Faculty member partners with Retro Report on short doc for New York Times

An assistant professor in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications has teamed up with Retro Report to produce a short documentary about the increasing role of special operations forces in the war on terror as part of a project for The New York Times.

Retro Report produces short documentaries that “arm the public with a more complete picture of today’s most important stories.” Along with The Times, the Manhattan-based nonprofit has partnered with the Guardian, NBC, PBS, Politico and Univision on projects.

“How Special Ops Became Central to the War On Terror” examines two historic operations’ impact on America’s current strategy.

“In a world as chaotic as the present one, knowing history may be our only hope for charting safe passage to a better future,” said Retro Report’s Kit Roane, who produced “Special Ops” with Dvir.

“Special Ops” is the first short documentary Boaz Dvir has made in recent years. He focuses on long-form nonfiction films such as the award-winning "Jessie’s Dad" and "A Wing and a Prayer," which after airing on PBS stations around the country since 2015 now streams on AmazonVideo, DirecTV and Sling.

“I love working with Kit, [executive producer] Kyra [Darnton] and the rest of the top-notch Retro Report team,” said Dvir, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism. “They’ve taught me a great deal about putting history in contemporary context.”