Joshua Oppenheimer
{{short description|American filmmaker (born 1974)}}
{{About|the film director|the screenwriter|Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer|the basketball player and coach|Josh Oppenheimer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Joshua Oppenheimer
|image = Joshua Oppenheimer at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 2.jpg
|caption = Oppenheimer at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
|alma_mater = {{nowrap|Harvard College (B.A.)
Central Saint Martins (Ph.D.)}}
|birth_name = Joshua Lincoln Oppenheimer
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1974|9|23}}
|birth_place = Austin, Texas, U.S.
|years_active = 1995–present
|notable_works = The Act of Killing
The Look of Silence
|awards = MacArthur Fellowship
Marshall Scholarship
BAFTA
European Film Award
Grand Jury Prize (Venice Film Festival)
|occupation = Film director
}}
Joshua Lincoln Oppenheimer (born September 23, 1974) is an American film director based in Copenhagen, Denmark.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/20/joshua-oppenheimer-act-of-killing |title=Joshua Oppenheimer: 'You celebrate mass killing so you don't have to look yourself in the mirror' | Film |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2015-02-22 |access-date=2016-07-17}}{{cite web |last=Cohn |first=Pamela |url=http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/6992 |title=BOMB Magazine — Joshua Oppenheimer by Pamela Cohn |website=Bombsite.com |date=2012-12-18 |access-date=2016-07-17 |archive-date=January 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106041025/http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/6992 |url-status=dead }} He is known for his Oscar-nominated films The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014). Oppenheimer was a 1997 Marshall Scholar{{cite web |date=2014-09-23 |title=Centric Core |url=http://www.marshallscholarship.org/news/view?id=41&x0=news/list |access-date=2016-07-17 |website=Marshallscholarship.org}} and a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur fellowship.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/arts/macarthur-awards-go-to-21-diverse-fellows.html|title=MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows : Alison Bechdel, Terrance Hayes Among 'Genius Grant' Winners|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2014 |access-date=2016-07-17|last1=Lee |first1=Felicia R. }}
Life and career
Oppenheimer was born to a Jewish family,{{Cite news|first= Nate|last= Bloom|author-link= Nate Bloom |title= The tribe at the Oscars, 2016 |newspaper=Times of Israel|date=February 25, 2016 |url=http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/the-tribe-at-the-oscars-2016/ }} in Austin, Texas, and grew up in and around Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe, New Mexico.{{cite news|last1=Fraley|first1=Jason|title=Oscar nominated doc 'Act of Killing' has local roots|url=http://wtop.com/fraley-on-film/2014/02/oscar-nominated-doc-act-of-killing-has-local-roots/|publisher=WTOP|date=February 20, 2014}} He received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) summa cum laude in film-making from Harvard University and a PhD from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, while studying on a Marshall Scholarship. He is Professor of Film at the University of Westminster.
His first film The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1997) won a Gold Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival (1998).{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119065/awards|title= Awards for The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=2016-07-17}}
From 2004 to 2012, he produced a series of films in Indonesia. His debut feature film about the individuals who participated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, The Act of Killing (2012), premiered at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival. It went on to win many prizes worldwide, including the European Film Award for Best Documentary, a Panorama Audience Award, and a Prize of the Ecumenical Jury from the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1484791/awards |title=Awards from 63rd Berlin International Film Festival for The Act of Killing|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=2016-07-17}} The film also received the Robert Award by the Film Academy of Denmark, a Bodil Award by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics,{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1484791/awards |title=Robert Award & 66th Bodil Awards for The Act of Killing|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=2016-07-17}} and the Aung San Suu Kyi Award at the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.dfi.dk/Nyheder/FILMupdate/2013/Juni/Act-of-Killing-modtager-fredspris.aspx |title=The Act of Killing modtager Aung San Suu Kyi Pris |website=Dfi.dk |access-date=2016-07-17}} Oppenheimer appeared on The Daily Show on August 13, 2013, to talk about The Act of Killing.{{cite web |last=Stewart |first=Jon |date=August 13, 2013 |title=Joshua Oppenheimer |url=https://www.cc.com/video/dwvqkx/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-joshua-oppenheimer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208122827/https://www.cc.com/video/dwvqkx/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-joshua-oppenheimer |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |access-date=March 1, 2023 |website=Comedy Central}}
