Liz Garbus

Early life and education

Garbus grew up in New York City. She is the daughter of civil rights attorney Martin Garbus and writer, therapist, and social worker Ruth Meitin Garbus. Her family is Jewish.

In 1992, Garbus graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in history and semiotics from Brown University.

Career

While in high school, Garbus made a documentary about students' last day of school. At Brown she took classes in video production in addition to her major subjects.

After college, Garbus worked as an intern at Miramax. She eventually landed a job working for filmmaker Jonathan Stack.

They co-directed The Farm: Angola, USA, which was nominated for a 1998 Academy Award. The film garnered multiple awards, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and two Emmy awards.

In 1998, Garbus co-founded an independent documentary production company, Moxie Firecracker Films, with fellow Brown University alumna Rory Kennedy. They combined the names of each woman's previous production company for their joint one: Kennedy's was called Moxie and Garbus’ was called Firecracker.

In 2002, Garbus' film The Execution of Wanda Jean was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2003, Garbus directed The Nazi Officer's Wife, which was narrated by Susan Sarandon and Julia Ormond. ¹ In 2005, Garbus collaborated with partner Rory Kennedy to executive-produce Street Fight about the 2002 Newark mayoral election; it was nominated for an Academy Award.

In 2006, the pair worked with actress Rosie Perez to produce her film Yo Soy Boricua.

In 2007, Garbus' film Ghosts of Abu Ghraib premiered at Sundance. It and won an Emmy for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special of 2007.

In 2007, Garbus directed the film Coma, which aired on HBO in July of that year. The film follows four brain-injured patients receiving treatment at the JFK-Johnson Medical Facility in New Jersey.

In 2009, Garbus’s film, Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech (HBO) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2011, There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane was chosen to be a part of HBO’s Documentary Films Summer Series.

In 2011, Garbus directed Bobby Fischer Against the World, which chronicled the great Cold War showdown between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972. The film premiered on HBO and opened the Premiere Documentary Section of the Sundance Film Festival.

Bobby Fischer Against the World, opened the documentary section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, reserved for master American documentary filmmakers.

In 2011, Garbus was nominated a second time for an Academy Award, for her film Killing in the Name, which she produced with her producing partner Rory Kennedy.

Garbus' 2012 film, Love, Marilyn featured Elizabeth Banks, Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Jennifer Ehle, Lindsay Lohan, Lili Taylor, Uma Thurman, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood and others reading from Monroe’s never-before-seen private writings. The film opened as a Gala Premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by HBO for a 2013 debut.

Love, Marilyn, internationally opened as a Gala Premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and aired on HBO summer of 2013.

In 2014, A Good Job: Stories of the FDNY, which Garbus directed and produced, premiered on HBO and featured first-hand accounts of veteran firefighters and interviews conducted by former FDNY member Steve Buscemi.

In 2015, she directed What Happened, Miss Simone? a documentary about the singer Nina Simone. What Happened, Miss Simone? was the opening night film for Sundance Film Festival, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature 2015, a Grammy for Best Music Film 2015, and Garbus was nominated for a DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. The film was released by Netflix on June 26, 2015. It won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary.

In January 2018, The New York Times announced that Garbus and a documentary crew had been "basically living in the...newsroom since Inauguration Day [with] full access to the Russia investigation and much more." The completed work called The Fourth Estate aired on Showtime in May 2018.

In May 2018, HBO premiered Garbus' documentary, A Dangerous Son, which portrays three families as they deal with severe mental illness of three different children, and their efforts to get treatment and navigate the health care system.

In September 2020, Garbus released All In: The Fight for Democracy, a documentary film about voting rights in the United States. It featured voting rights activist Stacey Abrams and other American politicians, including former United States Attorney General Eric Holder and then-Representative Marcia Fudge.

In 2021, Garbus released Becoming Cousteau, a documentary about Jacques Cousteau for National Geographic Documentary Films. In 2022, Garbus directed Harry & Meghan, a documentary series for Netflix revolving around Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Personal life

Garbus is married to film producer Dan Cogan; the two have a daughter, Amelia, and a son, Theodore.

