Saul Landau (January 15, 1936 – September 9, 2013) was an American journalist, filmmaker and commentator. He was also a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''California State Polytechnic University, Pomo ...

, where he taught history and digital media.

Education

Landau was born in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, 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 A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. He donated his early papers and films to the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

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 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 epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...

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 progressive think tank started in 1963 that is based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 2021 Tope Folarin was announced as new Executive Director. ...

(IPS) in Washington, D.C. and a senior fellow and former director of the

Transnational Institute The Transnational Institute (TNI), is an international non-profit research and advocacy think tank that was founded in 1974, Amsterdam, Netherlands. According to their website, the organization promotes a "... just, democratic and sustainable wor ...

in Amsterdam. He received an Emmy 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 Haskell Wexler, ASC (February 6, 1922 – December 27, 2015) was an American cinematographer, film producer, and director. Wexler was judged to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the Inte ...

. 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, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

1981 for "Best Fact Crime" for ''Assassination on Embassy Row'' (with John Dinges; Pantheon 1980) about the murder of TNI Director

Orlando Letelier Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar (13 April 1932 – 21 September 1976) was a Chilean economist, politician and diplomat during the presidency of Salvador Allende. A refugee from the Military government of Chile (1973–1990), military dictato ...

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. 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 land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

Libraries in 2005.

Death

Landau died after battling

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...

for two years on September 9, 2013, at his home in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

. 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 occupie ...

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 Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...

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-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

, Pacifica Radio * ''Red Hot Radio: Sex, Violence and Politics at the End of the American Century'',

Common Courage Press Common Courage Press is a book publishing company based in Monroe, Maine. The company was formed in January 1990, in part by Greg Bates, who also serves as publisher. Bates explained his goal of the company: "by publishing books for social just ...

, 1998 * * * - with

. In this book, he defines his position on the 2006 Cuban transfer of presidential duties, Cuba in the 1960s, Raúl Castro 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 The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

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 * Roxie Award for Best Activist Video *

Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award is an award created in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort ...

* Mannheim Film Festival: Critics' First Prize *

Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film ...

First Prize * Berlin Film Festival First Prize * Best Director Award First American Indian Intercontinental Film Festival *

Golden Apple Award The Golden Apple Award (1941–2001) was an American award presented to entertainers by the Hollywood Women's Press Club, usually in recognition of behavior rather than performance. History The award was presented from 1941 until 2001, when the ...

* Best Picture

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Smoky Mountain Film Festival *

, 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

. 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 American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'', 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 Journalists from New York City 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 People from the Bronx American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from bladder cancer 1936 births 2013 deaths