Director Eugene Jarecki has built a well-deserved reputation for impeccably crafted, scrupulous researched and, above all, concisely argued and structured left-leaning documentaries, among them The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Why We Fight and The House I Live In. Sadly, although his latest, Promised Land, may be his most broadly appealing film so far, it’s arguably his messiest and least intellectually satisfying work. A road trip across America in a 1963 silver Rolls Royce that belonged to Elvis Presley, this admittedly often entertaining ramble round Elvis' life and career unfolds during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election campaign, prompting musings from Jarecki...
- 5/20/2017
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki has signed with UTA, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. He previously was with CAA.
Both of his documentaries — Why We Fight, about the rise of the military-industrial complex, and The House I Live In, about the war on drugs — won Sundance Grand Jury Prizes and Peabody Awards. His other credits include the Emmy-winning HBO documentary Reagan and The Trials of Henry Kissinger, which won an award from Amnesty International and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Jarecki, the brother of fellow filmmakers Andrew Jarecki (The Jinx) and Nicholas Jarecki (Arbitrage), will...
Both of his documentaries — Why We Fight, about the rise of the military-industrial complex, and The House I Live In, about the war on drugs — won Sundance Grand Jury Prizes and Peabody Awards. His other credits include the Emmy-winning HBO documentary Reagan and The Trials of Henry Kissinger, which won an award from Amnesty International and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Jarecki, the brother of fellow filmmakers Andrew Jarecki (The Jinx) and Nicholas Jarecki (Arbitrage), will...
- 4/27/2017
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On December 17, El Dia de St. Lazaro, something extraordinary happened! Equivalent to the “Fall of the Wall”, President Barak Obama simultaneously with Raul Castro of Cuba announced that diplomatic relations between our two countries was being restored; the last of the Cuban Five imprisoned for 15 years in the U.S. for spying (on Cuban terrorists based in Miami) would be returned to Cuba in exchange for Alan Gross (imprisoned for 5 years for bringing Cuba forbidden internet technology), and an unnamed CIA agent incarcerated for 20 years, along with other Cuban political prisoners; And that this would be the first step in finally normalizing relations between Cuba and the U.S.A.
Read More: Sydney Levine's First Impression at the 2014 Havana Film Festival
As my friends and I were driving from Trinidad to visit a sugar plantation which was the basis for the Cuban wealth of the 19th century, we got a message that in one hour Raul Castro would make the formal announcement and President Obama’s address would also be broadcast.
As we entered the former plantation home, now a restaurant, we heard the singing and jubilation coming from the bar and immediately joined in as the only Americans to share the joy; the Scotch (not rum) was flowing and the dancing and singing continued until the address came on the television.
I realized that in my 15 years of coming to Cuba, this was the moment I had been waiting for. We watched Raul Castro explain, and we watched President Obama explain, and as I watched the faces of the beautiful Cuban people as they listened, some with tears and others with smiles, all with great intensity, I understood the meaning of “rapprochement”. We turned toward each other in pure happiness and felt ourselves united after 55 years of separation.
This is The Place and I am here.
We knew when the Mercosur Heads of State were gathered under tight security at the Hotel Nacional during the first days of the festival that something was afoot. We heard that not only were they planning a possible counter boycott of U.S. in their upcoming May meeting, shutting out U.S. from attending, but the Hotel Nacional’s guest roster included the name of an American who was negotiating something much bigger.
Some speak of the idealism behind this long-wished-for move of U.S.; others speak of the economic necessity. Looking back at my most incredible year of traveling around Latin America, I understand that with the new expansion of the Panama Canal enabling the huge Chinese container ships to pass through, the most convenient next-stop-port for them is Havana. And from Havana, the most convenient port is not Cartagena or Cali in Colombia but New Orleans! And so we may see the rapprochement bring back the glorious days when music and adventure were equated with the Louisiana-Cuban connection. My hope is that the values held so dear in Cuba spread to U.S. and that we Americans don’t spread our U.S. arrogance when we land on the shores of the country which has managed 55 years with no help from us.
