Jason Sussberg
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Jason Sussberg is an American documentary film director and producer. Sussberg co-founded Structure Films, a documentary production company with a focus on science, health, information, and technology, with director and fellow Stanford classmate David Alvarado.[1]
His films include The Immortalists, a documentary about two eccentric scientists (Aubrey de Grey and William H. Andrews) on a quest to end human aging,[2] Bill Nye: Science Guy, a documentary about science communicator and PBS children's show star Bill Nye of Bill Nye the Science Guy as he makes his public comeback and challenges science denialists, such as climate change denier Joe Bastardi and Biblical creationist Ken Ham,[3] and We Are As Gods, a documentary that spans the productive years and accomplishments of environmentalist, futurist, and cultural icon Stewart Brand.[4]
Early life[edit]
Sussberg's interest in filmmaking began when he was a student at Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley, California, where his interest in playing with video cameras led to making short films with friends. After graduating from high school in 2000, he went on to study film at the University of Santa Cruz, earning a degree in Film and Digital Media. From there he moved to San Francisco where he found work as a TV sports editor and later as a producer of in-game entertainment. He then attended graduate school at Stanford University where he met David Alvarado, his future Structure Films partner.[5] Sussberg earned an MFA in Documentary Film from Stanford.[6][7]
Career[edit]
The Immortalists (2014) was the first feature film released under Sussberg and Alvarado's Structure Films production company, with Sussberg as director and producer.[8] The documentary follows the scientific work of molecular biologist William H. Andrews and biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey in their pursuit to cure aging. In the film the two scientists reveal their personal motivations behind the advancements they strive to bring to mankind; and inadvertently, the sobering foresight of what it would mean for the planet's resources and space if everyone was granted eternal life.[9][2] The Immortalists premiered at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival to a sold-out audience.[10] It won Best Feature Doc at the 2014 Tacoma Film Festival.
For Structure Film's second feature film, Bill Nye: Science Guy (2017), Sussberg and Alvarado pitched the idea of a documentary about Bill Nye to producer Seth Gordon. “Seth has a long history of doing amazing character profile stories. Having him as our ally was great from a storytelling point of view. He was instrumental in brokering the beginning of the relationship with Bill and mentoring us along the way,” Sussberg said about bringing Gordon in for the project. At the time of development of the film, Nye was just returning to the public eye with a well-publicized debate against Young Earth creationist Ken Ham, with Nye backing science-based evolution. Nye loved the pitch and filming began immediately.[5][11] The filmmakers turned to crowdsourced-funding and broke the record for most-funded documentary on Kickstarter, raising $859,425 from 16,850 backers.[12][13] Bill Nye: Science Guy premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival.[13][14] The film was later picked up by PBS's POV for distribution.
Having grown up in "the California that [Stewart Brand] helped build," Sussberg had a fascination with futurist Stewart Brand since college; an interest that really took off after Brand announced the De-extinction Movement in 2013. That same year Sussberg and Alvarado approached Brand about making a documentary about his life and De-extinction, but he declined. They revisited the idea with Brand after the completion of Bill Nye: Science Guy and he accepted.[15] The film, We Are As Gods, covers Stewart Brand's life, personally and professionally, as he shows up in a wide range of cultural and technological movements from mind-expanding experiments with LSD in the 1960s, his early days as one of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, his founding of self-sufficiency counterculture magazine The Whole Earth Catalog, his evolution toward computers and technology as a means to improve civilization and the planet, and eventually founding long-term thinking cultural institution the Long Now Foundation and its "Revive & Restore" branch, which seeks to aid in the reversal of global warming by bringing animals such as the passenger pigeon and woolly mammoth back from extinction.[15][16] The film is scored by musician and producer Brian Eno, who also serves as a Long Now board member.[17][18] We Are As Gods was scheduled to premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the disappointment of the 2020 SXSW Film Festival cancelation, and ultimately the indefinite postponement of the We Are As Gods premiere, Sussberg wrote a guest column for Variety titled "SXSW Was Canceled the Day We Finished Our Film — Now What?"