Filmography

Works and publications

Selected honors and awards

• Open Society's Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture, Fellow
• 1998: Sundance Film Festival, Documentary, Grand Jury Prize for The Farm: Angola, USA with Jonathan Stack – tied with Frat House
• 1998: L.A. Film Critics Association Awards, Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film for The Farm: Angola, USA with Jonathan Stack
• 1998: New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Best Non-Fiction Film for The Farm: Angola, USA with Jonathan Stack
• 1999: Emmy Award, Outstanding Non-Fiction Special (nominee) for The Farm: Angola, USA with Jonathan Stack, Gayle Gilman, Michael Cascio
• 1999: Academy Award, Best Documentary, Feature (nominee) for The Farm: Angola, USA with Jonathan Stack
• 2002: Sundance Film Festival, Documentary, Grand Jury Prize (nominee) for The Execution of Wanda Jean
• 2003: SXSW Film Festival, Documentary Feature, Audience Award for Girlhood
• 2006: Emmy Award, Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story - Long Form (nominee) for P.O.V. Street Fight with Rory Kennedy, Cara Mertes, Sally Jo Fifer, Marshall Curry
• 2007: Emmy Award, Outstanding Non-Fiction Special for Ghosts of Abu Ghraib with Rory Kennedy, Jack Youngelson, Diana Barrett, Sheila Nevins, Nancy Abraham
• 2009: Sundance Film Festival, Documentary, Grand Jury Prize (nominee) for Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech
• 2012: Emmy Award, Outstanding Non-Fiction Special (nominee) for Bobby Fischer Against the World with Sheila Nevins, Dan Cogan, Stanley F. Buchthal, Rory Kennedy, Matthew Justus, Nancy Abraham
• 2015: Peabody Award for What Happened, Miss Simone?
• 2016: Directors Guild of America Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary (nominee) for What Happened, Miss Simone?
• 2016: Emmy Award, Outstanding Non-Fiction Special for What Happened, Miss Simone? with Sidney Beaumont, Amy Hobby, Justin Wilkes, Jayson Jackson
• 2016: Emmy Award, Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming (nominee) for What Happened, Miss Simone?
• 2016: Academy Award, Best Documentary, Feature (nominee) for What Happened, Miss Simone? with Amy Hobby, Justin Wilkes
• 2021: Peabody Award (nominee) for Nuclear Family

References

References

1. (1992). "Feminine Transgression – Historicizing desire and subversion in Contemporary France". [[Brown University]].
2. (26 October 2003). "Film; A Filmmaker Who Chooses to Live Behind Bars". [[The New York Times]].
3. (25 January 2016). "Oscars 2016: Michael Moore, Alex Gibney, and More Documentarians on THR's Roundtables". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
4. (May 12, 2021). "The Hollywood Reporter's 2021 Women in Entertainment Power 100". Penske Business Media, LLC.
5. (January 2007). "No Degrees of Separation". [[Brown University]].
6. (21 June 2009). "123 Minutes With Liz and Martin Garbus". [[New York (magazine).
7. Bloom, Nate. (February 25, 2016). "The tribe at the Oscars, 2016". [[Times of Israel]].
8. (13 November 2012). "Liz Garbus Interviewed by Scott Feinberg". Scott Feinberg.
9. (August 2007). "Featured Artist: Liz Garbus". [[American University]].
10. (12 June 2006). "Rosie Perez Film Explores Puerto Rican Pride". [[NPR]].
11. (25 May 2011). "Bobby Fischer Biopic: A Chess Champ 'Against The World'". [[NPR]].
12. (2010). "Bobby Fischer Against the World". [[Sundance Film Festival]].
13. "Documentary Short Film: Killing in the Name". [[Academy Awards.
14. (14 September 2012). "Toronto 2012: HBO Doc Films Takes U.S. Rights to Liz Garbus' 'Love, Marilyn'". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
15. Sam Dolnick. (7 Jan 2018). "A documentary film crew has been basically living in the @nytimes newsroom since Inauguration Day. They have had full access to the Russia investigation and much more. It’s made by Oscar nominee @lizgarbus. Airs in May on @Showtime".
16. (6 January 2018). "We just announced a new revealing multi-part...". [[Showtime (TV network).
17. (6 January 2018). "Liz Garbus' New York Times Documentary Gets May Premiere On Showtime –a 0 TCA". [[Deadline Hollywood.
18. (16 April 2018). "'A Dangerous Son' Trailer: Liz Garbus Chronicles Children Struggling With Mental Illness in a Chaotic World". [[IndieWire]].
19. (6 May 2018). "The Struggle Of Finding Help For 'A Dangerous Son'". [[NPR]].
20. "Becoming Cousteau".
21. Coughlan, Sean. (December 5, 2022). "Prince Harry says 'it's a dirty game' in new Netflix trailer".
22. Keegan, Rebecca. (April 8, 2020). "How Hollywood Works Now: Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan Rethink How to Make Documentaries".
23. (2009). "Liz Garbus". [[NYU School of Law]].
24. (2015). "What Happened, Miss Simone?". [[Peabody Award]].