There is still more to this tale of reunion, but I am sworn to secrecy for the moment. But you will read it in papers other than this blog. Thirteen months of secret negotiations took place in Canada with the help of the Pope. At a wonderful dinner at a newly opened up Cuban-Russian restaurant on the Malecon, “Nostrovia”, our friend the restaurant owner, Rolando Almirante, whom we know as a documentary filmmaker and host of a weekly Cuban TV show, introduced us to a Canadian and an American both of whom had been involved with the long negotiations. Together we toasted the event with vodka.
To return to the Hotel Nacional and the festival:
Exceptionally quiet for those political reasons, it was also quiet because but there was none of the active debating over the new Law of Cinema which so excitedly animated the festival here last year. There was a low-key conference about the law of cinema and audiovisual culture held by the Cuban Association of Cinema Press with Fipresci and other invited guests to discuss and express opinions about whether most countries by now have a law of cinema, whether developing countries are planning on establishing a law of cinema, whether a law of cinema is necessary for a country aspiring to a higher level of culture for its population, and in what way would a law contribute to the development of production and to the appreciation of cinema. But you do not see everyone gathering in groups to discuss these ideas as they did last year.
Some of last year’s top filmmakers – producers like Ivonne Cotorruelo and Claudia Calvino are so busy preparing their next coproductions that they have no time for such discussions. Others shrug and resignedly express Cuban forbearance as usual.
I asked my friends what is the status of the law being established here in Cuba where only one law of cinema exists, which is the establishment of Icaic, the government institute that determines everything about film behind closed doors. Their answer was “Nothing”. Nothing has changed since last year. Discussions are continuing, and there will be a law established, but not yet…and so I learned that once the first big step is taken here, the next steps are very slow to follow.
So here is what happened on Day 3, December 7 of the my festival:
Our friend Pascal Tessaud whose short from France “City of Lights” brought him to Los Angeles several years ago, had a screening of his new film “Brooklyn”. Its premiere screening here (It premiered in Cannes’ Acid section earlier this year) was to an odd audience of older people. No doubt they were expecting a film about “Brooklyn” (which used to be the name of a bar in Central Havana) but instead got a film about a young Afro-Swiss rapper-girl named “Brooklyn” who enters the rap scene of Paris, made up of Arabs and Africans.
“Afronorteamericano” films were also spotlighted with Oscar Micheaux’s “Assassination in Harlem” (1935), “Within our Gates” (1920), “Body and Soul” (1926) starring Paul Robeson, “Underworld” (1937), “Swing” (1938), and Spencer William’s “The Blood of Jesus” (1941).
Also showing were North American documentaries “Citizen Koch”, “The Notorious Mr. Bout”, “The Overnighters”, and an homage to filmmaker, Eugene Jarecki (“Capturing the Friedmans” 2003, “Arbitrage” 2012, “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” 2002, “Why We Fight” 2006, Emmy Award winning “Reagan” 2011 and 2012’s “The House I Live In” about the war against drugs which along with “Why We Fight” won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance) and a retrospective of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. Trinidad & Tobago’s annual showcase featured “Creole Soup” from Guadalupe and “Legends of Ska” by American DJ and ska specialist Brad Klein. And of course there was the latest crop of new films from Latin America and the newest films from Cuba, and much, much more.
Today Benecio del Toro, a regular at this festival, won the Coral of Honor for his role as “Che” in Steven Soderbergh’s movies and for his role as the narcotraffiker, Pablo Escobar in the NBC miniseries “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story” and here now, as Escobar in “Escobar: Paradise Lost” directed by the Italian Andrea Di Stefano. For Benecio, Cuba is “a dream come true”.
Day 4, December 8.
There seems to be a trend toward films about children. The prize winning film “Conducta” and Cuba’s submission for Academy Award Nomination as Best Foreign Language Film has already won awards around the world including The Coral for Best Picture and Best Actor here in Havana. This young boy loses every government protection because of his family’s dysfunctions and yet he maintains the spirit of survival and transcendence. Another story from Argentina, Poland and Colombia, France and Germany, “Refugiado” directed by Diego Lerman, also deals with a child who returns home from a birthday party to find his mother unconscious on the floor. The mother then flees seeking a safe place for them and he experiences fear in all the formerly secure places he has known. “Gente de Bien” a Colombia-France coproduction directed by Franco Lolli also explores the world of a young boy, abandoned by his mother and placed in the disheveled home of his impecunious father, who is taken in by a teacher who means well but whose family refuses to accept him. This little kid reaches his limit when his dog dies; but thrown back to his caring if off-kilter father, you get the feeling he too will be all right after all.
