Academy Award-Winning Director
Robert Jonathan Demme was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an Academy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award winner, and received nominations for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Independent Spirit Awards.
Jonathan Demme engaged in numerous political projects throughout his career. He directed advocacy commercials celebrating Freedom of Expression for People for the American Way in 1981 and a video for Artists United Against Apartheid in 1985, urging a boycott of South Africa’s Sun City resort. His documentaries include Haiti Dreams of Democracy (1988) on Haiti’s democratic rebuilding, The Agronomist (2008) profiling Haitian journalist Jean Dominique, and I’m Carolyn Parker (2011) documenting post-Hurricane Katrina recovery in New Orleans.