Bill Guttentag
Encyclopedia
Bill Guttentag is a two-time Oscar winning documentary and feature film writer-producer-director.
In 2007, Guttentag directed two films–Live! (2007 film)
, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, starring Eva Mendes
, Andre Braugher
David Krumholtz
, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
and Jay Hernandez
; and Nanking, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, a documentary about the Rape of Nanking during World War II.
Nanking
was shortlisted for an Academy Award, won awards at Sundance Film Festival and other film festivals, earned Guttentag a Writers Guild of America Award nomination, and went on to become the highest grossing theatrical documentary in Chinese history. Nanking also won a George Foster Peabody award in 2009.
Live! had its international Premiere at the Deauville Film Festival and will be distributed in the US by The Weinstein Company. Its international distribution included Lions Gate Entertainment
(UK) and Pretty pictures (France).
Guttentag created and executive produced the NBC series Crime & Punishment
, which ran from 2002-2004. The show, a reality television spin-off of the Law & Order franchise, followed District Attorneys in San Diego County, California.
Guttentag's first novel, Boulevard, was published by Pegasus Books/W.W. Norton in 2010 and the paperback version was published in May, 2011.
Gutentag recently completed Soundtrack for a Revolution
, a film about music and the Civil Rights Movement. The film features performances by John Legend
, Joss Stone
, The Roots
, Blind Boys of Alabama, Richie Havens
and Wyclef Jean
. Soundtrack for a Revolution had its international premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and its US premiere at the Tribecca Film festival. The film was released theatrically by Area 23a, and later aired on PBS. Guttentag was nominated for WGA and Producer's Guild Awards for the film, which also won awards at US and international film festivals, and was short-listed for an Academy Award.
Guttentag is currently in post-production on Knife Fight, a film he wrote and directed, starring Rob Lowe
, Jamie Chung
, Julie Bowen
, Carrie-Ann Moss, Eric McCormack
, Jennifer Morrison
, and Saffron Burrows
. The film is about a Democratic political consultant and will be released in fall, 2012.
Guttentag's films have been selected for the Sundance Film Festival three times and have played and won awards at numerous American and international film festivals. They have also received a number of special screenings internationally and in the US, including at the White House.
Since 2001, Guttentag has taught a class on the film and television business at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Career
In 1988, Guttentag won an Oscar for Best Documentary with his HBO film "You Don't Have to Die," telling the story of one boy's battle against cancer. Guttentag would receive three more Oscar nominations before winning another Oscar for his 2003 documentary "Twin Towers (film)."In 2007, Guttentag directed two films–Live! (2007 film)
Live! (2007 film)
Live! is a 2007 film directed and written by Bill Guttentag and starring Eva Mendes, David Krumholtz, and Andre Braugher. It was released in April 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival.-Plot:...
, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, starring Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
, Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...
, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor, best known to television and movie audiences as Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and as The Comedian in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen....
and Jay Hernandez
Jay Hernandez
Javier Manuel "Jay" Hernandez, Jr. is an American actor.-Early life and career:Hernandez was born in Montebello, California, the son of Isis , a secretary and accountant, and Javier Hernandez, Sr., a mechanic. He has a younger sister, Amelia, and two older brothers, Michael and Gabriel. Hernandez...
; and Nanking, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, a documentary about the Rape of Nanking during World War II.
Nanking
Nanking (film)
Nanking is a 2007 film about the 1937 Nanking Massacre committed by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre...
was shortlisted for an Academy Award, won awards at Sundance Film Festival and other film festivals, earned Guttentag a Writers Guild of America Award nomination, and went on to become the highest grossing theatrical documentary in Chinese history. Nanking also won a George Foster Peabody award in 2009.
Live! had its international Premiere at the Deauville Film Festival and will be distributed in the US by The Weinstein Company. Its international distribution included Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
(UK) and Pretty pictures (France).
Guttentag created and executive produced the NBC series Crime & Punishment
Crime & Punishment
Crime & Punishment is a 2002 reality television spin-off of the Law & Order franchise. It premiered on NBC on Sunday, June 16, 2002, and ran through the summers of 2002, 2003, and 2004.-Description:...
, which ran from 2002-2004. The show, a reality television spin-off of the Law & Order franchise, followed District Attorneys in San Diego County, California.
Guttentag's first novel, Boulevard, was published by Pegasus Books/W.W. Norton in 2010 and the paperback version was published in May, 2011.
Gutentag recently completed Soundtrack for a Revolution
Soundtrack for a Revolution
Soundtrack for a Revolution is a 2009 documentary film written and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman. This documentary traces the story of the civil rights movement and the struggles fought by young African-American activists with an emphasis on the power of music...
, a film about music and the Civil Rights Movement. The film features performances by John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
, Joss Stone
Joss Stone
Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
, The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, Blind Boys of Alabama, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
and Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...
. Soundtrack for a Revolution had its international premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and its US premiere at the Tribecca Film festival. The film was released theatrically by Area 23a, and later aired on PBS. Guttentag was nominated for WGA and Producer's Guild Awards for the film, which also won awards at US and international film festivals, and was short-listed for an Academy Award.
Guttentag is currently in post-production on Knife Fight, a film he wrote and directed, starring Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
, Jamie Chung
Jamie Chung
Jamie Jilynn Chung is an American actress known to reality television audiences as a cast member on the MTV reality television series, The Real World: San Diego and its spin-off show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno II, and for her appearances in TV and films, such as I Now...
, Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen is an American film and television actress. She played Carol Vessey on Ed and Denise Bauer on Boston Legal. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011...
, Carrie-Ann Moss, Eric McCormack
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School...
, Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
, and Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
. The film is about a Democratic political consultant and will be released in fall, 2012.
Guttentag's films have been selected for the Sundance Film Festival three times and have played and won awards at numerous American and international film festivals. They have also received a number of special screenings internationally and in the US, including at the White House.
Since 2001, Guttentag has taught a class on the film and television business at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Selected filmography
- "Live!Live! (2007 film)Live! is a 2007 film directed and written by Bill Guttentag and starring Eva Mendes, David Krumholtz, and Andre Braugher. It was released in April 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival.-Plot:...
" (2007) - "Nanking (film)Nanking (film)Nanking is a 2007 film about the 1937 Nanking Massacre committed by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre...
" (2007) - "Soundtrack for a RevolutionSoundtrack for a RevolutionSoundtrack for a Revolution is a 2009 documentary film written and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman. This documentary traces the story of the civil rights movement and the struggles fought by young African-American activists with an emphasis on the power of music...
" (2009) - "Crime and PunishmentCrime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his...
" (2002) - "Twin Towers" (2003)
- "The Cocaine War: Lost in Bolivia" (1992)
- "Assassinated: the Last Days of Kennedy and King" (1998)
- "You Don't Have to DieYou Don't Have to DieYou Don't Have to Die is a 1988 short documentary film directed by Malcolm Clarke and Bill Guttentag. It won an Academy Award in 1989 for Documentary Short Subject.-Cast:* Jason Gaes - Himself* Adam Gaes - Himself* Craig Gaes - Himself...
" (1988)