Saul Landau (January 15, 1936 – September 9, 2013) was an American journalist, filmmaker and commentator. He was also a
professor emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
...
at
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a Public university, public Institute of Technology (United States)#Polytechnic universities, polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the l ...
, where he taught history and digital media.
Education
Landau was born in
the Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, New York City. A graduate of Manhattan's
Stuyvesant High School, he also earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the
University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Landau donated his Latin American-related films and papers to the
University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...
Libraries in 2005. He donated his early papers and films to the
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
Center for Film and Television Research.
Career
Landau authored 14 books, produced and directed over 50 documentary films, and wrote editorial columns including for the ''
Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
''.
Landau was a member of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
He frequently appeared on radio and TV shows.
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...
said, "Saul Landau is a man I love to steal ideas from."
Landau was a fellow of the
Institute for Policy Studies
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American Progressivism in the United States, progressive think tank, formed in 1963 and based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh (economist), John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 202 ...
(IPS) in Washington, D.C. and a senior fellow and former director of the
Transnational Institute in Amsterdam.
He received an
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 his film ''
Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang'' (1980), which he co-directed with Jack Willis, with cinematography by Academy Award-winning filmmaker
Haskell Wexler. He won the
Edgar Allan Poe Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...
1981 for "Best Fact Crime" for ''Assassination on Embassy Row'' (with
John Dinges; Pantheon 1980) about the murder of TNI Director
Orlando Letelier and their colleague and friend Ronnie Karpen-Moffitt. He received the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award for his life's contribution to human rights and also received the Bernado O'Higgins award.
In the early 1960s, he was a member of the
San Francisco Mime Troupe and wrote the play "The Minstrel Show." At that time he was also working as a film distributor.
Death
Landau died after battling
bladder cancer
Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...
for two years on September 9, 2013, at his home in
Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...
. He was 77.
Films
Landau's films are distributed by Round World Productions. His 1968 film "Fidel" is distributed by Microcinema.
* ''Losing just the same'' (1966)
* ''Fidel'' (1968)
* ''From Protest to Resistance'' (1968)
* ''
Que Hacer/What is to be Done?'' (1971) – Saul Landau,
Raúl Ruiz, James Becket,
Jaime Sierra,
Nina Serrano.
* ''Conversation with Allende'' (1971)
* ''
Brazil: A Report on Torture'' (1971)
* ''Robert Wall: Ex-FBI Agent'' (1972)
* ''The Jail'' (1972)
* ''Zombies in a House of Madness'' (1972) – Shot in the San Francisco jail.
* ''Song for Dead Warriors'' (1974) – A documentary about the
Wounded Knee occupation
The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the ...
in the spring of 1973 by Oglala Sioux Indians and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM)
* ''Who Shot Alexander Hamilton'' (1974)
* ''Castro, Cuba and the US'' (1974)
* ''Zombies in a House of Madness'' (1975) – A short film where jail house poet, Michael Beasley, reads his poetry alongside footage taken inside the San Francisco jail, in 1972.
* ''Land of My Birth'' (1976) – The campaign film for Michael Manley in Jamaica.
* ''Bill Moyer's CBS report on CIA and Cuba'' (1977)
* ''The CIA Case Officer'' (1978) – A documentary about John Stockwell, a former CIA official who served in the CIA for 12 years, mostly in Africa and Vietnam. The film won an Emmy Award (1980), George F. Polk Award for investigative journalism on TV, Hefner First Amendment Award for journalism, and the Mannheim Film Festival first critics' prize.
* ''
Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang'' (1979) – A political documentary about government suppression of the health hazards of low-level radiation. Paul Jacobs died from lung cancer before the documentary was finished. His doctors believed he contracted it while he was investigating nuclear policies in 1957. Jacobs interviewed civilians and soldiers, survivors of nuclear experiments in the 50s and 60s, testing the effects of radiation.
