Paul Stekler

Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics have won numerous national honors including multiple Emmys, Peabodys and du-Pont-Columbia Journalism awards, and have all been aired nationally on PBS.  His films include Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America (a two night national special), three films that aired on PBS’s POV series (Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style; Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics; and Getting Back to Abnormal, a film about New Orleans and race relations after Katrina), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights history series films.  His latest project, Postcards from the Great Divide, made with longtime partners Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker, is a series of short films about politics in nine states, being released on PBS Digital and the Washington Post’s politics website.  Dr. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics and has been the Chair of UT’s Department of Radio-Television-Film since 2010.  Stekler previously worked as political pollster in Louisiana, co-wrote Native American novelist James Welch’s non-fiction book Killing Custer, and also writes about politics and film, having published, among other places, in the Texas Observer and the Texas Monthly.