DP/30: Crime After Crime director Yoav Potash, subject Joshua Safran

This documentary tells the tale of Debbie Peagler, who spent 26 years in prison for murdering the abusive boyfriend who abused her profoundly, including forcing her into prostitution… even though her only direct involvement in the murder was to engage gang members to scare her abuser into getting out of her life. 20 years or so after the conviction, 2 lawyers took on the case and spent 6 years trying to help her find some level of justice.

DP/30 @LAFF: Somewhere Between, director Linda Goldstein Knowlton

Linda Goldstein Knowlton was an Exec Producer on Whale Rider and the co-director of The World According To Sesame Street. But her personal journey into the world of adoption – specifically adopting a daughter from China – brought her to her newest film, which tells the story of four girls and their families years after coming to America.

DP/30: Bad Teacher, director Jake Kasdan

Jake Kasden has been on of the young filmmakers whose name grabs the attention of cinephiles for years now… and not just because his dad made Body Heat. Zero Effect, Freaks & Geeks, and even Walk Hard have string cult followings. He brings some of his unexpected ways to a fairly conventional idea in Bad Teacher.

DP/30 Emmywatch: Bobby Fischer vs The World, director Liz Garbus

Emmy Winner (Ghosts of Abu Ghraib) and Oscar nominee Liz Garbus is back with her look at the story of Bobby Fisher, famed chess star and infamous oddball. We spoke at Sundance, where the film premiered in January. It’s now on the air on HBO.

DP/30: Rejoice And Shout, director Don McGlynn

Don McGlynn started at USC Film School and from his first film has been known as “the music doc guy.” His latest is an assemblage of some of the least seen footage of the performers who make up the roots of gospel music, along with interviews with modern stars of the form.

DP/30: The Last Mountain, director Bill Haney, subject Robert Kennedy, Jr

With explosives the size of a Hiroshima bomb being dropped on Appalachia every week, industry has already taken 500 mountains down to rubble and dumped the residuals into the rivers, contaminating 2,000 miles of federal river. The Kennedy family has been fighting to save these mountains and to stop the environmental destruction from the practice for decade. Filmmaker Bill Haney tells the story with Bobby Kennedy, Jr. by his side.

DP/30 Emmywatch: How To Die In Oregon, director Peter Richardson

HBO’s currently showing How To Die In Oregon, a powerful documentary on the legal and human cost of the right-to-die battle in that state.

DP/30: The Art of Getting By, actor Freddie Highmore

Searchlight picked up a film at Sundance this January called “Homework.” It’s now called The Art of Getting By and comes out this Friday. We spoke to Freddie Highmore and his co-star Emma Roberts with the writer/director Gavin Wiesen at Sundance. And we had a chance to talk to Freddie on his own a few months later.

DP/30 Emmywatch: The Killing, actor Michelle Forbes

Michelle Forbes is a television veteran whose career has taken her from deep space to the Baltimore morgue to the vampire-ridden bayous of Louisiana, and back again, playing smart, tough women. But this year, she got to play the intensely vulnerable Mitch Larsen, mother of the deceased on AMC’s just-renewed hit drama, The Killing.

DP/30 Emmywatch: Covert Affairs, actor Piper Perabo

Piper Perabo has stretched in ways that few saw coming after she broke out in Coyote Ugly, years ago. She’s six episodes into her second season of Covert Affairs on USA Network, and we sat down to chat for the second time this year.

DP/30 Emmywatch: Glee actor/Shameless writer, Mike O’Malley

Mike O’Malley has had a long career as an actor. But he’s become more than “I know that guy from somewhere” (like “Yes, Dear” or “My Name is Earl”) with his role as Kurt Hummel’s kind, generous, very heterosexual father on “Glee.” Meanwhile, he has also embraced a second career as a television writer, on staff for the American remake of “Shameless.”

DP/30: Beginners, writer/director Mike Mills

Mike Mills wrote and directed this personal tale of a father (Christopher Plummer) who comes out of the closet after mother passes… and the son (Ewan MacGregor) who struggles to learn the lessons of his life.

DP/30 Emmywatch: Parks & Recreation, actor Nick Offerman

You probably recognize him, even with a full beard in place of his trademark Parks & Recreation mustache and high hair. We spoke to Offerman in his studio, where he has a second life, as a nationally-renowned master wood worker.

DP/30 Emmy Watch: Mildred Pierce, actress Evan Rachel Wood

As famous for her personal life as for her acting, at 23, Evan Rachel Wood seems to have clarity and confidence in both arenas. After 18 years in The Business, she just keeps getting better. In Todd Haynes’ take on Mildred Pierce, she doesn’t arrive in the film for almost 4 hours… and then, steals scene after scene after scene opposite some of the best “older” actors in the world.

DP/30 Emmy Watch: Mad Men, actress Kiernan Shipka

Showbiz can be hard on an 11-year-old in this town, but Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka seems to get through it with a smile. After a season in which her character, Sally Draper, seemed clearer on reality than her dad, Don, we decided to talk to the young actress.

DP/30 Emmy Watch: Luther, actor idris Elba

Idris Elba is currently featured in the hit movie, Thor, but his turn in the BBC series “Luther,” and his supporting turn on Showtime’s “The BIg C” have got people talking Emmy. Spend a half-hour with the rising star in this DP/30 interview.

DP/30: Tree of Life, producers BIll Pohlad, Dede Gardner