* ''Steppin (1980) – A documentary about
Michael Manley on his tour in Jamaica, during election time.
* ''Report from Beirut'' (1982)
* ''Target Nicaragua. Inside a Covert War'' (1983)
* ''Quest for Power'' (1983)
* ''The Uncompromising Revolution'' (1988)
* ''Report from Iraq'' (1991)
* ''Papakolea'' (1993)
* ''The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas'' (1996)
* ''Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos'' (1999) – A documentary about the corporate globalization on the US-Mexican border.
* ''Iraq: Voices From the Street'' (September 2002)
* ''Syria: Between Iraq and a Hard Place'' (2004)
* ''Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up'' (2012)
* ''"WE DON'T PLAY GOLF HERE – and other stories of globalization"''
Books
* ''The Bisbee deportations: class conflict and patriotism during World War I'', University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1959
*
* Landau, Saul, Jacobs, Paul, & Pell, Eve, ''To Serve the Devil, Volume 1: Natives and Slaves'' Vintage Books, 1971.
* Landau, Saul, Jacobs, Paul, & Pell, Eve ''To Serve the Devil – Volume 2: Colonials and Sojourners'' Vintage Books, 1971.
*
* ''They Educated the Crows'', Transnational Institute, 1978 – a Transnational Institute Report on the Letelier-Moffitt Murders
*
*
* ''My Dad Was Not Hamlet: Poems'', Institute for Policy Studies, 1993
* ''The guerrilla wars of Central America: Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala'',
St Martin's Press, 1993,
* ''Hot air: a radio diary'', Pacifica Network News/Institute for Policy Studies, 1995 – Saul Landau,
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...
,
Pacifica Radio
Pacifica may refer to:
Art
* ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition
Places
* Pacifica, California, a city in the United States
** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier
* Pacifica, a conce ...
* ''Red Hot Radio: Sex, Violence and Politics at the End of the American Century'',
Common Courage Press, 1998
*
*
* - with
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...
. In this book, he defines his position on the
2006 Cuban transfer of presidential duties, Cuba in the 1960s,
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...
and his opinion on the U.S. concerning Cuba
* Saul Landau (2013). ''Stark in the Bronx: A Detective Novel''. CounterPunch Books.
Awards
*
Bernardo O'Higgins Award for Human Rights
* Letelier-Moffit Human Rights Award
*
George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting
*
Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage (2013)
Joe A. Callaway Awards For Civic Courage Past-Winners
''Calloway Awards'', 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
* 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 ...
* Roxie Award for Best Activist Video
* Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award
* Mannheim Film Festival: Critics' First Prize
* Ann Arbor Film Festival First Prize
* Berlin Film Festival First Prize
* Best Director Award First American Indian Intercontinental Film Festival
* Golden Apple Award
* Best Picture North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
Smoky Mountain Film Festival
* Edgar Allan Poe Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...
, for "Assassination on Embassy Row"
References
External links
Saul Landau's website
Saul Landau's blog
Round World Productions, distributor for Saul Landau's films
* ttp://www.tni.org/users/saul-landau Saul Landau's profileat the Transnational Institute. Includes recent articles and essays.
Saul Landau's page at Cal Poly Pomona
"Emmy-winning Documentary Filmmaker to Speak at UC Riverside: Saul Landau Has Focused on Social Issues, Human Rights for 40 years"
"Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up"
Guide to the Saul Landau Papers at the University of California, Riverside Librariea
Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up: Saul Landau on U.S.-Aided Anti-Castro Militants & the Cuban 5
''Democracy Now!
''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...
'', June 2012
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Saul
American documentary filmmakers
American male journalists
American political writers
Writers on Latin America
Latin Americanists
Journalists from California
Journalists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Jewish American journalists
American male poets
20th-century American poets
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona faculty
Emmy Award winners
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
Stuyvesant High School alumni
People from Alameda, California
Journalists from the Bronx
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Deaths from bladder cancer in California
1936 births
2013 deaths