A couple of new gay films showed: Cuba’s “Vestido de Novia” was so crowded I could not get near it. Lines around blocks and blocks to get into the 1,000 seat theater were incredible proof of how much Cubans love cinema. Winner of last year’s prize for a work-in-progress, “Vestido de Novia” (“Wedding Dress) will soon be on the festival circuit. Two years ago, at Guadalajara’s coproduction market “Cuatro Lunas” by Sergio Tovar Velarde was being pitched. A sort of primer on gayness, four stories tell the tale of 1) discovery of one’s gayness, 2) first gay love, 3) first gay betrayal of love and 4) love at a mature stage of life. Producer Fernando … hung out with us a bit as we all come from L.A. and have friends in common.
What – aside from the new rapprochement between Cuba and U.S.A. – is “good for the Jews”? A wonderful film from Uruguay, Spain and Germany, “Mr. Kaplan” directed by Alvaro Brechner and produced by my most helpful friend Mariana Secco, and my German friends Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner (Isa: Memento) brought a new understanding for the good and the bad in our recent history. Almost a comedy and almost a tragedy, the film’s resolution served to transform our propensity to see and judge in black and white.
Read More: Sydney Levine's First Impression at the 2014 Havana Film Festival
As my friends and I were driving from Trinidad to visit a sugar plantation which was the basis for the Cuban wealth of the 19th century, we got a message that in one hour Raul Castro would make the formal announcement and President Obama’s address would also be broadcast.
As we entered the former plantation home, now a restaurant, we heard the singing and jubilation coming from the bar and immediately joined in as the only Americans to share the joy; the Scotch (not rum) was flowing and the dancing and singing continued until the address came on the television.
I realized that in my 15 years of coming to Cuba, this was the moment I had been waiting for. We watched Raul Castro explain, and we watched President Obama explain, and as I watched the faces of the beautiful Cuban people as they listened, some with tears and others with smiles, all with great intensity, I understood the meaning of “rapprochement”. We turned toward each other in pure happiness and felt ourselves united after 55 years of separation.
This is The Place and I am here.
We knew when the Mercosur Heads of State were gathered under tight security at the Hotel Nacional during the first days of the festival that something was afoot. We heard that not only were they planning a possible counter boycott of U.S. in their upcoming May meeting, shutting out U.S. from attending, but the Hotel Nacional’s guest roster included the name of an American who was negotiating something much bigger.
Some speak of the idealism behind this long-wished-for move of U.S.; others speak of the economic necessity. Looking back at my most incredible year of traveling around Latin America, I understand that with the new expansion of the Panama Canal enabling the huge Chinese container ships to pass through, the most convenient next-stop-port for them is Havana. And from Havana, the most convenient port is not Cartagena or Cali in Colombia but New Orleans! And so we may see the rapprochement bring back the glorious days when music and adventure were equated with the Louisiana-Cuban connection. My hope is that the values held so dear in Cuba spread to U.S. and that we Americans don’t spread our U.S. arrogance when we land on the shores of the country which has managed 55 years with no help from us.
There is still more to this tale of reunion, but I am sworn to secrecy for the moment. But you will read it in papers other than this blog. Thirteen months of secret negotiations took place in Canada with the help of the Pope. At a wonderful dinner at a newly opened up Cuban-Russian restaurant on the Malecon, “Nostrovia”, our friend the restaurant owner, Rolando Almirante, whom we know as a documentary filmmaker and host of a weekly Cuban TV show, introduced us to a Canadian and an American both of whom had been involved with the long negotiations. Together we toasted the event with vodka.
To return to the Hotel Nacional and the festival:
Exceptionally quiet for those political reasons, it was also quiet because but there was none of the active debating over the new Law of Cinema which so excitedly animated the festival here last year. There was a low-key conference about the law of cinema and audiovisual culture held by the Cuban Association of Cinema Press with Fipresci and other invited guests to discuss and express opinions about whether most countries by now have a law of cinema, whether developing countries are planning on establishing a law of cinema, whether a law of cinema is necessary for a country aspiring to a higher level of culture for its population, and in what way would a law contribute to the development of production and to the appreciation of cinema. But you do not see everyone gathering in groups to discuss these ideas as they did last year.
