Citizen Penn Follows Activist Sean Penn’s Global Humanitarian Efforts

Most people may know Sean Penn from his many roles in films such as Mystic River and Dead Man Walking, but it’s his outspoken support for numerous social causes which has earned him a different reputation.

When disaster struck Haiti in 2010, many offered to help. Actor and activist Sean Penn, was one of the many. CITIZEN PENN ​chronicles the moment Penn and his team of volunteers landed in Haiti, just days after the earthquake struck. For Penn, Haiti changed his life. What he thought would be a two-week mission to provide aid and resources resulted in a long-term stay and the creation of J/P HRO (now CORE), a non-profit that would later manage the largest camp for displaced people in the entire country.

Over the past few years, CORE has expanded its efforts across the United States, most recently organizing free COVID-19 testing sites across the country and running the nation’s largest vaccination site at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. CITIZEN PENN highlights both their previous and current projects inside and out of the U.S.

“From climate to conflict resolution, to poverty and Covid-19, citizenship increasingly requires service. Service itself can be a bumpy road, but one we all have to travel. Don Hardy traveled it with CORE (JP/HRO) for over a decade, and I hope his insightful filmmaking will find some form of inspiration for those who watch it. He shows the good, the bad, and the ugly." - Sean Penn.

A project 10 years in the making, CITIZEN PENN provides unprecedented access to the humanitarian efforts made by Sean Penn and his non-profit organization. The documentary, coming May 6 to discovery+, offers an intimate, honest, and self-reflective look into the triumphs and challenges of those who answered the call to help.