Directors of Documentary films
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- Director
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- Cinematographer
Nicolas Philibert was born on 10 January 1951 in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. He is a director and writer, known for To Be and to Have (2002), La Maison de la radio (2013) and In the Land of the Deaf (1992).Etre et avoir (2003)- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Luc Jacquet was born on 5 December 1967 in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, France. He is a director and writer, known for March of the Penguins (2005), Antarctica: Ice and Sky (2015) and Il était une forêt (2013).La Marche de l'empereur (2005)- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Robert J. Flaherty was born on 16 February 1884 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Louisiana Story (1948), Man of Aran (1934) and Elephant Boy (1937). He was married to Frances H. Flaherty. He died on 23 July 1951 in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA.Nanook of the North (1922)- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Avi Lewis is known for This Changes Everything (2015), The Take (2004) and When the Storm Fades (2018).The Take (2004)- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Michael Francis Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on April 23, 1954, and was raised in its Davison suburb. He is the son of Helen Veronica (Wall), a secretary, and Francis Richard Moore, who worked on an auto assembly line. He has Irish, as well as English and Scottish, ancestry.
Moore studied journalism at the University of Michigan-Flint, and also pursued other hobbies such as gun shooting, for which he even won a competition. Michael began his journalistic career writing for the school newspaper "The Michigan Times," and after dropping out of college briefly worked as editor for "Mother Jones."
He then turned to filmmaking, and to earn the money for the budget of his first film Roger & Me (1989) he ran neighborhood bingo games. The success of this film launched his career as one of America's best-known and most controversial documentarians. He has produced a string of documentary films and TV series predominantly about the same subject: attacks on corrupt politicians and greedy business corporations. He landed his first big hit with Bowling for Columbine (2002) about the bad points of the right to bear arms in America, which earned him an Oscar and a big reputation. He then shook the world with his even bigger hit Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), making fun of President George W. Bush. This is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. Michael is known for having the guts to give his opinion in public, which not many people are courageous enough to do, and for that is respected by many.Bowling for Columbine (2002)- Producer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)
The Corporation (2003)- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Peter Joseph (Winston-Salem, NC, USA) inadvertently became globally acclaimed after a private performance work called "Zeitgeist" went viral online in 2007. This highly controversial art piece was artlessly placed online after a short performance run in Manhattan.Peter is/was a solo percussionist/electronic musician and originally produced "Zeitgeist" as a performance, not a "film".
Afterwards "Zeitgeist" became "Zeitgeist: The Movie", with over 50 million+ online views counted in the first year alone via Google Video, Peter went on to produce 2 sequels (Zeitgeist: Addendum and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward) to that work, each achieving a similar level of viral attention. It is estimated that combined, well over 350 million people have seen one or more of his three documentaries since 2007.
Apart from his film and music work, Peter is a dedicated activist and has lectured around the world, including the UK, Canada, America, Brazil, Germany & Israel, on subjects of cultural/social sustainability, the importance of critical thought, and the social role of the arts and scientific literacy. He has been profiled in the New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Marker, Free Speech TV, The Young Turks, Hollywood Today and many other outlets. He has participated in multiple TEDx Events, has worked with The Global Summit and is also a frequent social/economic critic on the news network Russia Today.
Side projects include his hit web series Culture in Decline.
In 2013, he was tapped to direct the official music video of 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame artist Black Sabbath, which requested actual segments from the Zeitgeist Trilogy for their Grammy Award winning single "God is Dead?".Zeitgeist (2007)- Producer
- Director
- Executive
Robert Greenwald is president of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film company that he founded after a career in commercial television and film to motivate and educate viewers on the most pressing issues of the day.
Brave New Films distributes its work for free through social media and in concert with nonprofit partners and movements. The group's movies and videos have been screened around the world and viewed over tens of millions of times and counting.
At Brave New Films, Greenwald has directed and produced gripping full-length documentaries and exposés, as well as shorter documentary films and videos. His latest documentary, Suppressed: The Fight to Vote, tells the story of rampant voter suppression in Georgia's 2018 midterm elections.
Greenwald's investigative documentary shorts include Healing Trauma: Beyond Gangs and Prisons on Los Angeles' Homeboy Industries, 16 Women and Donald Trump on President Trump's serial abuse of women, and Immigrant Prisons on America's system of privately-run immigrant detention centers.
Previous feature-length investigative documentaries include Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA, Unmanned: America's Drone Wars, War on Whistleblowers, Koch Brothers Exposed, Rethink Afghanistan, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and Uncovered: The War on Iraq.
Greenwald and Brave New Films' work has been featured widely in the media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and many more.
Before launching Brave Films in 2005, Greenwald produced and/or directed more than 65 TV movies, miniseries and films as well as major theatrical releases. His early body of work includes Steal This Movie!, Breaking Up, A Woman of Independent Means and The Burning Bed.
Greenwald has earned 25 Emmy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, the Peabody Award and the Robert Wood Johnson Award. He was awarded the 2002 Producer of the Year Award by the American Film Institute.Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005)- Director
- Cinematographer
She was born in France July 8, 1968. She acted in French theatre before moving to New York where she studied with Charles Laughton in the Actors Studio. She worked in production in various capacities on numerous films before writing and directing her first short, "See You on Monday", which was sponsored by LifeTime Television for the Hamptons Film Festival.
Ghost Bird: The Life and Art of Judith Deim (2000) is her first feature length film , a 54 minute documentary on the life of St. Louis born artist Judith Deim. It played in Sundance Film Fest 2001 and can now be seen on the Sundance Film Channel.
