Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney | |
---|---|
UCLA Film School | |
Occupation(s) | Film director, producer |
Years active | 1980–present |
Relatives | Frank Gibney (father) |
Philip Alexander Gibney (/ˈɡɪbni/; born October 23, 1953) is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, Esquire magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time."[1]
Gibney's works as director include
Life and career
Gibney was born in New York City, the son of Harriet (Harvey) and journalist
Gibney developed an anti-authoritarian view from the journalism career of his father: "They say to succeed you're supposed to suck up and kick down. Well, he was the classic guy who sucked down and kicked up, which is never a good career path! He was at Time, then fired. At Newsweek, fired. At Life, fired." His stepfather was equally an influence on him. "There was something about my father, my mother, and then my stepfather, I think they all ruddered against authority in their own peculiar ways. And that probably rubbed off on me, too."[6]
He served as executive producer of the documentary No End in Sight (2007). His film
In an interview with
[The Exterminating Angel is] dark, but it's also wickedly funny and mysterious in ways that can't be reduced to a simple, analytical explanation. I always thought that's what's great about movies sometimes—the best movies have to be experienced; they can't just be written about.[7]
In an interview with David Poland for MIFF, Gibney disagrees with the
"Objectivity is dead. There's no such thing as objectivity. When you're making a film, a film can't be objective.[8]
Gibney's frequent documentary mode is the expository style akin to Ken Burns- in which the filmmaker relies on testimony from subjects involved in the subject matter and voice-over narration.[9]
Gibney's
Gibney is president of Jigsaw Productions, which produces independent films, documentaries and television series. On June 16, 2020,
His 2013 film We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, is a comprehensive look at WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning. The Wikileaks organization itself has objected to the way Gibney portrayed it, and has posted a line-by-line rebuttal to the entire film. Gibney posted a rebuttal.[13]
In 2015, Gibney received the inaugural Hitchens Prize, awarded in honor of the late writer Christopher Hitchens.[14] Gibney had previously collaborated with Hitchens on a documentary film adaption of Hitchens's book The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
Gibney's most recent projects include work on The Armstrong Lie (about Lance Armstrong), Catching Hell (a contribution to ESPN's '30 for 30' series which looks at "The Inning" in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series), Going Clear (a documentary about Scientology), Dirty Money (doc-series that explores corporate greed and corruption), The Looming Tower (fiction series based on the book by Lawrence Wright of which he directed the pilot), and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, which premiered at Sundance 2019.
In 2023 Gibney showed the first part of two-part documentary at the
Gibney writes for
He has been a resident of Summit, New Jersey.[19]
Lawsuit
On June 19, 2008, Gibney's company filed for
He sued for over a million dollars in damages and stated that the film has grossed only $280,000.Filmography (as director)
- The Ruling Classroom (1980)
- Manufacturing Miracles (1988)
- Inside Japan, Inc." (1992)
- The Fifties (1997), television mini-series documentary
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: Love Crazy (1998; TV special documentary)
- The Sexual Century: Sexual Explorers (1999; TV movie)
- The Sexual Century: The Sexual Revolution (1999; TV movie)
- Jimi Hendrix and the Blues (2001)
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005; documentary)
- 3 Doors Down: Away from the Sun, Live from Houston, Texas (2005)
- Behind Those Eyes (2005; documentary)
- Time Piece (segment "Empire of the Pushcarts") (2006; documentary)
- The Human Behavior Experiments (2006; TV movie documentary)
- Taxi to the Dark Side (2007; documentary)
- Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008; documentary)
- Casino Jack and the United States of Money(2010; documentary)
- My Trip to Al Qaeda (2010; documentary)
- Freakonomics (segment Pure Corruption) (2010; documentary)
- Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010; documentary)
- Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place(2011; documentary)
- Catching Hell(2011; ESPN Films documentary)
- The Last Gladiators (2011)
- Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012; documentary)
- Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream (2012; documentary)
- We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013; documentary)
- The Armstrong Lie (2013; documentary)
- Finding Fela (2014; documentary)
- Ceasefire Massacre (2014) ESPN 30 for 30: Soccer Stories
- Fields of Fear (2014) ESPN 30 for 30 Short
- Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown (2014; documentary)
- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015; documentary)
- Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (2015; documentary)
- Sinatra: All or Nothing at All (2015; TV mini-series documentary)
- Zero Days (2016; documentary)
- Cooked (2016; miniseries, episode "Fire")
- Billions (2017; TV series, episode "Optimal Play")
- No Stone Unturned(2017; documentary)
- Rolling Stone: Stories From The Edge (2017; documentary)
- Dirty Money (2018; TV series documentary, episode "Hard Nox")
- The Looming Tower (2018; TV mini-series, episode "Now it Begins...")
