She Found the Secret NYPD Surveillance Footage of John and Yoko — with Rosemary Rotondi

What does archival research really look like on some of the most powerful documentaries of the last decade?

Rosemary Rotondi is a New York based archival producer and researcher with over 30 years of experience. Her credits include Attica (Oscar nominated), John & Yoko: One to One (Apple TV+), and American Murder: Gabby Petito (Netflix, 90 million views worldwide).

In this episode she takes us behind the scenes of all three films. We hear how she tracked down NYPD surveillance footage of John and Yoko at anti-Vietnam War protests in the New York municipal archives, how Attica footage had simply vanished from upstate New York's small local archives through years of neglect and lack of resources, the story of a film crew who felt threatened filming drone footage outside the prison, and the reality of working on the Gabby Petito police body cam case — including what happened to the officer in that footage two years later.

Rosemary also reflects on the emotional toll of working with traumatic archive material, who makes the ethical decisions around disturbing images, the stark lack of diversity in true crime documentary coverage, and what it actually takes to break into archival research.

If you work in documentary film, care about film history, or want to understand how archival storytelling really works — this is essential listening.