Joshua Seftel
Joshua Seftel is an American filmmaker.Joshua Seftel#cite note-1| He currently lives in New York City and is represented by Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles. Seftel began his career in documentaries at age 22 with his Emmy-nominated film, , about Romania's orphaned children. He followed this with several films including the political campaign film ', selected by Time Magazine as one of the “ten best of the year”; the underdog sports film ' which premiered at SXSW, and the behind-the-scenes film about Annie's Broadway revival ' which the New York Times called “delightful.” Seftel's first foray into comedy, ', gained cult status on the film festival circuit and caught the attention of filmmaker Alexander Payne, who championed him as a director. Seftel went on to direct the political satire War, Inc. starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff, Joan Cusack, and Ben Kingsley which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Seftel continues his work both in documentary film, mini-series, and commercial branded content with pieces such as his most recent series, .
Early life
Born in Schenectady, New York, Seftel graduated from Tufts University in the class of 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature and having completed the required coursework in pre-medical sciences. During his time at Tufts University, he studied abroad in Paris, France at Wesleyan University in Paris as a student of French literature and history in 1988. He later attended Columbia University’s National Arts Journalism Program in New York City as a mid-career fellow in 2002-2003.Career
Documentary films
Seftel began his career in documentaries at age 22, receiving a National Emmy Nomination for his first film, Lost and Found: the Story of Romania’s Forgotten Children, a documentary about the plight of Romania’s 120,000 orphaned and abandoned children. Seftel lived in orphanages for several weeks while shooting the film. The Public Television broadcast of the film, which Seftel made for only $2,000, led to hundreds of adoptions of Romanian orphans and helped raise money and awareness for the cause.Old Warrior, Seftel’s next film, is a documentary about the forgotten history of the Senior Citizens Power Movement and its founder, Frank J. Manning and received the Gold Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival and was broadcast on Public TV.
In 1996, Seftel produced Taking on the Kennedys for the PBS series P.O.V. which followed the campaign of Republican candidate Kevin Vigilante as he challenged Patrick J. Kennedy for a U.S. Congressional seat in Rhode Island. ' was named on TIME's list "The Best Television of 1996" and has been anthologized in P.O.V.’s 20th Anniversary Collection DVD set.
Seftel's next film was Ennis’ Gift, an HBO documentary released in 2002 about learning differences produced with Bill Cosby and wife Camille Hanks in memory of their late son Ennis, which featured Danny Glover, James Earl Jones, Anne Bancroft, Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Schwab and Caitlyn Jenner. It has been called "inspirational" by The Boston Globe and received the 2002 Literacy in Media Award from the Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles.
In 2010, Seftel produced ', a 13-part docu-series for WGBH that explored the themes of great literature from around the globe. Subjects included composer Philip Glass, actress Kristin Chenoweth, actor Alan Cumming, Nobel-Prize winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, and author Francine Prose.
After his success with Ennis’ Gift, Seftel went on to direct and produce an hour-long PBS documentary, about the revival of the classic musical “Annie” being directed by Broadway legend, James Lapine in 2013. In 2014, his short documentary ' premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and screened at numerous others including Sarasota, Nashville, and AFI Docs. ' documented the last game of the season for the Murray State Racers, the biggest night of the year in tight-knit, all-American Murray, Kentucky. 2015 brought two very fruitful projects for Mr. Seftel: ', a 2016 , as well as '. In ', which was premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Seftel and photographer, Phillip Toledano explore a series of ways that Mr. Toledano can die, using makeup and photographs to simulate every potential outcome. ' follows a young Pakistani immigrant who has a very short time to adjust to life in America.
Most recently, Joshua Seftel has directed and produced , a series of 14 short documentary profiles and subject films on life as a Muslim-American today. This series features many prominent Muslim figures, including AJ+ correspondent Dena Takruri, US Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, NYTimes bestselling author Reza Aslan, and founder and editor of Amani Al-Khatahbah, among many others. is what FlavorWire called “a blast of clarity and human in the face of so much fear-mongering.” The series has been distributed by Vox, USA Today, CBS Sunday Morning, The Huffington Post, Upworthy, and more.
