Joshua Oppenheimer

Joshua Oppenheimer is an American‑British filmmaker born on September 23, 1974, in Austin, Texas, to a Jewish family. He grew up in the Washington, D.C., area and later in Santa Fe, New Mexico, experiences that informed his eclectic artistic sensibility. He earned a summa cum laude B.A. in filmmaking from Harvard University and later completed a Ph.D. at Central Saint Martins in London as a Marshall Scholar. His early short, The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1997), won the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, signalling his talent for blending historical inquiry with experimental form. Since 1995, Oppenheimer has remained active as a director, producer, and educator, eventually joining the University of Westminster as a Professor of Film, where he mentors emerging documentary creators.