She is currently working on her next feature, "Journey" with Russell Means and Begonia Plaza.Flow: For Love of Water (2008)- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Katerina Kitidi is known for Catastroika (2012) and Debtocracy (2011).Debtocracy (2011)
Catastroika (2012)- Writer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Aris Chatzistefanou is a Greek journalist and filmmaker. Born in Athens, Chatzistefanou started his career as a journalist in 1997 at Radio Skai 100.3, where in 2005 he began his own show Infowar, a big success on Greek radio. In April 2011, he released Debtocracy, a documentary co-directed by Katerina Kitidi about the Greek debt crisis, which, despite garnering almost a million viewers on YouTube, was not well received in the traditional media and caused the cancellation of Infowar and his dismissal. He has worked for the BBC World Service in London and Istanbul, and contributed short documentaries and articles to The Guardian and other international media outlets.Debtocracy (2011)
Catastroika (2012)- Producer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Nikolaus Geyrhalter was born in 1972 in Vienna, Austria. He is a producer and director, known for Earth (2019), Over the Years (2015) and Our Daily Bread (2005).Unser täglich Brot (2005)- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his poetic feature and documentary films.Grizzly Man (2005)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Into the Abyss (2011)
On Death Row (2012)- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (1962). His second film, Before the Revolution (1964), which was released in 1971, received an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay. Bertolucci also received an Academy Award nomination as best director for Last Tango in Paris (1972), and the best director and best screenplay for the film The Last Emperor (1987), which walked away with nine Academy Awards.La via del petrolio (1967)- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Pier Paolo Pasolini achieved fame and notoriety long before he entered the film industry. A published poet at 19, he had already written numerous novels and essays before his first screenplay in 1954. His first film Accattone (1961) was based on his own novel and its violent depiction of the life of a pimp in the slums of Rome caused a sensation. He was arrested in 1962 when his contribution to the portmanteau film Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963) was considered blasphemous and given a suspended sentence. It might have been expected that his next film, The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) (The Gospel According to St. Matthew), which presented the Biblical story in a totally realistic, stripped-down style, would cause a similar fuss but, in fact, it was rapturously acclaimed as one of the few honest portrayals of Christ on screen. Its original Italian title pointedly omitted the Saint in St. Matthew). Pasolini's film career would then alternate distinctly personal and often scandalously erotic adaptations of classic literary texts: Oedipus Rex (1967) (Oedipus Rex); The Decameron (1971); The Canterbury Tales (1972) (The Canterbury Tales); Arabian Nights (1974) (Arabian Nights), with his own more personal projects, expressing his controversial views on Marxism, atheism, fascism and homosexuality, notably Teorema (1968) (Theorem), Pigsty and the notorious Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), a relentlessly grim fusion of Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy with the 'Marquis de Sade' which was banned in Italy and many other countries for several years. Pasolini was murdered in still-mysterious circumstances shortly after completing the film.La rabbia (1963)
Comizi d'amore (1964)
Sopralluoghi in Palestina per il vangelo secondo Matteo (1965)
Appunti per un film sull'India (1968)
Appunti per un romanzo dell'immondezza (1970)
Appunti per un'Orestiade africana (1970)
Le mura di Sana'a (1971)
12 dicembre (1972)- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Giuseppe Bertolucci was born on 24 February 1947 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Berlinguer: I Love You (1977), Segreti segreti (1985) and The Sweet Sounds of Life (1999). He was married to Lucilla Albano. He died on 16 June 2012 in Diso, Puglia, Italy.Pasolini prossimo nostro (2006)
La rabbia di Pasolini (2008)- Editor
- Director
- Writer
Silvano Agosti was born on 23 March 1938 in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. He is an editor and director, known for Uova di garofano (1991), Quartiere (1987) and Fit to Be Untied (1975).D'amore si vive (1984)
Matti da slegare (1975)- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films. Scorsese earned a B.S. degree in film communications in 1964, followed by an M.A. in the same field in 1966 at New York University's School of Film. During this time, he made numerous prize-winning short films including The Big Shave (1967), and directed his first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).
He served as assistant director and an editor of the documentary Woodstock (1970) and won critical and popular acclaim for Mean Streets (1973), which first paired him with actor and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro. In 1976, Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), also starring De Niro, was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and he followed that film with New York, New York (1977) and The Last Waltz (1978). Scorsese directed De Niro to an Oscar-winning performance as boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), which received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is hailed as one of the masterpieces of modern cinema. Scorsese went on to direct The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995) and Kundun (1997), among other films. Commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinema, Scorsese completed the four-hour documentary, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), co-directed by Michael Henry Wilson.
His long-cherished project, Gangs of New York (2002), earned numerous critical honors, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004) won five Academy Awards, in addition to the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture. Scorsese won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006), which was also honored with the Director's Guild of America, Golden Globe, New York Film Critics, National Board of Review and Critic's Choice awards for Best Director, in addition to four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Scorsese's documentary of the Rolling Stones in concert, Shine a Light (2008), followed, with the successful thriller Shutter Island (2010) two years later. Scorsese received his seventh Academy Award nomination for Best Director, as well as a Golden Globe Award, for Hugo (2011), which went on to win five Academy Awards.
Scorsese also serves as executive producer on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010) for which he directed the pilot episode. Scorsese's additional awards and honors include the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival (1995), the AFI Life Achievement Award (1997), the Honoree at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 25th Gala Tribute (1998), the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), The Kennedy Center Honors (2007) and the HFPA Cecil B. DeMille Award (2010). Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio have worked together on five separate occasions: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).Italoamericani (1974)
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
Il mio viaggio in Italia (1999)
Shine a Light (2008)- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930, the second of four children in a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family. His father was a doctor who owned a private clinic, and his mother came from a preeminent family of Swiss bankers. During World War II Godard became a naturalized citizen of Switzerland and attended school in Nyons, Switzerland. His parents divorced in 1948, at which time he returned to Paris to attend the Lycée Rohmer. In 1949 he studied at the Sorbonne to prepare for a degree in ethnology. However, it was during this time that he began attending with François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, and Éric Rohmer.
In 1950 Godard, with Rivette and Rohmer, founded "Gazette du cinéma", which published five issues between May and November. He wrote a number of articles for the journal, often using the pseudonym "Hans Lucas". After Godard worked on and financed two films by Rivette and Rohmer, Godard's family cut off their financial support in 1951, and he resorted to a Bohemian lifestyle that included stealing food and money when necessary. In January 1952 he began writing film criticism for "Les cahiers du cinéma". Later that year he traveled to North and South America with his father and attempted to make his first film (of which only a tracking shot from a car was ever accomplished).
In 1953 he returned to Paris briefly before securing a job as a construction worker on a dam project in Switzerland. With the money from the job, he made a short film in 1954 about the building of the dam called Operation Concrete (1958). Later that year his mother was killed in a motor scooter accident in Switzerland. In 1956 Godard began writing again for "Les cahiers du cinéma" as well as for the journal "Arts". In 1957 Godard worked as the press attache for "Artistes Associés", and made his first French film, All Boys Are Called Patrick (1959).
In 1958 he shot Charlotte and Her Boyfriend (1958), his homage to Jean Cocteau. Later that year he took unused footage of a flood in Paris shot by Truffaut and edited it into a film called A Story of Water (1961), which was an homage to Mack Sennett. In 1959 he worked with Truffaut on the weekly publication "Temps de Paris". Godard wrote a gossip column for the journal, but also spent much time writing scenarios for films and a body of critical writings which placed him firmly in the forefront of the "nouvelle vague" aesthetic, precursing the French New Wave.
It was also in that year Godard began work on Breathless (1960). In 1960 he married Anna Karina in Switzerland. In April and May he shot The Little Soldier (1963) in Geneva and was preparing the film for a fall release in Paris. However, French censors banned it due to its references to the Algerian war, and it was not shown until 1963. In March 1960 Breathless (1960) premiered in Paris. It was hugely successful both with the film critics and at the box office, and became a landmark film in the French New Wave with its references to American cinema, its jagged editing and overall romantic/cinephilia approach to filmmaking. The film propelled the popularity of male lead Jean-Paul Belmondo with European audiences.
In 1961 Godard shot A Woman Is a Woman (1961), his first film using color widescreen stock. Later that year he participated in the collective effort to remake the film The Seven Deadly Sins (1962), which was heralded as an important project in artistic collaboration. In 1962 Godard shot Vivre sa vie (1962) in Paris, his first commercial success since "Breathless". Later that year he shot a segment entitled "Le Nouveau Monde" for the collective film Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963), another important work in the history of collaborative multiple-authored art.