- Enemies: The President, Justice and the FBI (2018; TV series documentary, episode "You're Fired")
- The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019; documentary)
- Citizen K (2019; documentary)
- Crazy, Not Insane (2020; documentary)
- Agents of Chaos (2020; documentary)
- Totally Under Control (2020; documentary)[22]
- The Crime of the Century (2021; documentary)
- The Forever Prisoner (2021; documentary)[23]
- Boom! Boom! The World Vs Boris Becker (2023: two-part documentary)[24]
- In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon (2023)
References
- ^ "Alex Gibney Movie – Documentaries by Alex Gibney". Esquire. April 23, 2010. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- ^ "Taxi to the Dark Side Wins Documentary Feature: 2008 Oscars". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
- ^ "2008|Oscars.org". Archived from the original on April 19, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
- ^ Goldman, Andrew Jones (November 22, 2013). "Mensjournal.com". Mensjournal.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- ^ Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) Archived October 3, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, at IMDb.
- ^ "CBS News". CBS News. September 20, 2015. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- ^ Gibney, Alex. Interview by Robert K. Elder. The Film That Changed My Life. By Robert K. Elder. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011. N. p95. Print.
- ^ Gibney, Alex. "DP/30: Alex Gibney on We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks (LA Edition)" Online video clip. DP/30: The Oral History of Hollywood. YouTube, 29 Oct. 2013. Web.
- )
- ^ Cole, Williams (February 2008). "How We Torture: Alex Gibney in conversation with Williams Cole". The Brooklyn Rail. Archived from the original on January 17, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 16, 2020). "Imagine Entertainment Makes "Substantial Investment" In Jigsaw Productions As Alex Gibney Becomes Cornerstone Filmmaker In Documentary Growth Plans". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
- ^ "Alex Gibney: The Smartest Guy in the Room". Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
- ^ "2015 Prize - Alex Gibney". The Dennis & Victoria Ross Foundation. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ "Berlin 2023: Screen's guide to the Special, Forum and Generation titles". Screen Daily. February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
- ^ Vinson, Joshua (March 7, 2023). "Elon Musk Documentary Will Be 'Hit Piece,' Billionaire Claims; 'How Would You Know,' Director Fires Back". The Wrap. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ "Elon Musk Documentary 'Musk,' Directed by Alex Gibney, Acquired by Universal in International Territories". variety. October 2, 2023.
- ^ Alex Gibney | Jigsaw Productions Archived May 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Bio.
- ^ Tsai, Martin. "Alex Gibney's latest documentary corners Eliot Spitzer" Archived October 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The Star-Ledger, November 10, 2010. Accessed October 14, 2018. "Even though Alex Gibney has an Oscar, an Emmy, a Peabody and a Grammy sitting on his mantel, his life seems pretty much that of an ordinary Jersey guy. He commutes daily from Summit to his Manhattan office via the Lincoln Tunnel."
- ^ Christine Kearney (June 26, 2008). "US documentary maker seeks damages over Oscar film". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 3, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
- ^ Charles Lyons (June 26, 2008). "Filmmaker Says Distributor Failed Him". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
- ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (September 10, 2020). "'Totally Under Control': Neon To Release Alex Gibney Docu About White House's Failed Response To Pandemic". Deadline. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ "'It's soul-crushing': the shocking story of Guantánamo Bay's 'forever prisoner'". The Guardian. December 7, 2021.
- ^ "Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker". Berlinale.de. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
External links
- Alex Gibney at IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN