Introduction
Roger Weisberg is an American award-winning writer, producer, and director of television series and documentaries known for Why Can't We Be a Family Again?(2002) and Sound and Fury (2000). In his films, Weisberg often deals critically with socio-political topics such as substance abuse and addiction, and child abuse and pregnancy of minors. In total, he has been awarded over 150 times.
In 1976, Weisberg began working as a staff producer for WNET (channel 13), a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, serving the New York City area. In 1982, he founded an independent production company, Public Policy Productions, based in Palisades, New York. Since then, he has written, produced, and directed 33 documentaries on a broad range of social, political, and health policy issues. These documentaries aired in primetime on PBS in the U.S. and many were released theatrically and broadcast around the world.
Weisberg's documentaries have won over 150 awards including Peabody, Emmy, and duPont-Columbia awards. Many of his documentaries were hosted by prominent actors including Meryl Streep, Helen Hayes, and James Earl Jones, as well as journalists including Marvin Kalb and Walter Cronkite.
In 2001, he received an Academy Award nomination for Sound and Fury and in 2003 for Why Can't We Be Family Again?
Filmography (selected)
TV series and movies
- P.O.V. (2 episodes - 2006 and 2008)
- The Main Stream (2002)
- A Brooklyn Family Tale (2002)
Documentaries
- Who Lives, Who Dies (1988)
- What's Ailing Medicine (1993)
- Sex and Other Matters of Life and Death (1997)
- Ending Welfare as We Know It (1998)
- Aging Out (2004)
- With No Direction Home (2004)
- Critical Condition (2008)
- Money and Medicine (2012)
- Dream On (2015)
- Broken Places (2018)
Nominations and awards (selected)
Won
- 1993 for Road Scholar (1993): Seattle International Film Festival – Golden Space Needle Award, Category: Best Documentary
- 1993 for Road Scholar (1993): CINE Competition – CINE Golden Eagle, Category: Documentary
- 2002 for Why Can't We Be a Family Again? (2002): Atlanta Film Festival – Jury Award, Category: Best Documentary Short
- 2003 for Why Can't We Be a Family Again? (2002): Palm Springs International ShortFest – 2. Platz, Jury Award, Category: Best Documentary
- 2005 for Waging a Living (2002): New Jersey International Festival – Grand Prize, Category: Best Documentary Film/Video
- 2010 for No Tomorrow (2010): Hamptons International Film Festival – Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice
- 2015 for Dream On (2015): Philadelphia International Film Festival - Silver Award
Nominated
- 1993 for Road Scholar (1993): Sundance Film Festival – Grand Jury Prize, Category - Documentary
- 2001 for Sound and Fury (2000): Academy Award – Best Documentary, Features
- 2003 for Why Can't We Be a Family Again? (2002): Academy Award – Best Documentary, Short Subjects
- 2006 for Rosevelt's America (2005), with Tod Lending: Black Reel Award – Best Independent Mini Documentary