In 1963 Godard completed a film in homage to Jean Vigo entitled The Carabineers (1963), which was a resounding failure with the public and stirred furious controversy with film critics. Also that year he worked on a couple of collective films: The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers (1964) (from which Godard's sequence was later cut) and Six in Paris (1965). In 1964 Godard and his wife Anna Karina formed their own production company, Anouchka Films. They shot a film called A Married Woman (1964), which censors forced them to re-edit due to a topless sunbathing scene shot by Jacques Rozier. The censors also made Godard change the title to "Une femme marié" so as to not give the impression that this "scandalous" woman was the typical French wife. Later in the year, two French television programs were produced in devotion to Godard's work.
In the spring of 1965 Godard shot Alphaville (1965) in Paris; in the summer he shot Pierrot the Fool (1965) in Paris and the south of France. Shortly thereafter he and Anna Karina separated. Following their divorce, Godard shot Made in U.S.A (1966), "Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle (1966)", "L'amour en l'an 2000" (1966) (a sequel to "Alphaville" shot as a sketch for the collective film "L'amour travers les ages" (1966)).
In 1967 Godard shot The Chinese (1967) in Paris with Anne Wiazemsky, who was the granddaughter of French novelist François Mauriac. During the making of the film Godard and Wiazemsky were married in Paris. Later in the year he was prevented from traveling to North Vietnam for the shooting of a sequence for the collective film Far from Vietnam (1967). He instead shot the sequence in Paris, entitled "Camera-Oeil". Also during 1967 Godard participated (as the only Frenchman) on an Italian collective film called Love and Anger (1969).
In 1968 Godard was commissioned by French television to make Joy of Learning (1969). However, television producers were so outraged by the product Godard produced that they refused to show it. In May of that year Henri Langlois was fired by the head of the French Jean-Pierre Gorin to form the Dziga-Vertov group, infuriating Godard. He became increasingly concerned with socialist solutions to an idealist cinema, especially in providing the proletariat with the means of production and distribution. Along with other militantly political filmmakers in the Dziga-Vertov group, Godard published a series of 'Ciné-Tracts' outlining these viewpoints. In the summer of 1968 Godard traveled to New York City and Berkeley, California, to shoot the film "One American Movie", which was never completed. In September he made a trip to Canada to start another film called "Communication(s)", which also went unfinished, and then made a visit to Cuba before returning to France.
In 1969 Godard traveled to England, where he made the film See You at Mao (1970) for BBC Weekend Television, but the network later refused to show it. In the late spring he traveled with the Dziga-Vertov group to Prague to secretly shoot the film "Pravda". Later that year he shot Lotte in Italia (1971) ("Struggle for Italy") for Italian television. It was never shown, either.
In 1970 Godard traveled to Lebanon to shoot a film for the Palestinian Liberation Organization entitled "Jusque à la victoire" (1970) ("Until Victory"). Later that year he traveled to dozens of American universities trying to raise money for the film. In spite of his efforts, it was never released.Opération 'Béton' (1958)
Lou du Vietnam (1967)
Sympathy for the Devil (1968)
British Sounds (1970)
Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988)
JLG/JLG - autoportrait de décembre (1994)
De l'origine du XXIe siècle (2000)- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Alain Resnais was born on 3 June 1922 in Vannes, Morbihan, France. He was a director and editor, known for Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Same Old Song (1997) and My American Uncle (1980). He was married to Sabine Azéma and Florence Malraux. He died on 1 March 2014 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.Nuit et brouillard (1955)
Toute la mémoire du monde (1956)
Lou du Vietnam (1967)- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Jean Vigo had bad health since he was a child. Son of anarchist militant Miguel Almareyda, he also never really recovered from his father's mysterious death in jail when he was 12. Abandoned by his mother, he passed from boarding school to boarding school. Aged 23, through meetings with people involved in the movies, he started working in the cinema, then bought a camera and shot his first film, a short documentary, À Propos de Nice (1930) then, two years later, Taris (1931) (aka Taris champion de natation). These two very personal works frighten the producers, and it lasted two years before someone showed some interest in his project of a children movie. This would be his masterpiece, Zero for Conduct (1933) (aka Zero for Conduct), a subversive despiction of an authoritarian boarding school, which directly came from Vigo's memories. The film is straightaway censored for its "anti-French spirit." In despair, he nevertheless shot L'Atalante (1934), a romantic and realistic story of a young couple beginning their life together in a barge. He died just afterward of septicemy. His work would not be recognized before 1945. This accursed filmmaker is now admired for his poetic realism.À propos de Nice (1930)
Taris, roi de l'eau (1931)- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.
William Oliver Stone was born in New York City, to Jacqueline (Goddet) and Louis Stone, a stockbroker. His American father was from a Jewish family (from Germany and Eastern Europe), and his mother, a war bride, was French (and Catholic). After dropping out of Yale University, he became a soldier in the Vietnam War. Serving in two different regiments (including 1rst Cavalry), he was introduced to The Doors, drugs, Jefferson Airplane, and other things that defined the sixties. For his actions in the war, he was awarded a Bronze Star for Gallantry and a Purple Heart. Returning from the war, Stone did not return to graduate from Yale. His first film was a student film entitled Last Year in Viet Nam (1971), followed by the gritty horror film Seizure (1974) for which he also wrote the screenplay. The next seven years saw him direct two films: Mad Man of Martinique (1979) and The Hand (1981), starring Michael Caine. He also wrote many screenplays for films such as Midnight Express (1978), Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Scarface (1983). Stone won his first Oscar for Midnight Express (1978), but his fame was just beginning to show.
1986 was the year that brought him much fame to the U.S.A. and the world. He directed the political film Salvador (1986) starring Oscar-nominated James Woods. However, his big hit was the Vietnam war film Platoon (1986) starring Charlie Sheen,Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, and Francesco Quinn. Berenger and Dafoe received Oscar nominations for their roles as the polar opposite sergeants who each influence the tour of duty of Chris Taylor (Sheen). Stone won his first Oscar for directing this film, which won Best Picture and was a hit at the box office. After Platoon (1986), Stone followed up with the critically acclaimed Wall Street (1987). The movie, starring Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, focuses on the business world of tycoons and stock brokers. The film was well received and won an Oscar for Douglas' portrayal of the villainous Gordon Gekko. Stone returned immediately the following year with Talk Radio (1988), which talked of a foul-mouthed radio host (played by Eric Bogosian) who never fails to talk about the serious issues. Although it was not as successful as his last three films, Stone did not slow down at all. He directed Tom Cruise into an Oscar-nominated role in Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
The movie talked about the return of an embittered, crippled Vietnam soldier from the war. Although it failed to win Best Picture or Best Actor, Oliver Stone won an Academy Award for Directing, his third win to date. After Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Stone took a hand in producing several movies, including the Academy Award-winning film Reversal of Fortune (1990). He returned to the director's chair in 1991, once again with two films. Val Kilmer starred as the legendary and controversial Jim Morrison in Stone's psychedelic film The Doors (1991).
Despised by former Doors member Ray Manzarek, the film is nevertheless a wonderful achievement, with Kilmer pulling off an almost flawless impersonation of Morrison. Regardless of opinion, The Doors (1991) was overshadowed by Stone's colossal film JFK (1991), which Stone himself considers the best of his films. In Stone's movie, Jim Garrison tackles the conspiracy behind the murder of America's president John F. Kennedy. The large cast featured such well-known names as Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, and Walter Matthau. This film represented a change in Stone's works, because it was with this film that he really began to explore the different camera styles and combining them together to create a multi-dimensional way of showing a movie. JFK (1991), as with Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned eight Oscar nominations and was one of Stone's most successful films. However, he failed to win a third Oscar for Best Director.
