Director of Acclaimed Documentaries Faces Allegations of Misappropriated Footage

Filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, whose recent documentaries "You Can See Everything" and "Primetime" have garnered attention, is facing accusations of past misconduct related to his early work. Author and investigator Katie Carter has alleged that Oppenheim misrepresented himself at a workshop for mitigation filmmakers, which aims to create short documentaries to humanize defendants seeking lighter sentences.

According to Carter's account, shared on Instagram, Oppenheim attended the training with undisclosed intentions. She claims he then used proprietary footage obtained during this session for his 2017 New York Times Opinion documentary, "No Jail Time: The Movie," which he subsequently sold to the publication. Carter stated that Oppenheim's participation and project goals were not transparent to workshop attendees and that he profited from what she describes as "stealing stories from poor people facing crimes and surviving poverty."

Carter further asserted that her attempts to have Oppenheim remove the short film and return the footage were unsuccessful. When contacted, Carter declined to comment further. A spokesperson for Oppenheim has not yet responded to requests for comment, and The New York Times has also been approached for a statement.

Oppenheim's career has seen a rapid ascent, partly due to his unconventional path, which included cold-emailing industry figures. His documentary "You Can See Everything" has been noted for its strong opening weekend performance. However, this is not the first instance of controversy surrounding his work; his film "Primetime" drew criticism from Chris Hanson, former host of "To Catch a Predator," who described the film as "detached from reality."