Mark J. Harris, Multi-Oscar-Winning Documentary Filmmaker-Episode #324

Storybeat with Steve Cuden

Mark Jonathan Harris is a three-time Oscar-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, as well as an award-winning author of 10 books, a distinguished professor of film of four decades, and an acclaimed journalist. His newest book, Misfits, is a collection of wonderfully character-driven short stories.

I’ve read Misfits and can tell you the book comprises 12 dynamic stories about offbeat characters grappling with personal encounters as they try to live their disconnected lives. I highly recommend this insightful set of stories to you.

Mark started his professional career covering crime for the famed City News Bureau of Chicago. He also reported national news for the Associated Press before making TV documentaries.

For several years Mark was a contributing editor to New West magazine. He also wrote articles, essays, and reviews for national newspapers and magazines including: TV Guide, American Heritage, the New York Times, the L.A. Times and the Washington Post. He’s also published five award-winning novels for children.

Mark’s early films document some of the most important political issues of the 1960s. Huelga! is a portrait of Cesar Chavez’s United Farmworkers Union and the first year of the union’s historic Delano grape strike. The Redwoods, which won an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, presents the Sierra Club’s successful case for establishing a Redwoods National Park. And The Foreigners explores the work of a group of Peace Corps volunteers confronting the contradictions of U.S. foreign policy as they try to bring social change in Colombia.

Two films Mark wrote and directed that explore the Holocaust won Oscars for Best Feature Documentary. The Long Way Home documents what happened to the survivors of the concentration camps immediately following their liberation. And Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport chronicles Britain’s rescue mission of 10,000 children shortly before World War II. The U.S. Library of Congress selected Into the Arms of Strangers for permanent preservation in the National Film Registry.

Among Mark’s other notable nominated and award-winning films are: Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives; Darfur Now; Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine; and Foster. He was also a consulting producer for the 5-part, Peabody Award-winning series Asian Americans.

For 40 years, Mark taught filmmaking at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. He also taught for 7 years at the School of Film/Video at Cal Arts. In 2010, the International Documentary Association honored him with its Scholarship and Preservation Award for his educational work.