After this film, Stone directed his third Vietnam film to date. Heaven & Earth (1993) was a film about the war from the viewpoint of a Vietnamese girl, and also co-starred Tommy Lee Jones (who had received an Oscar nomination for JFK (1991)). Despite its new woman's perspective and several positive reviews, it was a box office failure. Stone was unfazed; his next film is perhaps his most notorious film to date. Adapting a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, Stone made Natural Born Killers (1994) starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore and Rodney Dangerfield in his only dramatic performance. The film was received well at the box office, while review were very mixed. Because of the violence that people claimed was inspired by the film, it was compared to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). As usual, Stone was at the center of controversial subjects; his next film Nixon (1995) was no exception. The film focused on the life of President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins, while featuring another well-known cast, including Joan Allen in the role of Nixon's wife. Both went on to receive Oscar nominations, while Stone received his sixth Oscar nomination for Screenwriting. The film got mixed reviews, and failed to recoup its budget.
Aside from directing, Stone has worked as a producer on several different films. There was, of course, the successful film Reversal of Fortune (1990), which won Jeremy Irons an Oscar and also nominated the director for an Oscar. There was also the highly praised and successful emotional drama The Joy Luck Club (1993) which centered around four Chinese immigrant women whose relationships with their daughters is affected by their own lives. Another highly praised Oscar nominated film was Milos Forman's classic film The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) starring Woody Harrelson, Edward Norton, and Courtney Love. Whether the crime/action film The Corruptor (1999) or the brilliant war epic Savior (1998), Stone has worked in a variety of film genres.
Stone had directed ten films in nine years; now however, he began to slow down. He directed the film U Turn (1997) starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez. As with Natural Born Killers (1994), it was a dark and twisted satire on violence, but did not have the same success as the former. Stone was set to direct several projects in the late 90's but they fell through and were not made. However, success came back to Stone in the Al Pacino film Any Given Sunday (1999). This sports movie centered on the life behind the game of football, and it starred an impressive cast that included frequent Stone collaborators James Woods and John C. McGinley. This film was one of his most successful box office films, and put him back on track.
The following years brought Stone no new theatrical films, though he did make three fascinating TV documentaries. Two of them, 'Looking for Fidel' and Comandante (2003) were interviews of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, while 'Persona Non Grata' was an interview of several Palestinian leaders. Stone was also set to direct American Psycho (2000) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Beyond Borders (2003), starring Angelina Jolie and at the time, Ralph Fiennes. However, Stone dropped out of both projects, as did a number of the actors mentioned. Finally, five years after Any Given Sunday (1999), Stone directed a film he'd long wanted to make; the colossal epic Alexander (2004). Starring Colin Farrell as the Macedonian leader, Stone attempted to capture the essence of Alexander the Great through his conquests of the known world. The film focused on Alexander's relationships with his parents (a brilliant performance by Val Kilmer and a less impressive one by Angelina Jolie) and his relationships with his wife and childhood friend/ gay lover (played by Rosario Dawson and Jared Leto respectively).
Alexander (2004) was a critical failure, and failed to win back its budget domestically. Despite being one of 2004's highest grossing films internationally, and recouping its budget through DVD sales, Stone's pet project was heavily criticized. Despite a far superior version (Alexander Revisited) being released on DVD, the film's reputation remains low by the majority. Stone was personally stung at these attacks, but managed to rebound, if mildly, with his hopeful film World Trade Center (2006). The film centers on two firefighters trapped in the rubble of the twin towers. It received good reviews, and allowed Oliver to step forward from his failure towards the possibility of more films.
In late 2007, besides a number of projects Stone was set to direct "Pinkville", which would have been his fourth Vietnam film to date. It was set to star a large number of well known actors such as Bruce Willis, Toby Jones, Channing Tatum, Michael Pitt, Woody Harrelson, and Michael Peña. However, a week before shooting was to begin, the Writer's Strike was started, and the finance for the film was cut, using the strike as an excuse. After Willis backed out of the project, it was eventually scuttled, much like Stone's early productions of Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Stone turned to another project he had worked on with former Wall Street (1987) collaborator Stanley Weiser. The project was W. (2008), a biography on president George W. Bush. Stone initially cast Christian Bale in the role of Bush but the actor dropped out at the last minute. Josh Brolin was cast, and this followed with a large cast of well known Oscar nominated character actors such as Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, and Ellen Burstyn. The film was made in a record four months, starting in June and released in October. The film opened to mixed reviews, and though film's budget was recouped, it was not a financial hit.
Stone then made the documentary South of the Border (2009), a documentary which focused on bringing to light the positive aspects of the left-wing governments in South America, particularly Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Stone was much less critical than usual, instead making the documentary as a response to the harsh reputation that Chavez has in the States. The documentary was poorly received in the States. Stone also began work on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010). Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, and Eli Wallach, the film focuses on the 2008 economic crisis, and the return of Gordon Gekko from prison. The film was screened at Cannes to positive reception, and hailed as Stone's triumphant return. After this, Stone made a film adaptation of "Savages", a novel by Don Winslow . The movie follows two highly successful marijuana growers (Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson ), whose shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican cartel and held for ransom. The movie also starred Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta, and Emile Hirsch. The film was a return to the tense action and violence of Stone's earlier films, though it polarized many audience members due to the colorful narrations of Lively's vapid and naive character, as well as the film's ending.
After completing the ambitious and well-received television project The Untold History of the United States (2012), as well as a documentary on Hugo Chavez, Stone finally returned to feature films with Snowden (2016). Based on the life of American whistle blower Edward Snowden, Stone's film depicted his awakening to the truth behind the massive surveillances conducted by the NSA, and his attempt to warn the general public of what they did not know. The film was done independently, financed by Europeans on a low budget. It was also a return to form for Stone in a way that had not been seen since "Alexander". Joseph Gordon-Levitt, delivered a very strong performance as Snowden, with the supporting cast including Shailene Woodley, Rhys Ifans, Melissa Leo, Timothy Olyphant, and Nicolas Cage. Sadly, the film received a mixed response from critics, and was a box office disappointment.
Since then, Stone has returned to television for his next two projects. One is a series of interviews with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the other is directing a new fictional series based on the abusive Guantanamo prison. It will be his first venture into fictional television.
