Eva Orner is an Australian

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and

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 film producer and director based in Los Angeles. Her works include '' Untold Desires'' (winner of Best Documentary at the

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industr ...

, the

Logie Award The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Television in Australia, Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The eve ...

s and the Australian Human Rights Awards), '' Strange Fits of Passion'' (nominated for the Critics' Award at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

), ''

Taxi to the Dark Side ''Taxi to the Dark Side'' is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Alex Gibney, and produced by Gibney, Eva Orner, and Susannah Shipman. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It focuses on the December 2002 killing ...

'' (winner of the 2008

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 ...

for Best Documentary), and ''Gonzo, The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson''. Orner's directorial debut, ''The Network'', a feature documentary set behind the scenes of Afghanistan's largest television station, premiered in the US in March 2013.

Early life

Orner grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, and was educated at Mount Scopus Memorial College and

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, where she earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1993.

Career

Orner, along with actress

Cate Blanchett Catherine Élise Blanchett ( ; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor and producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognised for Cate Blanchett on screen and stage, her versatile work across stage and scre ...

, was one of only two Australians nominated for an Oscar in 2008. Most commentators predicted that

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

's ''

Sicko ''Sicko'' is a 2007 American political documentary film by filmmaker Michael Moore. Investigating health care in the United States, the film focuses on the country's health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore compares the for-prof ...

'' would win the Best Documentary category. However, to the surprise of many, Orner's ''Taxi to the Dark Side'', which examines US torture practices in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, received the award. Within hours, Orner created controversy by describing the US Government as "a bunch of war criminals". Orner directed and produced the AACTA award winning feature documentary '' Chasing Asylum''. Released in 2016, the film takes a critical look at Australia's treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. She also directed and produced ''Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator'', for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. The film was released in 2019 and had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

. In 2021, her film ''

Burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...

'' was released. It is about climate change and the Black Summer Australian fires of 2019–2020. ''Burning'' had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. In June 2022,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

announced that Orner would be directing a documentary about the Ohio State University abuse scandal. A staffer at

Smokehouse Pictures Smokehouse Pictures is an American film and television production company. The company was founded in 2006 by George Clooney and Grant Heslov after the shutdown of Section Eight Productions. Its name is taken from the Smoke House restaurant, loc ...

said in October 2023 that they were "still thick in production" on the documentary. In April 2024, HBO released '' Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion'', a

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 ...

directed by Orner.

Personal life

Orner is a vegetarian. She drives an

electric car An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...

References

External links

* Australian documentary film producers Monash University alumni Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Australian Jews Australian women film producers Australian women documentary filmmakers Australian documentary film directors Australian women film directors Producers of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Mount Scopus Memorial College {{film-producer-stub