violence and criminal justice. The Los Angeles Times called the documentary, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, ''a must-see film'' and The Hollywood Reporter described it as ''a tremendously moving story, strong in social commitment and deftly woven out of years of footage''. Filmmaker Yoav Potash tracked the legal battle to free Debbie Peagler over a six-year period to create his first full-length feature film Crime After Crime.
Director
Yoav Potash
Yoav Potash's work as a filmmaker has often addressed issues of race and justice. His feature documentary Crime After Crime (2011 Sundance Film Festival premiere) earned The Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film & Digital Media from The Council on Foundations. He co-directed the one-hour documentary Food Stamped in collaboration with his wife, nutrition educator Shira Potash. The film premiered at The Mill Valley Film Festival in 2010. His half-hour documentary Life on the Inside, about the nation's largest prison for women, began airing on PBS stations in 2007. His 35mm film Minute Matrimony earned a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and a Grand Festival Award at the Berkeley Video & Film Festival. Criminal Justice, Yoav's short on racial profiling, won a documentary competition judged by HBO and The Learning Channel. He collaborated with PBS station KQED to complete his first documentary, From the Ground Up, about a multicultural group of UC Berkeley students who helped rebuild burned-down African-American churches in Alabama. Yoav has also produced short documentaries and videos for many companies and non-profits, including: Apple Computer, Neutrogena, Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Koret Foundation, and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. He has taught film courses at the Bay Area Video Coalition and Academy of Art University, and is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where he received the university's top prize in creative writing.