Oliver Stone is a three-time Oscar winner, and although he has mostly been stung by critics of his films, he remains a well-known name today in the film industry. The films he directed have been nominated for 31 Academy Awards, including eight for acting, six for screen writing, and three for directing. There is no denying that Stone has cemented himself a position among the legends of Hollywood.Comandante (2003)
South of the Border (2009)
Secret History of America (2010)- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Agnès Varda was born on 30 May 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and Faces Places (2017). She was married to Jacques Demy. She died on 29 March 2019 in Paris, France.Black Panthers (1968)
Lou du Vietnam (1967)- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Jean Rouch was born on 31 May 1917 in Paris, France. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Moi, un noir (1958), Madame L'Eau (1993) and Six in Paris (1965). He was married to Joselyne Lamothe. He died on 18 February 2004 in Birni N'Konni, Niger.Chronique d'un été (Paris 1960) (1961)- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Chris Marker was born on 29 July 1921 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a writer and director, known for 12 Monkeys (1995), Sans Soleil (1983) and Third Side of the Coin (1960). He died on 29 July 2012 in Paris, France.Lettre de Sibérie (1957)
¡Cuba Sí! (1961)
Un maire au Kosovo (2000)- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Robert Kenner has won an array of awards and garnered rave reviews for his documentary work on a wide range of social and environmental issues. His latest film Command and Control opened theatrically to critical acclaim. His Academy Award-nominated film Food, Inc. had a monumental impact on how our food is regulated and is one of the highest grossing theatrical documentaries of all time. Kenner's rich body of work includes Merchants of Doubt which has been screened by Senators and US Attorneys General to influence climate policy, the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Two Days in October, When Strangers Click, and The Road to Memphis for Martin Scorsese's series The Blues. Kenner has directed a number of specials for American Experience, HBO and National Geographic as well as award-winning commercials and corporate videos for clients including eBay, Hallmark and Hewlett Packard.Food, Inc. (2008)- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Fernando E. Solanas was born on 16 February 1936 in Olivos, Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a producer and director, known for Tangos, the Exile of Gardel (1985), The Journey (1992) and The South (1988). He was married to Angela Correa. He died on 6 November 2020 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.Memoria del saqueo (2004)- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Charles Ferguson was born on 24 March 1955 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Inside Job (2010), No End in Sight (2007) and Watergate (2018).Inside Job (2010)- Director
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Sean McAllister was born in 1965 in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for A Syrian Love Story (2015), The Reluctant Revolutionary (2012) and Japan: A Story of Love and Hate (2008).The Liberace of Baghdad (2005)- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Godfrey Reggio is a pioneer of a film style that creates poetic images of extraordinary emotional impact for audiences worldwide. Reggio is prominent in the film world for his QATSI trilogy, essays of visual images and sound that chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the environment. Reggio, who spent 14 years in silence and prayer while studying to be a monk, has a history of service not only to the environment but to youth street gangs, the poor, and the community as well.
Born in New Orleans in 1940 and raised in southwest Louisiana, Reggio entered the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic pontifical order, at age 14. He spent 14 years of his adolescence and early adulthood in fasting, silence, and prayer. Based in New Mexico during the 1960s, Reggio taught grade school, secondary school, and college. In 1963, he co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project that aided juvenile street gangs. Following this, Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, and La Gente, a community-organizing project in Northern New Mexico's barrios. In 1972, he co-founded the Institute for Regional Education in Santa Fe, a non-profit foundation focused on media development, the arts, community organization, and research. In 1974 and 1975, with funding from the American Civil Liberties Union, Reggio co-organized a multi-media public interest campaign on the invasion of privacy and the use of technology to control behavior.
_Koyaanisqatsi (1983)_, Reggio's debut as a film director and producer, is the first film of the QATSI trilogy. The title is a Hopi word meaning "life out of balance." Created between 1975 and 1982, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds--urban life and technology versus the environment. The musical score was composed by renowned composer Philip Glass. Powaqqatsi (1988), Reggio's second film, conveys a humanist philosophy about the earth, the encroachment of technology on nature and ancient cultures, and the splendor that disappears as a result. The film focuses on the so-called modern way of life and the concept of the Global Village, entwining the distinctive textures of ancient and so-called Third World cultures. Powaqqatsi was co-written, co-produced and directed by Reggio and had music composed by Philip Glass between 1985 and 1987. In 1991 Reggio directed Anima Mundi (1991), a film commissioned by Bulgari, the Italian jewelry company, for the World Wide Fund for Nature, which used the film for its Biological Diversity Program. Accompanied by the music of Philip Glass, the 28-minute Anima Mundi is a montage of intimate images of over seventy animal species that celebrates the magnificence and variety of the world's fauna.
In 1993, Reggio was invited to develop a new school of exploration and production in the arts, technology, and mass media being founded by the Benetton company. Called Abrica--Future, Presente, it opened in May 1995, in Treviso, Italy, just outside Venice. While serving as the initial director of the school through 1995, Reggio co-authored the 7-minute film Evidence (1995) that provides another point of view to observe the subtle but profound effects of modern living on children. In 2002, Godfrey Reggio completed Naqoyqatsi (2002), the final film of the QATSI trilogy, again with music by Philip Glass. Currently, Reggio is in the initial stages of production on a new film, working with a narrative structure for the first time, that will explore the negative impact that consumerism and fundamentalism has had on the world. He resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is a frequent lecturer on philosophy, technology, and film.Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Powaqqatsi (1988)
Anima Mundi (1992)
Naqoyqatsi (2002)- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Writer
Ron Fricke is known for Samsara (2011), Baraka (1992) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).Chronos (1985 )
Baraka (1992)- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Vittorio De Seta was born on 15 October 1923 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Bandits of Orgosolo (1961), Un uomo a metà (1966) and Islands of Fire (1955). He died on 28 November 2011 in Sellia Marina, Calabria, Italy.Contadini del mare (1956)
Pastori di Orgosolo (1958)
Pescherecci (1958)
Un giorno in Barbagia (1958)
I dimenticati (1959)- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated German filmmaker who was born Ernst Wilhelm Wenders on August 14, 1945 in Düsseldorf, which then was located in the British Occupation Zone of what became the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, known colloquially as West Germany until reunification). At university, Wenders originally studied to become a physician before switching to philosophy before terminating his studies in 1965. Moving to Paris, he intended to become a painter.
He fell in love with the cinema but failed to gain admission to the French national film school. He supported himself as an engraver while attending movie houses. Upon his return to West Germany in 1967, he was employed by United Artists at its Düsseldorf office before he was accepted by the University of Television and Film Munich school for its autumn 1967 semester, where he remained until 1970. While attending film school, he worked as a newspaper film critic. In addition to shorts, he made a feature film as part of his studies, Summer in the City (1971).
Wenders gained recognition as part of the German New Wave of the 1970s. Other directors that were part of the New German Cinema were Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog. His second feature, a film made from Peter Handke's novel The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972), brought him acclaim, as did Alice in the Cities (1974) and Kings of the Road (1976). It was his 1977 feature The American Friend (1977) ("The American Friend"), starring Dennis Hopper as Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero Tom Ripley, that represented his international breakthrough. He was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival for "The American Friend", which was cited as Best Foreign Film by the National Board of Review in the United States.
Francis Ford Coppola, as producer, gave Wenders the chance to direct in America, but Hammett (1982) (1982) was a critical and commercial failure. However, his American-made Paris, Texas (1984) (1984) received critical hosannas, winning three awards at Cannes, including the Palme d'Or, and Wenders won a BAFTA for best director. "Paris, Texas" was a prelude to his greatest success, 1987's Wings of Desire (1987) ("Wings of Desire"), which he made back in Germany. The film brought him the best director award at Cannes and was a solid hit, even spawning an egregious Hollywood remake.