Some of last year’s top filmmakers – producers like Ivonne Cotorruelo and Claudia Calvino are so busy preparing their next coproductions that they have no time for such discussions. Others shrug and resignedly express Cuban forbearance as usual.
I asked my friends what is the status of the law being established here in Cuba where only one law of cinema exists, which is the establishment of Icaic, the government institute that determines everything about film behind closed doors. Their answer was “Nothing”. Nothing has changed since last year. Discussions are continuing, and there will be a law established, but not yet…and so I learned that once the first big step is taken here, the next steps are very slow to follow.
So here is what happened on Day 3, December 7 of the my festival:
Our friend Pascal Tessaud whose short from France “City of Lights” brought him to Los Angeles several years ago, had a screening of his new film “Brooklyn”. Its premiere screening here (It premiered in Cannes’ Acid section earlier this year) was to an odd audience of older people. No doubt they were expecting a film about “Brooklyn” (which used to be the name of a bar in Central Havana) but instead got a film about a young Afro-Swiss rapper-girl named “Brooklyn” who enters the rap scene of Paris, made up of Arabs and Africans.
“Afronorteamericano” films were also spotlighted with Oscar Micheaux’s “Assassination in Harlem” (1935), “Within our Gates” (1920), “Body and Soul” (1926) starring Paul Robeson, “Underworld” (1937), “Swing” (1938), and Spencer William’s “The Blood of Jesus” (1941).
Also showing were North American documentaries “Citizen Koch”, “The Notorious Mr. Bout”, “The Overnighters”, and an homage to filmmaker, Eugene Jarecki (“Capturing the Friedmans” 2003, “Arbitrage” 2012, “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” 2002, “Why We Fight” 2006, Emmy Award winning “Reagan” 2011 and 2012’s “The House I Live In” about the war against drugs which along with “Why We Fight” won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance) and a retrospective of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. Trinidad & Tobago’s annual showcase featured “Creole Soup” from Guadalupe and “Legends of Ska” by American DJ and ska specialist Brad Klein. And of course there was the latest crop of new films from Latin America and the newest films from Cuba, and much, much more.
Today Benecio del Toro, a regular at this festival, won the Coral of Honor for his role as “Che” in Steven Soderbergh’s movies and for his role as the narcotraffiker, Pablo Escobar in the NBC miniseries “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story” and here now, as Escobar in “Escobar: Paradise Lost” directed by the Italian Andrea Di Stefano. For Benecio, Cuba is “a dream come true”.
Day 4, December 8.
There seems to be a trend toward films about children. The prize winning film “Conducta” and Cuba’s submission for Academy Award Nomination as Best Foreign Language Film has already won awards around the world including The Coral for Best Picture and Best Actor here in Havana. This young boy loses every government protection because of his family’s dysfunctions and yet he maintains the spirit of survival and transcendence. Another story from Argentina, Poland and Colombia, France and Germany, “Refugiado” directed by Diego Lerman, also deals with a child who returns home from a birthday party to find his mother unconscious on the floor. The mother then flees seeking a safe place for them and he experiences fear in all the formerly secure places he has known. “Gente de Bien” a Colombia-France coproduction directed by Franco Lolli also explores the world of a young boy, abandoned by his mother and placed in the disheveled home of his impecunious father, who is taken in by a teacher who means well but whose family refuses to accept him. This little kid reaches his limit when his dog dies; but thrown back to his caring if off-kilter father, you get the feeling he too will be all right after all.
A couple of new gay films showed: Cuba’s “Vestido de Novia” was so crowded I could not get near it. Lines around blocks and blocks to get into the 1,000 seat theater were incredible proof of how much Cubans love cinema. Winner of last year’s prize for a work-in-progress, “Vestido de Novia” (“Wedding Dress) will soon be on the festival circuit. Two years ago, at Guadalajara’s coproduction market “Cuatro Lunas” by Sergio Tovar Velarde was being pitched. A sort of primer on gayness, four stories tell the tale of 1) discovery of one’s gayness, 2) first gay love, 3) first gay betrayal of love and 4) love at a mature stage of life. Producer Fernando … hung out with us a bit as we all come from L.A. and have friends in common.
