Alan Berliner
Encyclopedia
Alan Berliner is an American filmmaker. Many of his films have been aired on PBS Public Broadcasting Service
program P.O.V.
. Most of his films are generally classified as documentaries. Berliner is a graduate of Binghamton University
.
Alan Berliner’s uncanny ability to combine experimental cinema, artistic purpose and popular appeal into compelling film essays has made him one of America’s most acclaimed independent filmmakers. The New York Times
has described Berliner's work as "powerful, compelling and bittersweet... full of juicy conflict and contradiction, innovative in their cinematic technique, unpredictable in their structures... Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life."
films, Wide Awake (2006), The Sweetest Sound (2001), Nobody's Business (1996), Intimate Stranger (1991), and The Family Album (1986), have been broadcast all over the world, and received awards and prizes at many major international film festivals. Selected retrospectives of his films have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art
(NYC), the International Center of Photography (NYC) and at film festivals from Norway and Finland to England, Australia and Brazil. Several of his films are routinely rented for filmmaking and film history classes at universities across the United States, and are in the permanent collections of many film societies, festivals, libraries, colleges and museums.
, NYSCA, NYFA
and in 1998, won his third career Emmy Award
(he has also received six nominations) from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
. He was also the recipient of a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association in 1993, and was honored with a "Storyteller Award" from the 2001 Taos Talking Picture Film Festival. In June 2002, he was awarded a "Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in the Arts" by the National Foundation For Jewish Culture
. In 2006, the International Documentary Association selected Berliner to receive an International Trailblazer Award for “creativity, innovation, originality and breakthrough in the field of documentary cinema,” presented at the MIPDOC Conference in Cannes, France. He received a full career retrospective at the 2006 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), where he also curated a program of his ten favorite films, and presented a Master Class exploring the ideas, themes and storytelling strategies that have characterized his work over the past two decades.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
program P.O.V.
P.O.V.
POV is a Public Broadcasting Service Public television series which features independent nonfiction films. POV is a cinema term for "point of view"....
. Most of his films are generally classified as documentaries. Berliner is a graduate of Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
.
Alan Berliner’s uncanny ability to combine experimental cinema, artistic purpose and popular appeal into compelling film essays has made him one of America’s most acclaimed independent filmmakers. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
has described Berliner's work as "powerful, compelling and bittersweet... full of juicy conflict and contradiction, innovative in their cinematic technique, unpredictable in their structures... Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life."
Films
Berliner's experimental documentaryDocumentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
films, Wide Awake (2006), The Sweetest Sound (2001), Nobody's Business (1996), Intimate Stranger (1991), and The Family Album (1986), have been broadcast all over the world, and received awards and prizes at many major international film festivals. Selected retrospectives of his films have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
(NYC), the International Center of Photography (NYC) and at film festivals from Norway and Finland to England, Australia and Brazil. Several of his films are routinely rented for filmmaking and film history classes at universities across the United States, and are in the permanent collections of many film societies, festivals, libraries, colleges and museums.
Awards and honors
A recipient of Rockefeller, Guggenheim and Jerome Foundation Fellowships, Berliner has received multiple grants from the NEANational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, NYSCA, NYFA
NYFA
The acronym NYFA can refer to:* New York Film Academy* New York Foundation for the Arts...
and in 1998, won his third career Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
(he has also received six nominations) from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....
. He was also the recipient of a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association in 1993, and was honored with a "Storyteller Award" from the 2001 Taos Talking Picture Film Festival. In June 2002, he was awarded a "Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in the Arts" by the National Foundation For Jewish Culture
National Foundation for Jewish Culture
The Foundation for Jewish Culture is the leading advocate for Jewish cultural life and creativity in the United States....
. In 2006, the International Documentary Association selected Berliner to receive an International Trailblazer Award for “creativity, innovation, originality and breakthrough in the field of documentary cinema,” presented at the MIPDOC Conference in Cannes, France. He received a full career retrospective at the 2006 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), where he also curated a program of his ten favorite films, and presented a Master Class exploring the ideas, themes and storytelling strategies that have characterized his work over the past two decades.
External links
- Alan Berliner website
- Punto de Vista International Documentary Film FestivalPunto de Vista International Documentary Film FestivalThe Punto de Vista Documentary Film Festival is a space for celebrating, discovering and analysing the form of cinema generically grouped under the heading of ‘documentary’...
1 - English Language Radio Podcast on Berliner