Pare Lorentz (December 11, 1905 – March 4, 1992) was an American filmmaker known for his movies about the New Deal. Born Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz in Clarksburg, West Virginia, he was educated at West Virginia Wesleyan College and West Virginia University. As a young film critic in New York and Hollywood, Lorentz spoke out against censorship in the film industry.As the most influential documentary filmmaker of the Great Depression, Lorentz was the leading US advocate for government-sponsored documentary films. His service as a filmmaker for US Army Air Corps in World War II was formidable, including technical films, documentation of bombing raids, and synthesizing raw footage of Nazi atrocities for an educational film on the Nuremberg Trials. Nonetheless, Lorentz will always be known best as "FDR's filmmaker."
Noted documentary film maker, former journalist and film critic. Became head of the U.S. Film Service in 1938. From 1940, worked at RKO as director of production, as well as making motivational films for the armed services. Between 1945 and 1947, acted as Chief of Motion Pictures, Music and Theatre in occupied Germany.
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Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 688-692. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Nuremberg: The 60th Anniversary Director's Cut
2007
Documentary
The Land
1942
Documentary collaborating writer - uncredited
The Fight for Life
1940
screenplay
The City
1939/I
Documentary short outline
The River
1938
Documentary short written by
The Plow That Broke the Plains
1936
Documentary short
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Nuremberg: The 60th Anniversary Director's Cut
2007
Documentary original material
The Rural Co-op
1947
Documentary short
The Fight for Life
1940
The River
1938
Documentary short
The Plow That Broke the Plains
1936
Documentary short
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Nürnberg und seine Lehre
1948
Documentary producer - uncredited
The Fight for Life
1940
producer
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Nuremberg: The 60th Anniversary Director's Cut
2007
Documentary director: archive footage
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Critic at Large
1948
TV Series
Himself - Film Director
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1985
Career Achievement Award
International Documentary Association
1938
Plate
Venice Film Festival
Best Documentary
The River (1938)
Known for movies
The River (1938) as Writer
The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) as Writer
The Fight for Life (1940) as Writer
Nuremberg: The 60th Anniversary Director's Cut (2007) as Writer
$500,000
