Jonathan Demme

Jonathan DEMME (1944-2017, USA) began his career as a film critic. In 1970, he started working for New World Pictures, where he directed his first film Caged Heat in 1974. After the critical success of Melvin and Howard (1980), which was nominated for several Oscars as well as the Golden Lion in Venice, he signed on to direct Swing Shift (1984). The production was famously difficult, and Demme publicly denounced the film upon its release. Stop Making Sense (1984), a Talking Heads concert recording, was a big success and is still regarded as one of the best music films of all time. In 1991, he directed Silence of the Lambs. It won Demme the Silver Bear in Berlin, and became the third film in history to win in all five major categories at the Academy Awards. Philadelphia (1992) was one of the first mainstream Hollywood releases to deal with AIDS. Besides his feature films, Demme directed several documentaries, as well as music videos and concert recordings for artists such as Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Justin Timberlake. In 2015, he received the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award in Venice.

Filmography

Caged Heat (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), Fighting Mad (1976), Citizens Band (1977), Columbo (1978, TV series, episode: Murder Under Glass), Last Embrace (1979), Melvin and Howard (1980), Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s ‘Who Am I This Time?’ (1982, short), Swing Shift (1984), Stop Making Sense (1984, doc), Survival Guides (1985, TV short), Something Wild (1986), Swimming to Cambodia (1987), Trying Times (1987, TV series, episode: A Family Tree), Married to the Mob (1988), Haiti, Dreams of Democracy (1988, doc), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Cousin Bobby (1992, doc), Philadelphia (1993), Neil Young & Crazy Horse: The Complex Sessions (1994, short doc), SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (1997, TV, segment: Subway Car from Hell), Storefront Hitchcock (1998, doc), Beloved (1998), The Truth About Charlie (2002), The Agronomist (2003, doc), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006, doc), Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward (2007, doc), Jimmy Carter Man from Plains (2007, doc), Rachel Getting Married (2008), Neil Young: Trunk Show (2009, doc), Tavis Smiley Reports (2010, TV series, episode: Been in the Storm Too Long), I’m Carolyn Parker (2011, doc), Neil Young Journeys (2011, doc), A Gifted Man (2011, TV series, episode: Pilot), Enlightened (2011, TV series, 2 episodes), Kenny Chesney: Unstaged (2012, doc), Enzo Avitabile Music Life (2012, doc), POV (2012, TV series, episode: I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful), A Master Builder (2013), The Killing (2013-2014, TV series, 2 episodes), Line of Sight (2014, TV), What’s Motivating Hayes (2015, short doc), Another Telepathic Thing (2015, short doc), Ricki and the Flash (2015), The New Yorker Presents (2016, TV series, episode: Pilot), Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids (2016, doc), Protection Not Protest: The People of Standing Rock (2016, TV short), Shots Fired (2017, TV series, episode: Hour Six: The Fire This Time), The Power of Rock (2017, short doc), Seven Seconds (2018, TV series, episode: Brenton’s Breath)

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