Wenders followed it up with a critical and commercial flop in 1991, Until the End of the World (1991) ("Until the End of the World"), though Faraway, So Close! (1993) won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes. Still, is reputation as a feature film director never quite recovered in the United States after the bomb that was "Until the End of the World." Since the mid-1990s, Wenders has distinguished himself as a non-fiction filmmaker, directing several highly acclaimed documentaries, most notably Buena Vista Social Club (1999) and Pina (2011), both of which brought him Oscar nominations.Pina (2011)- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Dziga Vertov was born on 2 January 1896 in Bialystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire [now Podlaskie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Three Songs About Lenin (1934) and The Sixth Part of the World (1926). He was married to Elizaveta Svilova. He died on 12 February 1954 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].Celovek's Kinoapparatom (1929)- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Michelangelo Frammartino was born in 1968 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for The Hole (2021), Il dono (2003) and Le Quattro Volte (2010).Le quattro volte (2010)- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Pietro Marcello was born on 2 July 1976 in Caserta, Campania, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Lost and Beautiful (2015), Martin Eden (2019) and Scarlet (2022).La bocca del lupo (2009)- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Marie-Monique Robin was born in 1960. She is a director and writer, known for Organ Snatchers (1993), Das Jahrhundert im Bild and Qu'est-ce qu'on attend? (2016).Le monde selon Monsanto (2008)- Director
- Producer
- Additional Crew
James Marsh was born on 30 April 1963 in Truro, Cornwall, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Theory of Everything (2014), The King (2005) and Shadow Dancer (2012).Man on Wire (2008)- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Costanza Quatriglio was born in 1973 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for L'isola (2003), Con il fiato sospeso (2013) and Just Like My Son (2018).L'isola (2003)
Il mondo addosso (2006)- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Daniele Vicari was born on 26 February 1967 in Castel di Tora, Rieti, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood (2012), Velocità massima (2002) and The Human Cargo (2012).Partigiani (1997)
Il mio paese (2006)
La nave dolce (2012)- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
David Leaf is an award-winning writer/producer/director best known for his work on acclaimed pop culture programs, music specials and retrospectives. Perhaps most notably, his credits include being one of the Emmy-nominated writers on the landmark all-network telethon America: A Tribute To Heroes, five years as a profile producer/director for Disney's Salute To The American Teacher and writing and directing the filmed segments for Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope [ABC], helping the program earn an Emmy-nomination for "Best Variety Special". Among his recent productions are The Songwriters Hall of Fame [Bravo], The Score [Trio], An-All Star Tribute To Brian Wilson [TNT], the Emmy-nominated Billy Joel: In His Own Words [A&E], The Bee Gees: This Is Where I Came In [A&E], You Can't Do That: The Making Of 'A Hard Day's Night, Martin & Lewis: Their Golden Age of Comedy and The Unknown Marx Brothers [The Disney Channel], Lassie: Unleashed [ABC], Bob Hope: The Road To Laughter, Sinatra: The Classic Duets, Jonathan Winters: On The Loose and Dean Martin: That's Amore [PBS]. He also serves as consulting producer for A&E's Live By Request series, and for two seasons was a staff writer on the sitcom, The New Leave It To Beaver [TBS Superstation], In the world of television variety, he has written for such network specials as "The Kennedy Center Honors" [CBS], "Farm Aid" [CMT], "Carnegie Hall Salutes The Jazz Masters" [PBS], "Gilda Radner" [ABC], "The Billboard Awards" (nine years) [Fox], "The Television Academy Hall Of Fame" [NBC], "The Creative Arts Emmy Awards" [Fox] and "Elvis: The Tribute" [ABC]. Leaf was an historical consultant on Time-Life's "The History Of Rock 'n' Roll" and for three years, he wrote and co-produced "The Salute To The American Songwriter" as well as the limited series, "The Spirit Of Rock `n' Roll." As an author, Leaf has written three biographies (including the best-selling authorized biography of the Bee Gees and the ground-breaking Brian Wilson biography, The Beach Boys & The California Myth). In association with the Director's Guild of America, he conducted dozens of interviews for a textbook called Producing & Directing Live TV. Leaf also edited a book-length history of A&M Records and wrote the Beatles and Beach Boys chapters for Capitol Records 50th anniversary book. Among his record industry credits are liner notes for the award-winning re-issues of "Pet Sounds" and the "Good Vibrations" box set, which he co-produced. He also wrote the books for and produced "The Pet Sounds Sessions" box set, for which he received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Historical Recording." Leaf has won the "Q" Magazine Recorded Music Award (1990 & 1993) twice. Of note, Leaf is a member of such nationally prestigious institutions as the Writers Guild, Authors Guild, Society of Professional Journalists, NARAS, ATAS, ASCAP and is a voter for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. ###The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)- Writer
- Producer
- Director
From pop culture to politics, sports and religion, ABC, PBS and Netflix to the Telluride, Toronto and Venice film festivals, Emmy®, Grammy® and two-time Writers Guild Award nominee John Scheinfeld is a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker with a broad range of subjects and productions to his credit.
Scheinfeld is currently in production on two feature documentaries: What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat & Tears?, a compelling tale of music, politics and social commentary and Baseball As A Road To God, produced in association with Major League Baseball. The latter is a fresh and unique view of baseball and spirituality that takes the audience on an entertaining and inspiring journey toward hope, happiness, and overcoming life's challenges.
Scheinfeld directed, wrote and produced The Happy Days of Garry Marshall, a documentary that aired on ABC prime-time in May 2020. This heartfelt tribute to a Hollywood legend featured 25 of the biggest stars in film and television and generated second place ratings for the night.
Also in Spring 2020, Scheinfeld completed work as director, writer and producer of Herb Alpert Is..., a passionate and inspiring theatrical documentary exploring the personal and creative journey of the music icon and renaissance man for which he was nominated for the prestigious Writers Guild Award. Originally booked for a nationwide theatrical release, the film's preeminent global theatrical and rights management partner Abramorama pivoted to a global virtual theatrical roll-out plan due to the COVID pandemic, with 125 theatres participating and subsequent availability on TVOD platforms worldwide.
Scheinfeld's feature documentary about the remarkable life of world music artist Sergio Mendes, Sergio Mendes: In The Key of Joy, had its World Premiere to a standing ovation at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January 2020. A planned theatrical release was canceled due to the COVID pandemic. HBO premiered the film in Latin and South America in May 2021, PBS brought it to US audiences in June and the film is currently streaming on TVOD platforms.
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary, with Academy Award winner Denzel Washington speaking the words of the iconic musician, was an official selection of the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival before playing on theater screens worldwide during Spring 2017. Directed, written and produced by Scheinfeld, the feature was originally licensed by Netflix and began airing on Hulu in 2021.
This Is Bob Hope, directed, written and produced by Scheinfeld with Billy Crystal speaking the words of Bob Hope, premiered on the prestigious, award-winning PBS series, American Masters in December 2017.
Scheinfeld is best known for two widely acclaimed feature documentaries: The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which tells the true story of the US government's attempt to silence the beloved musician and iconic advocate for peace and Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?, a riveting yet wildly entertaining documentary about one of the most talented and uncompromising singer-songwriters in pop music history.
The U.S. vs. John Lennon was an official selection of the Venice, Telluride, London and Toronto International film festivals in 2006 and was released theatrically worldwide by Lionsgate. Born out of his love for the music of the Beatles and a keen interest in freedom of speech and personal courage in the face of significant obstacles, Scheinfeld earned the trust of Yoko Ono and was given access to her extensive archive.
