Amir Bar-Lev (born 1972) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, producer and writer from

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. Bar-Lev is noted for his work in directing

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

s. He has directed such films as ''Fighter'', a documentary film released August 24, 2001. The film received a Special Jury Citation in the 2000

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

. The 2007 documentary film ''

My Kid Could Paint That ''My Kid Could Paint That'' is a 2007 documentary film by director Amir Bar-Lev. The movie follows the early artistic career of Marla Olmstead, a young girl from Binghamton, New York who gains fame first as a child prodigy painter of abstract ar ...

'' was directed by Bar-Lev, and premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. The film was bought by

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produc ...

in 2007. He also served as co-producer of the 2009 Oscar nominated documentary ''Trouble the Water.'' Bar-Lev also directed ''

The Tillman Story ''The Tillman Story'' is a 2010 American documentary film directed by Amir Bar-Lev and narrated by Josh Brolin. It is about the death of professional- football-player-turned- Army-Ranger Pat Tillman in the War in Afghanistan, the coverup of the ci ...

'', which premiered as a Domestic Documentary Finalist at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Bar-Lev directed Happy Valley, a film about the Penn State Jerry Sandusky Scandal. His most recent film, Long Strange Trip, explored the Grateful Dead. Bar-Lev has taught documentary filmmaking at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.

Director/Producer

According to

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Bar-Lev has directed or produced the following works: *'' Fighter'' (2000) (director) *'' VH1: All Access'' (2003) TV series (producer) (unknown episodes) *''Sundance Film Festival Dailies'' (2003) TV series (segment producer) *''Katrina'' (2006) (TV) (producer) *''

It Could Happen Tomorrow ''It Could Happen Tomorrow'' is a television series that premiered on January 15, 2006 on The Weather Channel. It explored the possibilities of various weather and other natural phenomena severely damaging or destroying America's cities. This inclu ...

'' (2006) TV series (producer) (unknown episodes) *''

'' (2007) (director) *''

Trouble the Water ''Trouble the Water'' is a 2008 documentary film produced and directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal. The film portrays a young couple surviving Hurricane Katrina, leading them to face their own troubled past during the storm's aftermath, in a co ...

'' (2008) (co-producer) *''

'' (2010) (director) *'' Happy Valley'' (2014) (director) *''

Long Strange Trip ''Long Strange Trip'' is a 2017 American documentary film about the rock band the Grateful Dead. It premiered on January 23, 2017, at the Sundance Film Festival. It had a one-night only nationwide screening on May 25, 2017, and a week-long limite ...

'' (2017) (director) – documentary about the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, executive produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

References

External links

amirbarlev
*
Amir discusses Long Strange Trip with Ira Haberman of The Sound Podcast
Living people Artists from Berkeley, California Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni 1972 births Film directors from California American documentary filmmakers {{US-film-director-1970s-stub