The Act of Killing won the BAFTA for Best Documentary, European Film Award for Best Documentary, the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Documentary, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25757345 |title=Oscars: Main nominations 2014 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |work=BBC News|date=January 16, 2014 }}
Oppenheimer's next film, The Look of Silence (2014), is a companion piece to The Act of Killing. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards. It was screened in competition at the 71st Venice International Film Festival{{cite web |url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/71st-festival/line-up/off-sel/venezia71/ |title=International competition of feature films |access-date=July 24, 2014 |work=Venice |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006083927/http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/71st-festival/line-up/off-sel/venezia71/ |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2014/07/venice-film-festival-lineup-2014-movie-list-808803/ |title=Venice Film Festival Lineup Announced |access-date=July 24, 2014 |work=Deadline|date=July 24, 2014 }} and won the Grand Jury Prize, the International Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI), the Italian online critics award (Mouse d'Oro), the European Film Critics Award (F.E.D.E.O.R.A.) for the Best Film of Venezia 71, as well as the Human Rights Nights Award.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29098103 |title=Roy Andersson film scoops Venice Golden Lion award |access-date=September 7, 2014 |work=BBC News|date=September 7, 2014 }} Since then, it has gone on to win a further 70 international awards, including an Independent Spirit Award, an IDA Award for Best Documentary, a Gotham Award for Best Documentary, and three Cinema Eye Honors, including Best Film and Best Director. Cinema Eye Honors named him a decade-defining filmmaker in 2016, and both his films as decade-defining films.
In a 2015, interview with The New York Times, Oppenheimer stated that the West shares "a great deal" of responsibility for the mass killings in Indonesia, noting in particular that "the United States provided the special radio system so the Army could coordinate the killings over the vast archipelago. A man named Bob Martens, who worked at the United States Embassy in Jakarta, was compiling lists of thousands of names of Indonesian public figures who might be opposed to the new regime and handed these lists over to the Indonesian government."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/magazine/joshua-oppenheimer-wont-go-back-to-indonesia.html|title=Joshua Oppenheimer Won't Go Back to Indonesia|date=July 9, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2016-07-17}} In 2014, after a screening of The Act of Killing for US Congress members, Oppenheimer called on the US to acknowledge its role in the killings.Sabarini, Prodita (16 February 2014). [http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/02/16/director-calls-us-acknowledge-its-role-1965-killings.html Director calls for US to acknowledge its role in 1965 killings]. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 3 August 2014. In October 2017, the U.S. government declassified thousands of files related to the killings, with officials citing the impact of Oppenheimer's films.{{cite news|author1=Krithika Varagur|title=How The US Came to Declassify 30,000 Pages of American Embassy in Indonesia Files|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/us-declassified-indonesian-embassy-files/4075504.html|work=Voice of America|date=18 October 2017}}
In July 2016, he was named as a member of the main competition jury for the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/laurie-anderson-joshua-oppenheimer-jury-venice-film-fest-1201821763/|title=Laurie Anderson, Joshua Oppenheimer, Zhao Wei Set For Venice Jury|last=Vivarelli|first=Nick|work=Variety|date=24 July 2016|access-date=24 July 2016}} In September 2017 he was the guest director for the Telluride Film Festival.{{cite news|author1=Josh Rottenberg|title=Oscar buzz to run high as the proudly low-key Telluride Film Festival gets underway|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-telluride-curtain-raiser-20170831-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=31 August 2017}}
