Bill Siegel (December 24, 1962 – December 9, 2018) was an American
documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
producer and director. Documentaries directed by Siegel include
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
-winning ''
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
''The Trials of Muhammad Ali'' is a 2013 American documentary film about the heyday of boxer Muhammad Ali's career, with special focus on his conversion to Islam and his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. It won an award for Best Use of News F ...
'' in 2013 and the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-nominated
''The Weather Underground'' in 2002.
In addition to his filmmaking, Siegel worked a day job a
The Great Books Foundation serving in roles ranging from Trainer to Vice President of School Programs. Bill honed his craft as prober of people's thinking during his 23 years at Great Books, where he led more than 1000 seminars guiding thousands of teachers to take on a Socratic approach.
Bill earned a B.A. in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an M.S. degree at the Columbia University School of Journalism.
Siegel's final completed film project was a study guide for Ken Burns and Lynne Novick's documentary series, ''The Vietnam War''. His final documentary-in-process, ''America Sells Itself'', mines the archives of the United States Information Agency (USIA) to investigate the U.S. government's Cold War era effort to sell American- style democracy.
Early Life
Siegel grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was born into a secular, Jewish family, the descendant of Russian Jewish and Finnish immigrants. His father, Dick, served for 47 years as an attorney with Siegel, Brill, Greupner, Duffy & Foster P.A. His mother, Libby, served as the principal of the newly co-educational Blake School.
In Bill Siegel's young adulthood, he became increasingly devoted to and curious about social justice and politics. Following graduate school Bill worked on archival film research for projects on Muhammad Ali, which led to a research job on Hoop Dreams.
References
External links
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1962 births
2018 deaths
American documentary film directors
Place of birth missing
Place of death missing
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