For Who Is Harry Nilsson...?, Scheinfeld was nominated for the prestigious Writers Guild Award and USA Today named him one of the Top 100 People of 2010 in their pop culture poll. In Entertainment Weekly, best-selling novelist Stephen King lauded the film as "close to genius."
That same year saw the theatrical release of We Believe, an exuberant celebration of hope, loyalty, faith and the extraordinary love affair between a great city, Chicago, and its baseball team, the Cubs. Scheinfeld established a close working relationship with Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Chicago Cubs throughout production.
On the heels of a Grammy® nomination for producing Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE, Scheinfeld wrote, produced and directed Electric Youth: Teen Stars in the Music Business, a 2-hour special for A&E which garnered him an Emmy® nomination as writer.
During his career Scheinfeld has also written, produced and/or directed projects about pop culture legends including the Bee Gees, Nat 'King' Cole, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, the Marx Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Norman Lear, Peter Sellers, Frank Sinatra and Jonathan Winters.
Scheinfeld received a B.A. in Communications and Sociology from Oberlin College and holds an M.F.A. in Radio/Television/Film from Northwestern University.The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)- Director
- Producer
- Writer
His documentaries helped spur a rebirth of non-fiction film in the 80s & garnered wide critical success. But until 2003's "The Fog of War," Morris was shunned by the Academy Awards.
Morris' first two films won much acclaim (Gates of Heaven (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981)). In the second movie, Morris intended to explore "Nub City," the town known for residents trading limbs for insurance settlements, but death threats (and some other equally fascinating locals) morphed Morris' focus into profiling other citizens instead.
After his first two films, Morris found financing for new projects scarce, so he turned to a unusual source of income - working as a New York private detective. Finally, after 6 years, he moved into feature-length, (and more serious projects) with The Thin Blue Line (1988).
Errol Morris cites his detective experience as providing new skills for his investigative filmmaking, most notably in "The Thin Blue Line", which resulted in a wrongfully convicted man being freed from a lifetime sentence in Texas after serving 13 years for a policeman's murder. Morris persuaded the real murderer to help free the innocent man. The real killer was subsequently executed for a unrelated murder.
Morris uses techniques not traditionally seen in documentaries, to make his films more dramatic and diverse, such as the Thin Blue Line's incredibly eerie Philip Glass score, and the haunting reenactments of the policeman's murder. Thin Blue Line's multiple points of view have drawn favorable comparisons to Kurosawa's ground-breaking cinema classic, Rashomon (1950). His own striking, innovative film style is very influential. Like Alfred Hitchcock, Morris knows how to create careful doses of emotional reality, which can have much more impact on a viewer than a literal reality can be on film.
Technical problems forced Morris to insert his voice as an interviewer for the first time, at the end of The Thin Blue Line, and he's experimented with using himself in his documentaries since. Morris incorporated his reaction to his parents' recent deaths in Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997).
Morris feels his interviewing of subjects, has been greatly enhanced in his later work, by devising the Interrotron (terror and interview). It's two cameras, one on Morris and one on the interviewee. Each sees the other's images staring directly into the lens, to give the audience the appearance the subject is talking directly to them.
While his work explores a wide range of subjects, Morris has stated his films break down into "Completely Whacked Out" and "Politically Concerned." Many focus on people with strong, unusual obsessions. His cable documentary series First Person, was especially effective presenting with great sympathy, power and humor, compelling individuals such as Temple Grandin, an animal scientist who has autism. Grandin designs animal slaughterhouses to be humane.
Fred Leuchter, the subject of Morris' film, Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999) was slated to be one of the people profiled in Morris' "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control", but Morris decided putting Leuchter in the same film would overpower the other portraits. Leuchter'd been dubbed "The Florence Nightingale of Death Row" for his career of making prisoner execution methods more humane, was invited by a Holocaust denier who was on trial, to examine the site of the Auschwitz death camp. Way out of his league, Leuchter's faulty, amateurish research led him to claim that Auschwitz could not have been used for executions. "Accidental Nazi" was considered as a title for the film. Morris prefers characters who are puzzling.
The film brought Morris (who's Jewish) much criticism and attention. One of Morris' recurring themes is the powerful contrasts between how his subjects view themselves, and how audiences view them. The witty Morris revels in his own off kilter humor, iconoclasm, and extreme skepticism when he's being interviewed.
Morris had problems when he ventured into directing a Hollywood fiction film as did his contemporaries Michael Moore, Joe Berlinger, and Bruce Sinofsky. The Dark Wind (1991) was held up by the studio for 2 years, then released on video. It was an adaptation of a Tony Hillerman mystery novel, executive produced by Robert Redford. Morris has continued entirely with non-fiction, though many of his subjects are much stranger than fiction anyway.
He has taken on difficult subjects, such as A Brief History of Time (1991), about the paraplegic physicist Stephen Hawking, illustrating Hawking's revolutionary theories, and comparing the paralyzed scientist's own rich interior world periled by ALS, with the complex, dying universe Hawking limns.
Morris' film The Fog of War (2003), examines the architect of the U.S. war in Vietnam, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Morris' academic training in philosophy and history shows in his documentaries' vast depth. While getting a history degree at University of Wisconsin, Morris explored doing a film on notorious local murderer Ed Gein (Gein was the basis for Psycho (1960)). Morris also studied at Princeton and University of California - Berkeley.
Morris' directing career started while he programmed shows at the California's Pacific Film Archive. A newspaper headline spurred his first film "Gates of Heaven," revealing with bizarre developments in 2 widely contrasting pet cemeteries. The uncut film confounded editors, such as Academy Award nominee David Webb Peoples (Unforgiven (1992)). German film director Werner Herzog bet Morris that the film would never get made. At Berkeley, Herzog settled the bet on stage in an incredible display, as documented by director Les Blank (whose son 'Harrod Blank'_ is also an acclaimed documentary filmmaker) in Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
Morris, who received a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, says none of his films have made him money, so he directs commercials, and won an Emmy in 2001. A series of campaign ads he did for John Kerry was little shown. Morris' much-criticized approach was to Interrotron actual Republicans and conservatives who had switched to support Kerry, versus George W. Bush. Morris has an occasional feature in the New York Times ruminating on the power and meaning of photos.
