- published: 06 Oct 2011
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Bruce Sinofsky (born March 31, 1956) is an award-winning documentary film director, who began his career at Maysles Films.
Sinofsky was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University in 1978.
As Senior Editor for Maysles, he worked on commercials and feature films until 1991, when he and Joe Berlinger formed their own production company, Creative Thinking International. They jointly produce, edit, and direct documentary films which have appeared on over 50 critics choice lists, including Paradise Lost, Brother's Keeper, Hollywood High, and Some Kind of Monster.
Their work is done in various styles, including a paen to the Cinéma vérité. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster covers the band as they participate in group therapy before recording their first album in five years.
Paradise Lost chronicles the inhabitants of a small southern town a year after a series of brutal murders in style similar to that of award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. They have also done a documentary on the southern record label for blues and country western artists, Sun Records called Good Rockin' Tonight.
Joe Berlinger (born 30 October 1961) and Bruce Sinofsky (born 31 March 1956) are a team of American documentary filmmakers that have received large critical acclaim and cult-fame since their debut faux-crime film, Brother's Keeper (1992)
Originally intended to be a movie about "three guilty teenagers on trial for murder", Sinofsky and Berlinger soon realized that their film, Paradise Lost which chronicled the murders of three 8-year old boys, Stephen Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore in rural Arkansas], eventually became about the fear and panic of satanism, along with questionable police work that lead to the arrests and convictions of three teenagers, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Miskelley; otherwise known as the West Memphis Three. Since its 1996 premier on HBO, the film has been largely responsible for the widespread support of the convicted men who were released from prison on August 19, 2011. Many believe that the three were convicted entirely on their peculiar personalities and choices in fashion and music.
Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American film director, producer and former child actor. He came to prominence playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years. He appeared in the films American Graffiti in 1973 and The Shootist in 1976, the latter during his run on Happy Days. Howard made his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy Grand Theft Auto, and left Happy Days in 1980 to focus on directing. His films include the Academy Award-winning Cocoon, Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Beautiful Mind. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Asteroid 12561 Howard is named after him.
Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, the son of Jean Speegle Howard, an actress, and Rance Howard, a director, writer and actor. His father was born with the surname "Beckenholdt", and had taken the stage name "Howard" by 1948, for his acting career. Rance Howard was serving three years in the United States Air Force at the time of Ron's birth. The family moved to Hollywood in 1958, the year before the birth of his younger brother, Clint Howard. They rented a house on the block south of the Desilu Studios, where The Andy Griffith Show would later be filmed. They lived in Hollywood for at least three years, before moving to Burbank.