The Guardian visits Islamberg in New York, against which a Tennessee man plotted a deadly attack. Why have most Americans never heard of him?

In 2015, the Muslim community of Islamberg, in upstate New York, discovered that a Tennessee minister, Robert Doggart, was plotting the deadliest attack on US soil since 9/11 against their village. Yet many Americans have never even heard of him, and the community feels its fears over safety have been ignored.

Release of man who threatened Islamberg hamlet prompts outcry Read more

No terrorism charges were brought against Doggart. No national news outlets covered his arrest. One month after he was taken into custody, a judge released him on bail. As Doggart’s case went before an all-white jury, the Guardian’s new documentary, White Fright, dissects the US’s segregated system of national security, the media’s role in exacerbating terrorist threats, and the failure of society to protect vulnerable communities from racist attacks.

Read more on this story from our data editor, Mona Chalabi: Terror attacks by Muslims receive 357% more press attention, study finds.

White Fright was commissioned as part of the Guardian Bertha documentary partnership, which aims to tell international stories with global impact.

Play Video 29:39 White Fright

The film’s maker, David Felix Sutcliffe, is an Emmy award-winning documentary film-maker and national security journalist whose work is rooted in racial justice and countering Islamophobia.



Five anti-Muslim protesters and 400 peace supporters meet at New York rally Read more

His feature-length debut film (T)Error, co-directed with Lyric Cabral, premiered at the 2015 Sundance film festival and received a 2017 Emmy award for outstanding investigative documentary. (T)Error was the first documentary to place film-makers on the ground during an active FBI counter-terrorism sting operation.

Variety magazine praised the film as “a vital exposé” and Newsweek said it was “astounding”, declaring it one of the best documentaries of the year. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was profiled on NPR’s This American Life, CNN and in the New York Times magazine.

Coming up: Cops and Robbers

Growing up in Queens in the 1970s and 1980s, Corey Pegues played cops and robbers like all the other kids on the block but he never expected to become both.

Released 27 July

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Image from Cops and Robbers documentary. Photograph: Ilinca Calugareanu for the Guardian

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Our documentary recommendations



At the cinema: Although she hasn’t only made documentaries, Agnès Varda has become regarded as a legendary figure in the genre in recent years. There are retrospectives of her work running at both BFI Southbank and Bertha Dochouse in London, and also Home in Manchester. The Gleaners and I and The Beaches of Agnes are unmissable examples from a unique director who is both playful and profound. Her newest film, Faces Places, was a deserved Oscar nominee, and I was disappointed it didn’t win.

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Looking ahead, I’m excited about this season at the Barbican of 1980s documentaries from the early days of Channel 4, when the doors of TV were thrown open to film-makers from diverse and regional backgrounds. It’s worth trying anything in the season, but the work of the Black Audio Film Collective is probably the top must-attend event.

On demand: A festival hit, Over The Limit, is available on iPlayer. It offers unprecedented access to the hidden world of elite gymnasts and the unrelentingly brutal training demanded by the Russian system. Often sad, and with a cast of eccentric and even tyrannical trainers and gymnasts, it’s not easy to watch, but it’s great access.



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