Madeleine Rotzler
Madeleine Rotzler is an Emmy® Award-winning director and producer of documentaries and narrative feature films. She is the founder of Great Curve Films and with titles including O.G., It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It, and The Lottery. Her most recent project, O Horizon, was described as "bound to be one of the season's sweetest charmers." The film remiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2025 where it won the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema.
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Recent reviews of O Horizon can be read here and here.​
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Prior to focusing exclusively on feature filmmaking, Madeleine co-founded Osmosis Films, a media consulting company that worked with large financial services companies and non-profits. ​​
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Madeleine's initial training was in post-production, working as an editor and assistant editor, editing such films as FERNANDO NATION, an ESPN 30-for-30 about Dodgers' pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.
Madeleine also produced several short films, such as Boyd Holbrook's directorial debut, PEACOCK KILLER (starring Shea Whigham), based on a short story by Sam Shepard, and James Lawler's sci-fi short, EDEN 2045 (starring Tyler Jacob Moore). ​
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Madeleine was a participant of the Berlinale Talents program. A Duke alum, Madeleine has a B.S. in Psychology and minors in English and Biology.
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She is represented by Paul Nelson at Mosaic and Scott Feinstein at 42West.
FILMS
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O HORIZON (2025)
Written and directed by Madeleine, the film is a sci-fi dramedy that explores the themes of grief, loss and the evolution of technology. Oscar nominated Maria Bakalova stars as Abby, a brilliant, young neuroscientist who encounters a new technology that reconnects her with her recently deceased father, played by Oscar nominated David Strathairn. Abby’s relationship with her digitized dad forces her to re-examine everything from her romantic relationships to her life’s work.
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Motivated by her studies of biopsychology and time spent in a neuroscience lab as an undergraduate, Madeleine explains that she was “interested in making a movie set in part in the world of science — but I didn’t want it to be dry or dystopian. So many movies about technology are dark and even fatally pessimistic. What if instead, technology enables something beautiful and emotional, full of wonder and with more questions than answers? In the hands of great actors like Maria Bakalova and David Strathairn, who gave such powerful, relatable performances, and our incredible team of artists, it seems that’s what we got.”
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O.G. and IT'S A HARD TRUTH AIN'T IT (2019)
In 2018 HBO released two films directed and produced by Madeleine focused on incarcerated men, including her narrative feature debut, O.G., which is thought to be one among a very few movies actually filmed inside a working prison with incarcerated actors. Starring Jeffrey Wright, O.G. tells the story of a man who is on the verge of his release after serving 24 years. Jeffrey’s performance garnered the Best Actor Award at Tribeca Film Festival.
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In addition to O.G., Madeleine also filmed a documentary feature in partnership with thirteen men incarcerated in the prison, which was nominated for an Emmy in 2020. IT'S A HARD TRUTH AIN'T IT reveals the men both in front of and behind the camera as they learn how to make a film in order to tell their own stories, using animation to bring their memories to life in riveting detail. Madeleine received the Bill Webber Award for Community Service from Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison for the pair of films, using her work to elevate the voices of those incarcerated.
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Both films were shot in a maximum-security prison, Pendleton Correctional Facility in Pendelton, Indiana, to give the truest depiction of the experience of being in prison, and to move away from the tropes of the typical ‘prison film.’ Collaborating on all aspects of the filmmaking with incarcerated men and filming inside the prison helped to create an authentic portrayal. The actors were mostly men incarcerated in the prison and prison guards and staff. The lead role opposite Jeffrey Wright was played by a 36-year-old man incarcerated at Pendleton named Theothus Carter. Madeleine cast Theothus after an open casting call at Pendleton, where she saw auditions of over one-hundred men who are incarcerated and dozens of guards and staff. Theothus missed the premiere as we was still in prison.
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Madeleine was compelled to make films about prison when she learned that “that nearly everyone — over 95 percent — of people who are in prison today will be released. Around 400,000 people walk out of prison — every year.” She explained to Women in Hollywood that this “felt like an enormous number of people, and yet I’d only seen prison films and TV shows that seemed to sensationalize the experience of being incarcerated, and so I became curious about what that experience was really like for someone getting ready to go home. I wanted to work with men in prison to make a true prison film, reflecting the complexity of the emotions and experiences that this character, Louis, might have."
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THE LOTTERY (2010)
Her first feature documentary, THE LOTTERY, follows four families in Harlem and the Bronx seeking a high-quality education for their young children in neighborhoods with historically underperforming public schools. Inspired by a news story of a charter school lottery at the Harlem Armory in 2008, the film explores the debate about the education reform movement and helped to spark a renewed debate on the future of public education. The film was shortlisted for the 2011 Academy Awards.