Opening April 2008 is his new feature, Standard Operating Procedure (2008), which explores abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The film is accompanied by a book of on-set photos of Morris' productions.The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Lucy Walker was born in London, England, UK. She is known for The Crash Reel (2013), Waste Land (2010) and Blindsight (2006).Waste Land (2010)- Director
- Editor
- Writer
With an eye for detail and commitment for social justice, João Jardim is one of the most acclaimed directors of his generation in Brazil. After winning the Best First-Time Filmmaker Award for his documentary "Janela da Alma" (2001) in the prestigious Gramado Film Festival, Jardim has made a prolific career directing both nonfiction and fiction for the big screen. "Waste Land" (2010), which he co-directed in the world's largest garbage dump, was nominated for an Academy Award. It has been screened in over 30 festivals, winning merits such as the Audience Award at the Panorama in Berlin and at Sundance. His first fiction film "Getúlio" (2014), about the Brazilian president who committed suicide, was a box-office hit in Brazil with over 500 thousand viewers. Additionally, Jardim frequently directs doc or fiction series for Grupo Globo such as Freedom of Gender (2018). In 2023 his last fiction feature "As Polacas" premiered at Rio International Film Festival and at São Paulo Intl FF. He just directed a fiction audio series for Audible to be released early 2024.Waste Land (2010)- Director
- Producer
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Eugene Jarecki is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning director of dramatic and documentary subjects who has twice won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, first in 2005 for Why We Fight (2005) and again in 2012 for The House I Live In (2012)
A public intellectual on domestic and international affairs, Jarecki has been named a Soros Justice Fellow at the Open Society Institute and a Senior Fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. He has appeared on 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart', 'Charlie Rose', 'The Colbert Report', 'FOX News', CNN, and many other outlets, while also being featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and GQ, among others. As founder and executive director of The Eisenhower Project, a public policy group dedicated to promoting greater public understanding of the forces that shape U.S. foreign and defense policy, he published the 2008 book 'The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril' (Simon & Schuster). He is also the creator of 'Move Your Money', an online video that sparked a national movement in 2010 to shift personal banking away from "too big to fail" banks into community banks and credit unions. To date, more than four million Americans have "moved their money."
Mentored in his youth by legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, Jarecki worked as a stage director before turning to film. When he was 21, his first short film 'Season of the Lifterbees' was selected for screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Since then, he has continued to receive wide critical acclaim as both a dramatic and documentary director in film and television. "Combining the skills of journalist and poet," writes Variety. "Eugene Jarecki sets the gold standard for political documentaries." Often motivated by his outrage at areas of corruption, exploitation, or injustice in contemporary life, Jarecki's films elegantly combine compassion with rigorous inquiry, weaving story, emotion, and penetrating analysis into a very human tapestry of unforgettable sounds and images.The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002)
Why We Fight (2005)- Director
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Heidi Ewing is a director and producer known for Jesus Camp (2006), The Boys of Baraka (2005), Detropia (2012) ,12th &Delaware (2010), Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (2016), One of Us (2017) and Freakonomics (2010). She is currently completing her (currently untitled) first narrative feature which was filmed in Mexico in the fall of 2018.Jesus Camp (2006)- Director
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Julien Temple was born on 26 November 1953 in London, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020), Vigo (1998) and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980)
The Filth and the Fury (2000)
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
Requiem for Detroit? (2010)- Producer
- Director
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Rob Epstein was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA as Robert P. Epstein. He is a producer and director, known for The Celluloid Closet (1995), Paragraph 175 (2000) and The Times of Harvey Milk (1984).
Rob has produced films that have screened worldwide, in cinemas, on television, home video and digital platforms, at museums, and at leading film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York. Rob has received two Academy Awards®, five Emmy Awards, three Peabodys and both a Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowship.
Rob moved by bus from New York City to San Francisco at age 19. His first job in the city was as an usher at the Castro Theater back when there was still a smoking section. While taking a filmmaking class at San Francisco State University, he became a production assistant on a documentary in early development where he met his mentor, Peter Adair. He quickly rose to co-director, with the other members of the Mariposa Film Group. The film became the landmark documentary Word Is Out, released in theaters in 1978, airing nationally on prime-time public television, and recently restored and re-released by Milestone.
Rob's next project was the Oscar-winning feature documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, which he conceived, directed, co-produced and co-edited. The film touched audiences immediately, becoming an international festival sensation starting at Berlinale, and winning the Academy Award® for Best Feature Documentary as well as the New York Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction Film of 1985. In 2013, the Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry, and the film is now part of the prestigious Criterion Collection. Harvey Milk was recently named one of "25 most influential documentaries of all time" by the Cinema Eye honors and in 2017 received the Legacy Award.
Since 1987, Rob and his producing partner Jeffrey Friedman have worked under the Telling Pictures banner, traversing the worlds of non-fiction and scripted narrative. Rob won his second Oscar for the documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, made with Jeffrey Friedman. Rob's other films with Jeffrey include the box office hit The Celluloid Closet (Emmy Award for directing), the HBO documentary Paragraph 175 (Sundance Film Festival Jury Award for Directing), Where Are We?, And the Oscar Goes to for Turner Classic Movies and most recently Killing the Colorado, a feature documentary about the drought in the Western U.S. premiering on Discovery Channel in August 2016.
In moving from documentary to dramatic narrative, Rob and Jeffrey collaborated on the narrative feature HOWL, starring James Franco, followed by Lovelace, starring Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard and Sharon Stone, and released by The Weinstein Company's Radius-TWC. Both films premiered at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals. HOWL was developed at the Sundance Institute Writer's Lab, where Rob and Jeffrey were Sundance Screenwriting Fellows in 2009, and was released theatrically by Oscilloscope Laboratories. It received the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review.
In addition to his Oscars for The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads, Rob has received several Peabody and Emmy Awards, as well as Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships. In 2008, Rob was recognized with the Pioneer Award from the International Documentary Association (IDA) for distinguished lifetime achievement. He has also received achievement awards from Frameline (1990), Outfest (2000) and the Provincetown International Film Festival. In 2016, Epstein was awarded the Kenneth Rainin Foundation Screenwriting Grant by the San Francisco Film Society for his original screenplay Dogpatch (working title).
Career retrospectives honoring Rob's work have been presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London (ICA), the Taipei International Film Festival in Taiwan, the Cinémathéque Québécoise in Montreal, and the Pink Apple Film Festival in Zurich.
In addition to his filmmaking career, Rob is a professor at California College of the Arts, where he serves as Co-chair of the Film program. He has been a visiting professor at the Graduate Film Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He serves on the Sundance Institute's Board of Trustees and is a member of the Directors Guild of America as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Documentary Branch where he served as an elected member of the Board of Governors for three terms.The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)- Director
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Jean-François Brient is known for De la servitude moderne (2009).De la servitude moderne (2009)- Producer
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- Writer
Rolf de Heer was born on 4 May 1951 in Heemskerk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He is a producer and director, known for Bad Boy Bubby (1993), Ten Canoes (2006) and Charlie's Country (2013).Ten Canoes (2006)- Director
- Editor
- Producer
Sam Green is known for The Weather Underground (2002), A Thousand Thoughts (2018) and The Universal Language (2011).The Weather Underground (2002)- Director
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- Additional Crew
Bill Siegel was born on 24 December 1962 in Orlando, Florida, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Weather Underground (2002), The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) and Independent Lens (1999). He was married to Lauren Goffen. He died on 11 December 2018 in the USA.The Weather Underground (2002)- Producer
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- Additional Crew
Scott Crary was born on 12 April 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Kill Your Idols (2004), Queercore: How To Punk A Revolution (2017) and The Sum of the Prey. He was previously married to Paola Alejandra Crary.Kill Your Idols (2004)- Writer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jeff Feuerzeig is known for The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005), Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) and The Real Rocky (2011).The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)- Director
- Producer
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Jeroen Berkvens is known for Jimmy Rosenberg: The Father, the Son & the Talent (2006), A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake (2002) and Advocaatje leef je nog? (2004).A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake (2002)