Scripted work
Seftel broke into scripted film work with Breaking the Mold: The Kee Malesky Story that told the fictional story of one young librarian’s quest to defeat toxic, asthma-inducing mold. The title character borrows the name of real-life NPR librarian Kee Malesky. The humorous film originated when Maryland Public Television asked Seftel to make a fictional piece about indoor air quality for middle-school aged children. The film played at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, the Newport International Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival and won the Jury Prize at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. Breaking the Mold was shown at the One Reel Film Festival in Seattle where director Alexander Payne was a judge.Feature films
After seeing the film Breaking the Mold, director Alexander Payne championed Seftel as a director of features and put him in touch with John Cusack and Mark Leyner who were taken with Seftel's work. This led to Seftel directing the feature film War, Inc., starring Cusack, and co-written by Leyner, Cusack, and Jeremy Pikser. War, Inc. premiered at the 7th Annual Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008 and played nationally in theaters. The movie is a political satire set in Turaqistan, a fictional country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President. In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporation's CEO hires a troubled hit man, to kill a Middle Eastern oil minister. Struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporation's Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit, while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah, an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star, and keeping a sexy left wing reporter in check.Television, radio, and print journalism
Seftel has also worked in television, producing for ABC Turning Point, CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS' Nova Science Now series and the award-winning public radio program This American Life. At CBS News, Seftel was brought in by then Executive Vice President Jonathan Klein to pioneer the use of the mini-DV format at the network.For This American Life, Seftel produced a 1997 radio documentary entitled Trek about an exploration of race and friendship in post-apartheid South Africa. He also produced a segment called “Still Life” in episode #2 “My Way” for This American Life the television show, which aired on Showtime in 2007. Seftel also adapted NPR's popular This I Believe series from radio to public television for WGBH Boston. Seftel's short stories and articles have been featured on NPR, Salon.com, and The Seattle Times.
After Seftel's experience with WGBH and This American Life, he went on to produce in 2011-2012. In this mini-series produced for PBS, celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich and special guests Stanley Tucci, Mo Rocca and Mario Batali explore how immigrants have preserved their unique culinary traditions for generations. The project was nominated for both a James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award for Special/Documentary and a Silver Telly award.
Reality television
In reality television, Seftel directed the first two seasons of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and received a National Emmy Award Nomination for his work on the series. He also helped develop the A&E series Confessions of a Matchmaker, featuring Patti Novak, directing the series pilot, and served as Supervising Producer for the series. Seftel also developed the Emmy-nominated PBS children's reality game show Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman and directed the inaugural season.Awards and nominations
Seftel was awarded a National Arts Journalism Fellowship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Columbia University School of the Arts in 2003.| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1992 | CINE Golden Eagle | Short Documentary | ' | Won |
| 1992 | Chicago International Film Festival Silver Plaque Award | ' | Won | |
| 1992 | Columbus International Film & Video Festival Bronze Plaque Award | ' | Won | |
| 1992 | Bronze Apple Award | ' | Won | |
| 1993 | News and Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding News and Documentary Program Achievement | ' | Nominated |
| 1995 | Chicago International Film Festival Gold Plaque Award | ' | Won | |
| 1995 | Retirement Research Foundation, USA 2nd Place Wise Owl Award | Independent Films and Videotapes | ' | Won |
| 1997 | Cinequest San Jose Film Festival | Best Documentary | ' | Nominated |
| 2003 | Chicago International Children's Film Festival Children's Jury Award Certificate of Merit | Live-Action Television Production | ' | Won |
| 2004 | Emmy Award | Survivor’s Guide to High School | Nominated | |
| 2004 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Reality Program | Queer Eye for the Straight Guy | Won |
| 2005 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Reality Program | Queer Eye for the Straight Guy | Nominated |
| 2008 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Children's Series, Outstanding Achievement in Single Camera Editing | Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman | Nominated |
| 2009 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Children's Series, Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series | Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman | Nominated |
| 2012 | Emmy Award | ' | Won | |
| 2014 | SXSW Film Festival Grand Jury Award | Documentary Short | ' | Nominated |
| 2015 | Tribeca Film Festival Jury Award | Best Documentary Short | ' | Nominated |
| 2015 | BendFilm Festival Jury Prize | Best Documentary Short | ' | Won |
| 2015 | Montclair Film Festival Audience Award | Short Film | ' | Won |
| 2015 | Little Rock Film Festival | Best World Shorts Documentary | ' | Won |
| 2015 | Sheffield International Documentary Festival | Short Doc Award | ' | Nominated |
| 2016 | Jury Prize | Best Short | ' | Won |
| 2017 | Independent Film Festival of Boston Audience Award | Documentary Short | ' | Won |
| 2017 | 76th Annual Peabody Award Finalists | Documentary | ' | Finalist |
| 2017 | ' | Won |