Any Given Day

Cook County, Illinois is trying an alternative approach to cases in which defendants suffer from a mental illness: treatment.

man sitting on sofa
Series
America ReFramed
Premiere Date
July 7, 2022
Length
90 minutes
Funding Initiative
Open Call
filmmaker Margaret Byrne
Producer/Director

Margaret Byrne

Award-winning filmmaker Margaret Byrne, directed and produced Raising Bertie (POV 2017), a feature documentary following three African American boys as they face a precarious coming of age in Bertie County, North Carolina. Some of her previous credits include All the Queen’s Horses (Netflix 2017) and Emmy-nominated American Promise (POV 2014). She… Show more was previously a creative director at Universal Music and directed live concerts and music videos for artists such as Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige. In 2005, Byrne produced and edited the series that launched MTV across Africa. Byrne is an adjunct professor at Columbia College and an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University. She lives in Chicago with her daughter Violet and is the founder of Beti Films. Show less

We fund untold stories for public media.

Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.

MORE INFO

The Film

Caught in the ever-evolving overlap of mental healthcare policy and criminal justice reform we meet Chicagoans Angela, Daniel, and Dimitar. The trio participate in the Cook County Mental Health Court, established to divert people with mental illnesses who have committed “crimes of survival.” Any Given Day invites us into the stories behind their crimes, underlying tensions of race and class, and the hard-fought triumphs that pave the way from incarceration to mental health treatment.

Topics