[19] Sussberg recounts the day the festival cancellation was announced, which happened to be the same day he was sitting at Skywalker Ranch putting the final touches on the film's sound mix. Sussberg expressed respect for the decision to err on the side of safety, yet lamented what was supposed to be the send off of a three-year film journey, "The City of Austin and SXSW did the right thing, but it does highlight the crude reality of opportunities and resources when you are an independent filmmaker." We Are As Gods made its premiere at the 2021 SXSW Online Film Festival on March 17, 2021.[20]
Filmography[edit]
As director and producer:
- The Immortalists (2014; documentary), biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey seeks to cure aging[21]
- Bill Nye: Science Guy (2017; documentary), about science communicator Bill Nye
- Coded (2017; TV Series documentary) - How AI Could Revolutionize Coffee (2017) - The Lawyer Who Defends Anonymous (2017) - These Guys Can Hack Your Car (2017) - Hacker Wins Election as Pirate Party Leader (2017) - Arrested Hacker: Hero or Villain (2017) - Zone 9 (2017) - Heather Dewey-Hagborg- Erasing Your DNA (2017) - Charlie Shrem - Disrupting Money (2017) - Nico Sell - Hacking the Future (2017) - OCCRP - The People's NSA(2017) - Lavabit - The Unhackable Email Service (2017)
- We Are As Gods (2021; documentary), about futurist and Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand[22]
As producer:
- Love-Love (2006; short)
- Marty (2018; short)
- Blood Sugar Rising, PBS (2020; documentary)[23]
- Freeland (2020; documentary)[24]
As cinematographer
- Jason Mecier Does Amy Sedaris (2011; documentary short) about comedian Amy Sedaris
- Son of Macista (2011; documentary short)
References[edit]
- ↑ "About". Structure Films. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rapold, Nicolas (2014-11-27). "From Here (or There) to Eternity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ Webster, Andy (2017-10-26). "Review: 'Bill Nye: Science Guy,' a Portrait of a Fighter for Facts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "The Backward-Looking Futurism of Stewart Brand". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jordan, Sean. "'Bill Nye: Science Guy' comes to Nevada City Film Festival". www.theunion.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "The Top 25 American Film Schools". The Hollywood Reporter. 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "Jason Sussberg | Department of Art & Art History". art.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "Jason Sussberg". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "Review: 'The Immortalists' a vigorous look at quest to reverse aging". Los Angeles Times. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ Natividad, Ivan. "From Grass Valley to big screen at SXSW". www.theunion.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ Blakemore, Erin. "Bill Nye takes on creationists and science deniers". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "Bill Nye Kickstarter documentary breaks funding record". EW.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "'Bill Nye: Science Guy' documentary film will premiere at SXSW — project set Kickstarter record". GeekWire. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ Allen, Nick. "SXSW 2017: "Bill Nye: Science Guy," "Spettacolo," "Walk with Me"". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "SXSW 2021 Interview: David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg on Searching for New Frontiers with a True Pioneer in "We Are as Gods"". The Moveable Fest. 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "Stewart Brand: Reviving Extinct Species - The Long Now". longnow.org. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ "Brian Eno: The Long Now - The Long Now". longnow.org. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ Kreps, Daniel (2020-09-17). "Brian Eno Collects Soundtrack Work for New Comp 'Film Music 1976-2020'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
- ↑ Sussberg, Jason; Alvarado, David (2020-03-08). "SXSW Was Canceled the Day We Finished Our Film — Now What? (Guest Column)". Variety. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "We Are As Gods". online.sxsw.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ Rapold, Nicolas (2014-11-27). "From Here (or There) to Eternity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- ↑ "The Backward-Looking Futurism of Stewart Brand". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- ↑ Blood Sugar Rising | PBS, retrieved 2021-04-06
- ↑ Harvey, Dennis (2020-07-15). "'Freeland': Film Review". Variety. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
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