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DUKE 91 & 92: BACK TO BACK (2011)
DUKE 91&92: BACK TO BACK, her second film, was co-produced with Turner Sports and gave viewers an inside look into one of the most storied basketball programs in history. Duke 91&92: Back To Back, tells the riveting story of the Duke Blue devils attempt to win back to back championships and includes interviews with players and footage of actual games. Grant Hill and Christian Laettner served as producers on the film.
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DANGEROUS ACTS STARRING THE UNSTABLE ELEMENTS OF BELARUS (2013)
Madeleine's third film, Emmy-winning DANGEROUS ACTS STARRING THE UNSTABLE ELEMENTS OF BELARUS, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013 and was acquired by HBO. Incorporating footage that was smuggled out of the dictatorship in Belarus, the feature documentary follows the Belarus Free Theatre, an underground theater, as they escape the country and struggle to keep making art. DANGEROUS ACTS received several awards in addition to the Outstanding Arts and Cultural Programming Emmy, which include the Grand Jury prize at One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, the Golden Butterfly at The Hague Movies that Matter Festival, Best Documentary at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, the Audience Award at Lighthouse International Film Festival, and 3 awards at Biografilm Festival, including the Audience Award.
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More about Madeleine
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Who is Madeleine Rotzler (née Sackler)?
Madeleine Rotzler is a film director and producer who has directed both documentaries and fictional films. She studied Biopsychology at Duke University and started her film career as an editor. She is the founder of the film company Great Curve Films and her films include O.G., It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It, and The Lottery. Her most recent film is called O Horizon, starring Maria Bakalova and David Strathairn.
When Madeleine got married, she and her partner combined their last names to create a new family name, Rotzler. The new name they created for their family was designed to honor both of their identities and backgrounds.
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What are Madeleine Rotzler's most recent films?
In 2018 Madeleine Rotzler directed and produced two films: O.G., starring Jeffrey Wright, is a fictional account of a man about to be released after 24 years in prison. Concurrently she released the documentary It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It, in which she worked with 13 incarcerated men, so that they could learn to film in order tell their own stories.
Where was the movie O.G. filmed?
Both films were filmed in a maximum-security prison, Pendleton Correctional Facility, to give the most true depiction of the experience of being in prison, and to move away from the tropes of the typical ‘prison film.’ Collaborating on all aspects of the filmmaking with incarcerated men and filming inside the prison helped to create an authentic portrayal.
Who is Theothus Carter?
The movie was "O.G." is thought to be among a very few movies filmed inside a working prison. The actors were mostly men incarcerated in the prison and prison guards and staff. The prison was the Pendleton Correctional Facility, in Pendleton, Indiana, and the lead role opposite Jeffrey Wright was a 36-year-old man incarcerated at Pendleton named Theothus Carter. He played the role of "Beecher." Madeleine Sackler cast Theothus after an open casting call at Pendleton, where she saw auditions of over one-hundred men who are incarcerated and dozens of guards and staff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsOCmDdIt8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHySivplszY
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What other full-length documentaries did Madeleine direct?
Madeleine's first feature documentary, The Lottery, delves into the controversy about public schools in the United States and explores the debate about the education reform movement. Inspiration came for the film by a news story of a charter school lottery at the Harlem Armory in 2008. Four families in Harlem were featured in The Lottery.
Duke 91&92: Back To Back, tells the riveting story of the Duke Blue devils attempt to win back to back championships and includes interviews with players and footage of actual games. Grant Hill and Christian Laettner were producers on the film.
Her third documentary, Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus, uses smuggled footage and uncensored interviews to tell the story of repression by the government and gives insight into the resistance movement in Belarus, featuring artists standing up to the regime.
What compelled Madeleine to make films about prison?
From her interview in Women in Hollywood: “I learned that nearly everyone — over 95 percent — of people who are in prison today will be released. Around 400,000 people walk out of prison — every year. That felt like an enormous number of people, and yet I’d only seen prison films and TV shows that seemed to sensationalize the experience of being incarcerated, and so I became curious about what that experience was really like for someone getting ready to go home. I wanted to work with men in prison to make a true prison film, reflecting the complexity of the emotions and experiences that this character, Louis, might have."
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Philanthropy
For more than a decade, Great Curve Films has produced both fiction and nonfiction films developed by Madeleine that address a broad range of social issues including public education, the dictatorship in Belarus, mass incarceration, and more.
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With each film, Great Curve enlisted production teams that engaged with a combination of audiences, nonprofits, and partner organizations to advance the films’ themes beyond the screen. Great Curve Acts is a continuation of those efforts and supports the advancement of access to the arts and sciences through media, education, technology, dialogue, and collaboration.
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Born from the belief that important ideas and innovative storytelling are within all of us, Great Curve Acts supports organizations and individuals interested in advancing the arts and sciences in a myriad of ways. Whether it be through programs in prisons, public schools, or other under-served populations, Great Curve Acts looks for opportunities to spark imagination and foster creativity.
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