Irving Saraf (1932 – December 26, 2012) was a Polish-born American film producer,

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

, film director and academic. Saraf won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for producing the 1991 documentary film, '' In the Shadow of the Stars''. In total, Saraf had more than one hundred fifty film and television production credits. His resume included ''Poland, Communism's New Look'', a 1965 television film; ''USA Poetry: Twelve Films About Modern Poets'' in 1966; and the 2009 documentary ''Empress Hotel'' following the residents of a low-income hotel in

Tenderloin, San Francisco The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, situated between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. Encom ...

Life and career

Saraf was born in Poland and raised in Israel. He emigrated to the United States in 1952, settling in San Francisco. He was married to his second wife, producer Allie Light, for 38 years. Light and Saraf formed a professional production partnership beginning in 1981. Saraf received 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 ...

in motion pictures from

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA). In addition to producing, Saraf taught film production at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. Saraf founded the film division of KQED, a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

channel in San Francisco. He also worked as the manager of the production company,

Fantasy Films Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

, owned by film producer,

Saul Zaentz Saul Zaentz (; February 28, 1921January 3, 2014) was an American film producer and record company executive. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and, in 1996, was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Zaentz's film pr ...

. Saraf produced many films with Zaentz, including as the

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

supervisor for ''

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest may refer to: * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (play), a 1963 stage adaptation of the novel starring Kirk Douglas * ''One Flew Over the ...

''. In 1995, Light and Saraf were jointly nominated for a News and Documentary

Emmy 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 catego ...

for their work on the

show, ''

Dialogues with Madwomen ''Dialogues with Madwomen'' is a 1993 documentary by Allie Light focusing on mental illness in women. It was later aired on television on the PBS series '' POV''. Synopsis In ''Dialogues with Madwomen'', filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf ...

''. Irving Saraf died of complications from three years of

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

at his home in San Francisco on December 26, 2012, at the age of 80. He was survived by his second wife of 38 years, Allie Light; six children –

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, Michal, Ilana, Alexis, Charles and Julia; and eight grandchildren. Peter Saraf is an Academy Award nominated producer whose credits include ''

Adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

'' (2002), ''

Little Miss Sunshine ''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road movie, road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (in their directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of G ...

'' (2006), and ''

Our Idiot Brother ''Our Idiot Brother'' is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Jesse Peretz and starring Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer. The script was written by Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall based on Jesse and E ...

'' (2011).

References

External links

* *
Irving Saraf
at

Women Make Movies Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Maria Dougherty, Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from ...

Irving Saraf
at

Folkstreams Folkstreams is a non-profit organization that aims to collect and make available online documentary films about folk art and culture. It preserves and provides wide access to documentary films about the activities, voices, and experiences of memb ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saraf, Irving 1932 births 2012 deaths Film producers from California Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Producers of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners San Francisco State University faculty UCLA Film School alumni Polish emigrants to the United States Israeli emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from San Francisco Place of birth missing 20th-century Polish Jews Film directors from San Francisco American film editors 20th-century American businesspeople