FRONTLINE Honored by the Gracie Awards

THU., MARCH 28 — The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation announced today that Sasha Joelle Achilli, producer of FRONTLINE’s 2023 documentary Inside the Iranian Uprising has been honored with a Gracie Award in the “Producer – Documentary [TV – National]” category. 

Awarded annually, the Gracies “recognize individual achievement and exemplary programming created by, for and about women in news and entertainment in front of and behind the camera and microphone.” 

Inside the Iranian Uprising chronicled sweeping, anti-government protests across Iran following the 2022 death in police custody of a young woman, Mahsa Zhina Amini, who was accused of not adhering to the Islamic regime’s strict dress code. 

Drawing on a trove of footage filmed by protesters, producer Achilli and Iranian filmmaker and director Majed Neisi trace how the protests began in the Kurdish parts of Iran and spread throughout the country — and how the authorities responded with force.

“I am honored to be one of a group of such impressive women to have won this prestigious award dedicated to women in the media and whose work helps amplify these women across the globe. To have won it this year, as I have become a mother to a baby girl, means even more to me,” says Achilli. “Throughout the making of Inside the Iranian Uprising, I was in awe of the immense bravery the women of Iran had, and continue to have. It’s up to women in media to stick together and champion each other’s work in bringing to light the lives of women everywhere.”

“We are so pleased to see Sasha Achilli and Inside the Iranian Uprising be acknowledged by this Gracie Award. Sasha and director Majed Neisi’s reporting gave a voice to young Iranians in a country where journalists are tightly controlled,” says FRONTLINE’s editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath.

Inside the Iranian Uprising began exclusively streaming on pbs.org/frontline, YouTube and in the PBS App in June 2023 ahead of its August 2023 PBS broadcast. 

The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation also honored FRONTLINE’s former Local Journalism Initiative partners at the 49th annual Gracies Awards. The Charlotte, North Carolina, NPR station WFAE received a Gracie for its series Fractured in the “Series [Radio – Non-Commercial Local]” category, and The Texas Newsroom received a Gracie for its podcast Sugar Land in the “Investigative Feature [Radio – National Syndicated Non-Commercial]” category. Both projects received editorial support from FRONTLINE. “We also celebrate our former Local Journalism Initiative partners, WFAE and The Texas Newsroom, for their Gracie wins,” Aronson-Rath added. “We’re proud to support their storytelling and to see it be recognized on a national stage.”

Last year, Afghanistan Undercover — FRONTLINE’s 2022 undercover investigation into the Taliban’s crackdown on women in Afghanistan from correspondent Ramita Navai (Iraq Uncovered, Syria Undercover) and director Karim Shah (Israel’s Second Front, Taliban Country) — was honored with a Gracie Award in the “Documentary – International Investigation [TV – National]” category. 

This year’s Gracie Award winners will be honored at the Gracies Gala on May 21, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California. You can read a full list of winners here, and watch FRONTLINE’s documentary Inside the Iranian Uprising below: 

Inside the Iranian Uprising (credits)