What – aside from the new rapprochement between Cuba and U.S.A. – is “good for the Jews”? A wonderful film from Uruguay, Spain and Germany, “Mr. Kaplan” directed by Alvaro Brechner and produced by my most helpful friend Mariana Secco, and my German friends Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner (Isa: Memento) brought a new understanding for the good and the bad in our recent history. Almost a comedy and almost a tragedy, the film’s resolution served to transform our propensity to see and judge in black and white.
- 12/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Us war on drugs has cost one trillion dollars and resulted in 45m arrests. And yet nothing has changed, argues film-maker Eugene Jarecki, a polemical campaigner to reform America's drugs laws. So what did the prisoners in a New York jail think when he showed them his documentary?
Once consigned to the fringes of libertarianism, the argument for the legalisation of drugs has received an unlikely boost in America in recent months with the release of a documentary entitled The House I Live In. Coinciding with the decision by the states of Colorado and Washington to legalise marijuana, the film won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival last year and has arrived at a moment when Americans are beginning to reconsider the efficacy of their nation's drug policy.
Packed with facts, stories and polemics, the film traces the history of America's changing attitudes to drugs and...
Once consigned to the fringes of libertarianism, the argument for the legalisation of drugs has received an unlikely boost in America in recent months with the release of a documentary entitled The House I Live In. Coinciding with the decision by the states of Colorado and Washington to legalise marijuana, the film won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival last year and has arrived at a moment when Americans are beginning to reconsider the efficacy of their nation's drug policy.
Packed with facts, stories and polemics, the film traces the history of America's changing attitudes to drugs and...
- 3/31/2013
- by Andrew Anthony
- The Guardian - Film News
With powerful and probing films like "The Trials of Henry Kissinger," "Why We Fight" and "Reagan," documentarian Eugene Jarecki has turned a critical eye to some of the most fundamental political and social issues on the American landscape, and he's done it again with his latest effort, "The House I Live In." We're unveiling the exclusive poster for the upcoming film, and it promises to be another riveting exploration of a subject that has gone on the backburner a bit in the national conversation. The film, which won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January, delves into the so-called "war on drugs," looking deeply into its systemic failures, exposing the true human cost of the current approach and offering inspiring solutions for change. Jarecki talks to activists, prisoners, legal experts, journalists and more to paint an expansive portrait of the subject. Yes, this one sounds like it's going to.
- 8/30/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Protests in the Chilean capital of Santiago turned violent Sunday when loyalists of the late Gen. Augusto Pinochet turned up in great numbers to support the premiere of a documentary that portrays the dictator as a national hero victimized by unscrupulous leftists. While authorities expected clashes, according to the Associated Press, they resorted to force to separate the former leader’s supporters from anti-Pinochet Chileans outraged by a movie that lionizes a man widely considered a torturer and killer. These heated freedom-of-speech debates certainly aren’t unique to Chile, even if those in America generally play out in the media rather than on the streets. Filmmakers have had a field day with cinematic treatments of polarizing leaders in recent years, from Eugene Jarecki and Alex Gibney’s “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” to Oliver Stone’s “W.” and Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon.” HBO has been building its own...
- 6/13/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
#85. The House I Live In Director: Eugene JareckiProducers: Jarecki and Melinda Shopsin Distributor: Rights Available The Gist: While the Iraq War rages, another war continues, unnoticed, barely reported, and yet it has taken more lives than the war, destroyed more families, orphaned more children, and, like the war, holds significant implications for the future of American society. America’s War on Drugs has deep roots in the country’s history....(more) List Worthy Reasons...: With solid samples such as The Trials of Henry Kissinger and Why We Fight in his filmography, it'll be a nice change of pace for Eugene Jarecki, as he moves slightly off topic concentrating on those at the bottom, and not the top. Release Date/Status?: Premiering in Park City this month in Sundance's U.S Docu Comp, this should get picked up and shown theatrically if it carries the critical praise such as his 2005 film,...
- 1/4/2012
- IONCINEMA.com
Welcome back to a fresh round of Reports. I personally am hoping for at least one more smackdown on the line of Friday’s brilliant hit at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. After all, isn’t that what Thomas deserves for watching The Daily Show when Stephen’s trying to interview him? Seriously, I thought it was a fine example of how Mr. Colbert can impart important information with his humor—namely the fact that the bench-warming Thomas, alone of all Supreme Court Justices, has said nothing at all in the past five years. People who haven’t realized exactly how incompetent and impotent a judge Thomas is, now will…and enjoy a laugh, too.
