Film

Sabine Krayenbühl

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Sabine Krayenbühl

Film editor

Sabine Krayenbühl is an award winning editor with over 20 theatrical documentaries and narrative features to her credit, many of which have premiered at prestigious festivals around the world. Her work includes Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominated My Architect for which she received an American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Award nomination. Other credits include Mad Hot Ballroom, one of the top twenty highest grossing documentaries, The Bridge produced by IFC, Picasso and Braque go to the Movies, produced by Martin Scorsese, Virgin Tales, Ahead of Time, Jennifer Fox’s Emmy nominated My Reincarnation, Salinger on which she consulted and most recently Eric Steel’s Kiss the Water, co-produced by BBC Films. (1)

Krayenbühl spoke at The Common Good at a Special Screening of “Letters from Baghdad” and Panel Discussion alongside Zeva Oelbaum and Mohamad Bazzi, moderated by Alex Witt.

Twitter: @Sakrayen

(1) Material from the Letters from Baghdad website.

Stephen Apkon

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Stephen Apkon

Film director

Stephen Apkon, a social entrepreneur, formed the Jacob Burns Film Center with the vision of establishing a center for independent and foreign documentary films. Under his 13 year tenure as Executive Director, the JBFC grew to become a major cultural destination and a national leader in the field of visual literacy. In 2014, Mr. Apkon stepped down as the Executive Director of the JBFC to focus on film projects and other non-profit initiatives.

Apkon serves on the boards of The World Cinema Foundation and Advancing Human Rights. He is President of Big 20 Productions, the producer of films I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful; Planetary; Backyard Wilderness; and Disturbing the Peace. He is the author of The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens.

Apkon spoke at a Special Screening of “Disturbing the Peace” - November 15, 2016 at The Common Good.

Twitter: @SteveApkon

Bernard-Henri Lévy

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Bernard-Henri Lévy

French philosopher, activist, filmmaker, writer

Bernard-Henri Lévy is a philosopher, activist, and filmmaker, and one of the most esteemed and bestselling writers in Europe. Lévy has advised presidents since François Mitterand and has served on diplomatic missions for the French government. The Guardian noted that he is “accorded the kind of adulation in France that most countries reserve for their rock stars.”

After starting his career as a war reporter for Combat — the legendary newspaper founded by Albert Camus during the Nazi occupation of France — Lévy co-founded the New Philosophers group. He has written for Le Point, El Pais, Corriere de la Sera, The WorldPost, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, among others. Lévy gained renown for his documentary film about the Bosnian conflict, Bosna! (1994). His films include the documentaries The Oath of Tobruk, Peshmerga and most recently, The Battle of Mosul.   

He is the author of more than 30 books, including works of philosophy, fiction, and biography. Lévy’s 1977 book, Barbarism with a Human Face, was a controversial critique of the European left’s complicity with totalitarianism. His most recent book, The Genius of Judaism, was published in January 2017 by Random House. His New York Times Bestsellers include American Vertigo, Barbarism with a Human Face, and Who Killed Daniel Pearl?

Lévy spoke at The Common Good in 2017: Special Private Screening and Conversation on "The Battle of Mosul" and we are excited to have him back as a speaker at our upcoming event: Athens Democracy Forum.

Twitter: @BHL

Alison Klayman

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Alison Klayman

American filmmaker, journalist

Alison Klayman is an American filmmaker and journalist.

Klayman has produced radio and television feature stories for PBS Frontline, NPR’s All Things Considered, and others. Her movie, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, documents Ai Weiwei and his work. It was shortlisted for an Academy Award, nominated for two Emmy’s, and earned Alison a Director’s Guild of America nomination. It premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Prize, and was picked up by IFC Films. Never Sorry has now been translated into over 26 languages and released around the world. It was also one of the highest grossing films of 2012 directed by a woman.

Alison has made many media appearances to speak about her documentary work, including on The Colbert Report. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times’ Emmy-nominated Op-Doc Series, and a grant recipient of the Ford Foundation, Sundance Institute, Henry Luce Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Chicken and Egg Pictures. In 2011 she was a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” New York Times chief film critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis named Alison one of their 20 Directors to Watch on a list of rising international filmmaking talents under 40.

Klayman was hosted by The Common Good in 2012 for a Special Screening: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.

Twitter: @aliklay