American Studies 2005

35th Annual American Studies Seminar:
Arts in America

Joel Katz

Joel Katz, Producer/Director/Editor, is a an independent film and video maker whose works include Corporation with a Movie Camera (1992, PBS broadcast), Dear Carry (1997, premiere at Museum of Modern Art), and Strange Fruit (2002, ITVS-funded program aired on national PBS television on Independent Lens; theatrical release and wide national and international distribution). Each of these works use small, story based micro-histories to tell larger stories about American politics and culture. Katz has been awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Independent Television Service, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, and numerous other agencies. He is an Assistant Professor in the Media Arts Department of New Jersey City University, and serves on the Board of Directors of Third World Newsreel.

Strange Fruit
Featured in Independent Lens, a PBS series on documentary films and film-makers. Strange Fruit explores the history and legacy of a song unique in the annals of American music. Best-known from Billie Holiday's haunting 1939 rendition, the song Strange Fruit is a harrowing portrayal of the lynching of a black man in the American South. The film tells a dramatic story of America's past by using one of the most influential protest songs ever written as its epicenter."

Background:

٠ From The Sneeze to 9/11 and Beyond: A Brief History of American Documentary. A paper by Joel Katz for The Conference on the Arts in America. Berlin, Germany, May 2005.

٠ Clip Playlist for Joel Katz’s talk on the History of American Documentary.