This week brings us three out of four guests who have appeared on the ‘Colbert Report’ before, including one real friend of the show whose politics aren’t to my taste, but who I must admit makes a fun interview.
This week brings us three out of four guests who have appeared on the ‘Colbert Report’ before, including one real friend of the show whose politics aren’t to my taste, but who I must admit makes a fun interview.
- 2/22/2011
- by Karenatasha
- No Fact Zone
Chicago – It may have been missed by some during yesterday’s Superbowl festivities, but Sunday would have been the 100th birthday of one of our country’s most beloved leaders, Ronald Reagan. To commemorate the occasion, HBO is premiering a documentary by the excellent filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (“Why We Fight,” “The Trials of Henry Kissinger”) titled simply “Reagan.”
Television Rating: 4.0/5.0
There are few leaders in the history of the White House more beloved than Ronald Reagan. He has become so iconic that it’s hard to get beneath the image to the real man beneath. It’s difficult to see humanity when someone is so high on a pedestal. And Ronald Reagan was not a very easy man to get to know. The documentary makes clear that he had few friends, close only really to Nancy. Interviews with family members make them sound nearly as inquisitive as to who exactly...
Television Rating: 4.0/5.0
There are few leaders in the history of the White House more beloved than Ronald Reagan. He has become so iconic that it’s hard to get beneath the image to the real man beneath. It’s difficult to see humanity when someone is so high on a pedestal. And Ronald Reagan was not a very easy man to get to know. The documentary makes clear that he had few friends, close only really to Nancy. Interviews with family members make them sound nearly as inquisitive as to who exactly...
- 2/7/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
#72. Reagan Director: Eugene JareckiProducers: Kathleen FournierDistributor: Rights Available. The Gist: There's no official synopsis but the fest mentions that "Jarecki avoids the predictable and takes the long view on Reagan’s life and influence, while staying centered on him as a man of deep contradiction; an American whose patriotism paradoxically led him to impeachable acts, a liberal Democrat who came to define the modern conservative movement".....(more) List Worthy Reasons...: Tea Party movement folk and documentary films fans alike will want to watch out for this portrait on a U.S president whose legacy can unfortunately be felt until this day. From a diligent docu-helmer in Eugene Jarecki (whose track record of The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002) and Why We Fight (2005) we can expect an all-encompassing, no one side favored viewpoint and something that will surely be timely in 2011. I wish there were more docs on this list. Release Date/Status?...
- 1/12/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Alex Gibney does not believe in making small, personal documentaries. He pursues outsized figures and major political topics that shape our times. His prolific output includes serving as writer, director and producer on the Oscar-winning exploration of interrogation techniques in Iraq, Taxi to the Dark Side, as well as the indictment of corporate greed and malfeasance in the Oscar-nominated, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and a portrait of one of literary history's great iconoclasts, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Gibney's resume includes a Grammy, Emmy, Peabody and the DuPont Columbia Award. His other notable producer credits include No End in Sight, which laid out false assumptions given for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, The Trials of Henry Kissinger and Martin Scorsese's music series The Blues. His latest film details the larger-than-life, currently jailed...
- 5/6/2010
- by Brad Schreiber
- Huffington Post
Alex Gibney wrote, directed and produced the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side" and the 2006 Oscar-nominated "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." His other credits include “No End in Sight" (executive producer); "Mr. Untouchable" (producer), "Who Killed the Electric Car" (consulting producer); "The Trials of Henry Kissinger" (writer-producer); "Herbie Hancock: Possibilities" (producer); "Lightning in a Bottle" (producer); "Wim Wenders' Soul of a Man" (producer) and "Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues" (producer). His documentary "Casino Jack and the United States of Money," about lobbyist Jack Abramoff, opens May 7 in theaters. Gibney’s current slate of projects include a feature documentary about Lance Armstrong for Sony Pictures; a film about the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer that played at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival; and “Magic Bus,” a time-travel immersion experience about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
- 5/4/2010
- by Lisa Horowitz
- The Wrap
I hope that headline got your attention, because basically there are no celebrities involved with Freakonomics as far as most moviegoers are concerned (unlike that blockbuster Darfur Now, which featured George Clooney, Don Cheadle and Arnold Schwarzenegger). However, to documentary aficionados this anthology film is an all-star collaboration, including segments helmed by acclaimed directors Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room; Taxi to the Dark Side), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me: Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight; The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady (The Boys of Baraka, Jesus Camp), as well as connective interludes from Seth Gordon (The King of Kong; umm, Four Christmases).