In 2021, film production company Neon announced Oppenheimer would direct a narrative feature film, a post-apocalyptic musical titled The End.{{Cite web |last=Katz |first=David |date=2021-05-10 |title=Documentary auteur Joshua Oppenheimer returns with the mysterious musical project The End, starring Tilda Swinton |url=https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/411490/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005113636/https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/411490/ |archive-date=2021-10-05 |access-date=2021-12-30 |website=Cineuropa - the best of european cinema |language=en}} The film premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on 31 August 2024, and was screened in the Special Presentations program at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2024.{{cite web|title=Telluride 2024: Literary Adaptations 'Conclave,' 'Piano Lesson' and Musicals 'Better Man,' 'The End' Expected for World Premieres|website=Variety|first=Clayton|last=Davis|date=27 July 2024|access-date=4 August 2024|url=https://variety.com/2024/film/awards/telluride-film-festival-lineup-conclave-emilia-perez-1236086788/}} It stars Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Moses Ingram, Bronagh Gallagher, and others.{{cite web |title=The End |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15551346/ |website=IMDB |access-date=8 September 2024}}
Personal life
Oppenheimer is openly gay and lives with his husband Shusaku Harada in Copenhagen, Denmark.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/07/joshua-oppenheimer-the-look-of-silence-interview-indonesia |title=Joshua Oppenheimer: why I returned to Indonesia's killing fields |last=O'Hagan |first=Sean |work=The Guardian|date=June 7, 2015 }}
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year !Title !Notes |
| 1995
|Hugh |
| 1996
|These Places We've Learned to Call Home |Short |
| 1997
|The Challenge of Manufacturing |Short |
| 1997
|The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase |Short |
| 2003
|The Globalisation Tapes |A collaboration between the Independent Plantation Workers' Union of Sumatra, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF), and Vision Machine (Christine Cynn, Joshua Oppenheimer, Michael Uwemedimo, Andrea Luka Zimmerman). He was the producer. |
| 2003
|A Brief History of Paradise as Told by the Cockroaches |Short |
| 2003
|Market Update |Short |
| 2004
|Postcard from Sun City, Arizona |Short |
| 2004
|Muzak: a tool of management |Short |
| 2007
|Show of Force |Installation |
| 2012 |
| 2014
|Documentary |
| 2024
|Musical |
Books
- Acting on AIDS: Sex, Drugs & Politics (Acting on AIDS). London & New York: Serpent's Tail, 1997, {{ISBN|1-85242-553-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-85242-553-1}}. (With Helena Reckitt, co-editor.)
- Going through the motions and becoming other. (With Michael Uwemedimo, co-author). In: Chanan, Michael, (ed.) Visible evidence. Wallflower Press, 2007. London, UK. (In Press)
- History and Histrionics: Vision Machine's Digital Poetics. (With Michael Uwemedimo, co-author). In: Marchessault, Janine, and Lord, Susan, (eds.) Fluid screens, expanded cinema. University of Toronto Press, 2007, Toronto, Canada, pp. 167–183. {{ISBN|978-0-8020-9297-7}}.
- Show of force: a cinema-séance of power and violence in Sumatra's plantation belt. (With Michael Uwemedimo, co-author). In Critical Quarterly, Volume 51, No 1, April 2009, pp. 84–110. Edited by: Colin MacCabe. Blackwell Publishing, 2009. ISSN 0011-1562.
- Killer Images: Documentary Film, Memory and the Performance of Violence. (With Joram Ten Brink, co-author). Columbia University Press (Feb 28, 2013), {{ISBN|0231163347}}, {{ISBN|978-0231163347}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Joshua Oppenheimer}}
{{external media
| float = right
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| video1 = {{YouTube|9ibGiP_9Jd8|Joshua Oppenheimer on "The Act of Killing": The VICE Podcast 034}}}}
- [http://7thavenueproject.com/post/126469778005/joshua-oppenheimer-the-look-of-silence Joshua Oppenheimer on the making and the meaning of The Look of Silence] – interview on the 7th Avenue Project Radio Show
- [http://7thavenueproject.com/post/57838806650/joshua-oppenheimer Joshua Oppenheimer on The Act of Killing] – interview on the 7th Avenue Project Radio Show
- [https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/oppenheimer-joshua University of Westminster profile]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/opinion/suhartos-purge-indonesias-silence.html Suharto's Purge, Indonesia's Silence]. Joshua Oppenheimer for The New York Times. September 29, 2015.
- {{IMDb name|1484791}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheimer, Joshua}}
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:Alumni of Central Saint Martins
Category:People from Austin, Texas
Category:Film directors from Copenhagen
Category:Artists from Santa Fe, New Mexico
Category:Film directors from Texas
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:American LGBTQ film directors
Category:European Film Awards winners (people)
Category:American expatriates in Denmark
Category:LGBTQ people from Texas
Category:Film directors from Washington, D.C.
Category:Film directors from New Mexico
Category:Bodil Special Award recipients