The Diplomat, the new ESPN documentary about Katarina Witt, is shared with director Jennifer Arnold, and we also discuss her films, A Small Act (about education’s impact in Kenya), and American Mullet. We see footage from her films and she shares their experience with clever attention to detail.

Jennifer graduated from UCLA and University of Nairobi with a B.A. in African History and returned to UCLA for a MFA in Film. Her award-winning film, MAID OF HONOR screened at Sundance before airing on HBO/Cinemax and Film 4. Jennifer returned to Sundance with her internet series, “The Mullet Chronicles,” which was developed into the documentary, AMERICAN MULLET and released by Palm Pictures and Lionsgate. Jennifer also co-directed a documentary for Ethan Coen and wrote a motocross script, SPEEDWAY, which was selected for Berlin Talent Campus’ script clinic, IFP’s No Borders and FIND’s Directors Lab / Fast Track Program.

She returned to Sundance a third time with “A Small Act.” In addition to being nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Best Documentary Emmy, “A Small Act” was awarded the Adrienne Shelly Directors Award, the NAMIC Vision Award and the Humanitas Prize for documentary film. “A Small Act” was broadcast on HBO in its 2010 summer series and was a top 10 documentary pick by Roger Ebert the same year.

Recently, Jennifer completed the documentary portion of “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” (distributed by Fox) and “Table Top,” starring Wil Wheaton (for Geek and Sundry). In addition to her contributions to the Nine for IX series, her upcoming projects include a narrative thriller entitled “The Killing Frost,” which is being developed with the support of Film Independent.

Now she’s back with a new film, The Diplomat, discussing one of East Germany’s most famous athletes, Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt. The film will premiere on ESPN Aug 6th as part of the Nine for Nine series.