As Monika wrote way back in 2007, all these segments will represent and adapt from different sections of the 2005 non-fiction best seller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,...
As Monika wrote way back in 2007, all these segments will represent and adapt from different sections of the 2005 non-fiction best seller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,...
- 4/5/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Cinematical
The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express®, the Founding Sponsor of the Festival, is very pleased to announce that its closing night gala will be the documentary Freakonomics. Based on the book by journalist Stephen Dubner and economist Steven Levitt, Freakonomics is less about economics than about the strange connections between seemingly disparate topics - for instance, how drug dealing is like working at McDonald's or why good parenting methods don't really matter in the long run. This unique documentary is directed by a number of critically acclaimed filmmakers: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp, 12th and Delaware), Alex Gibney (My Trip to Al-Qaeda, Untitled Eliot Spitzer Film), Seth Gordon (The King of Kong), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight, The Trials of Henry Kissinger), and Morgan Spurlock (Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, Super Size Me). Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of...
- 3/29/2010
- TribecaFilm.com
Why We Fight
PARK CITY -- The term "military-industrial complex" was coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation at the end of his second term as president in 1961. In ensuing years the phrase has become so commonplace, it has ceased to have any meaning. Now Eugene Jarecki's shattering documentary Why We Fight examines the extent to which the military-industrial complex not only profits from war, but also becomes a force that makes war happen. Winner of the best American documentary prize at Sundance, the thoughtful and extremely well-made film could find a sizable audience of concerned citizens in theaters and later on video.
Before the credits are over, the film jumps to life with the surprising presence of the grandfatherly Eisenhower, the five-star general who led allied forces in Europe during World War II, warning the nation of "the grave consequences" of creating a permanent arms industry. Using that as a starting point, Jarecki argues that the wars of the last 50 years -- Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq -- have been motivated more by profits than policy. Interviews with Eisenhower's son John and granddaughter Susan highlight the president's growing concern that the military build-up following World War II was a dangerous precedent for the country. Weighing in from two sides of the political spectrum are Sen. John McCain, who notes that "the complex is so pervasive, it's become invisible," to William Kristol, head of the neo-con think tank the Project for the New American Century, an architect of American foreign policy. Chalmers Johnson, an ex-CIA operative and critic of current developments, and Richard Perle, former adviser to the Bush administration, square off for and against.
Jarecki, who directed the revealing The Trials of Henry Kissinger, has learned to allow the material to speak for itself, so when Perle simplistically argues that pre-emptive strikes are akin to defending yourself against personal attack, he seems merely foolish. Summing up American foreign policy of the last 50 years, author Gore Vidal says this is "the United States of Amnesia," where everything is forgotten by Monday morning.
But the impact of Why We Fight, a title taken from the name of Frank Capra's WWII propaganda films for the State Department, goes well beyond a collection of talking heads. Jarecki personalizes the effects of war by including individual stories. One of them is Wilton Sekzer, a retired New York City cop who lost a son on Sept. 11 and petitioned the government to put his son's name on a bomb destined to be dropped on Iraq. When President Bush finally admits that Iraq had no hand in the terrorist attacks, Sekzer is disillusioned and feels that the government "exploited my feelings of patriotism for the death of my son."
Jarecki captures the price of the military-industrial complex in human terms, but sometimes the film's focus seems to wander to presenting arguments against the war. It is necessary to accept Jarecki's premise that the Iraq war is the result of America's imperialistic agenda in order to see corporate greed as the underlying cause.
But he makes his case convincingly, pointing out that we spend more on defense than all other parts of our budget combined. When war becomes that profitable, we have seen and will continue to see more of it. Jarecki uses graphic war footage, a visit to a weapons trade show and interviews with retired military officers -- stitched together seamlessly by editor Nancy Kennedy -- to dispel the notion advanced by presidents Johnson, Reagan and Bush, that America has been a force for peace in the world. Instead, what we see is a militaristic nation in which capitalism is at war with democracy -- and capitalism is winning.
