Daniel Raim - Filmmaker Bio

STATEMENT

My documentaries depict the art, craft, and soul of cinema through the eyes of artists who work behind the scenes. I aim to deepen and widen everyone’s love of cinema, creativity, and storytelling yet also pass the torch to rising generations of filmmakers. By treating my subjects as fully rounded characters and addressing my interview subjects as complex human beings, I hope to celebrate the filmmaker’s struggle to create lasting art while living a full and engaged life.  

–Daniel Raim

CAREER SUMMARY

• Graduated from the AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE in 1999.
• Nominated for an Academy Award in 2001 for THE MAN ON LINCOLN'S NOSE.
• Directed four feature documentaries and numerous mini-docs for the Criterion Collection  (three documentaries received theatrical release in the US, Spain, Japan, and other countries)
• Directed SOMETHING'S GONNA LIVE (2009), a feature-length cinéma vérité documentary portrait of behind-the-scenes masters (co-shot by Haskell Wexler, ASC).   
• Cannes Film Festival World Premiere of HAROLD AND LILLIAN: A HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY (2015). Now being adapted into a stage musical by the Tony-nominated director of RENT, GREY GARDENS, and DEAR EVAN HANSON.
• Dedicated to education and teaching visual literacy and documentary filmmaking to future storytellers and visual artists around the world.
• Embarked on an educational tour through India, in 2016, screening his movies for students and lecturing on and the art and craft of documentary filmmaking. 
• Partnered in 2019 with Turner Classic Movies, the ASC, and the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library to create the feature doc IMAGE MAKERS: THE ADVENTURES OF AMERICA'S PIONEER CINEMATOGRAPHERS.
• Opening FIDDLER'S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN in theaters in 2022.
• In production, a new documentary feature about Yasujiro Ozu, to be released in 2023, celebrating the 120th anniversary of the master's life and art.

BIOGRAPHY

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim is known for his award-winning documentaries about overlooked artists of Hollywood's Golden Age.

His debut film, The Man on Lincoln's Nose, an intimate profile of Hitchcock production designer Robert F. Boyle, was nominated for the 2001 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.

His second film, Something's Gonna Live (2009), premiered at AFI FEST world premiere and was released on Netflix in 2012. It received rave reviews, including a Los Angeles Times Critics' Pick from Kenneth Turan.

His third film, Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, premiered as an Official Selection of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for The Golden Eye (L’Œil d' or, le prix du documentaire – Cannes). Zeitgeist Films released the film in 2017 and it screened in 68 US cities and 12 countries, followed by the television premiere on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Harold and Lillian is a 2019 Cinema Eye Honors nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation and is currently streaming on Netflix in all English language territories.

Daniel is currently creating original documentaries for the Criterion Collection, the Criterion Channel, and Turner Classic Movies. His In Search of Ozu premiered on the Criterion Channel on April 16th, 2018, to rave reviews. 

In addition to his theatrical films, Daniel has written, produced, and directed 28 original documentaries for the Criterion Collection about cinema masters, including John Cassavetes, Buster Keaton, Kelly Reichardt, François Truffaut, Andrei Tarkovsky, Alfred Hitchcock, and others. 

Daniel's most recent feature film: Image Makers: The Adventures of America's Pioneer Cinematographers, was released by Turner Classic Movies in November 2019 and will be released theatrically along with Image Makers Part 2 (in 2021-22).

Daniel has screened his films and lectured at: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, HOT DOCS, Cannes Film Festival, DOC NYC, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, AFI Conservatory: Harold Lloyd Master Seminar, Walt Disney Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, ILM, DreamWorks Animation SKG, Sony Animation Studios, and Canadian Film Center/TIFF Bell Lightbox, among others. 

Daniel has a passion for education, and in 2016 he embarked on an academic tour through India, where he screened his films and lectured on and the art and craft of documentary filmmaking. 

In 2017, Daniel partnered with Desktop-Documentaries.com and created an online course entitled: Documentary Storytelling and Scriptwriting.