WHY WE FIGHT
A BBC Storyville presentation of a Charlotte Street film in association with BBC and Arte
Credits:
Director: Eugene Jarecki
Writer: Jarecki
Producer: Susannah Shipman, Jarecki
Executive producers: Roy Ackerman, Nick Fraser, Hans Robert Eisenhauer
Directors of photography: Etienne Sauret, May-Ying Welch, Brett Wiley, Foster Wiley, Chris Li, Sam Cullman
Music: Robert Miller
Editor: Nancy Kennedy
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
Before the credits are over, the film jumps to life with the surprising presence of the grandfatherly Eisenhower, the five-star general who led allied forces in Europe during World War II, warning the nation of "the grave consequences" of creating a permanent arms industry. Using that as a starting point, Jarecki argues that the wars of the last 50 years -- Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq -- have been motivated more by profits than policy. Interviews with Eisenhower's son John and granddaughter Susan highlight the president's growing concern that the military build-up following World War II was a dangerous precedent for the country. Weighing in from two sides of the political spectrum are Sen. John McCain, who notes that "the complex is so pervasive, it's become invisible," to William Kristol, head of the neo-con think tank the Project for the New American Century, an architect of American foreign policy. Chalmers Johnson, an ex-CIA operative and critic of current developments, and Richard Perle, former adviser to the Bush administration, square off for and against.
Jarecki, who directed the revealing The Trials of Henry Kissinger, has learned to allow the material to speak for itself, so when Perle simplistically argues that pre-emptive strikes are akin to defending yourself against personal attack, he seems merely foolish. Summing up American foreign policy of the last 50 years, author Gore Vidal says this is "the United States of Amnesia," where everything is forgotten by Monday morning.
But the impact of Why We Fight, a title taken from the name of Frank Capra's WWII propaganda films for the State Department, goes well beyond a collection of talking heads. Jarecki personalizes the effects of war by including individual stories. One of them is Wilton Sekzer, a retired New York City cop who lost a son on Sept. 11 and petitioned the government to put his son's name on a bomb destined to be dropped on Iraq. When President Bush finally admits that Iraq had no hand in the terrorist attacks, Sekzer is disillusioned and feels that the government "exploited my feelings of patriotism for the death of my son."
Jarecki captures the price of the military-industrial complex in human terms, but sometimes the film's focus seems to wander to presenting arguments against the war. It is necessary to accept Jarecki's premise that the Iraq war is the result of America's imperialistic agenda in order to see corporate greed as the underlying cause.
But he makes his case convincingly, pointing out that we spend more on defense than all other parts of our budget combined. When war becomes that profitable, we have seen and will continue to see more of it. Jarecki uses graphic war footage, a visit to a weapons trade show and interviews with retired military officers -- stitched together seamlessly by editor Nancy Kennedy -- to dispel the notion advanced by presidents Johnson, Reagan and Bush, that America has been a force for peace in the world. Instead, what we see is a militaristic nation in which capitalism is at war with democracy -- and capitalism is winning.
WHY WE FIGHT
A BBC Storyville presentation of a Charlotte Street film in association with BBC and Arte
Credits:
Director: Eugene Jarecki
Writer: Jarecki
Producer: Susannah Shipman, Jarecki
Executive producers: Roy Ackerman, Nick Fraser, Hans Robert Eisenhauer
Directors of photography: Etienne Sauret, May-Ying Welch, Brett Wiley, Foster Wiley, Chris Li, Sam Cullman
Music: Robert Miller
Editor: Nancy Kennedy
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
- 2/2/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HDNet lines up three features
NEW YORK -- Media moguls Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban's nascent HDNet Films -- the high-definition production unit of the duo's 2929 Entertainment -- has greenlighted a trio of features to be shot this year. HDNet Films heads Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente said Thursday that the company's first films will include helmer Carlos Brooks' Quid Pro Quo, Joseph Castelo's Over the Mountains and a new feature documentary by The Trials of Henry Kissinger director Alex Gibney called Black Magic. The slate ramp-up comes after indie vets Kliot and Vicente put their HDNet team in place this year, installing ICM agent Will Battersby as their head of development and upping Gretchen McGowan to head of production.
- 5/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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