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Mitchell Block was an executive producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary "Big Mama" (2001), directed by Tracy Seretean and executive produced by Sheila Nevins (HBO). He was a producer of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Poster Girl" (HBO) (2005) an executive producer of "Women of the Gulag" and producer of "The Testimony" both short listed for an Academy Award in 2018 and 2016. Block co-directed "Justice Denied" a feature documentary.
Mitchell Block handled the distribution and marketing of hundreds of documentary, live action, and animated shorts films and documentary features, of which twenty-five won Oscars and seventy-one received Academy Award nominations. He was president of Direct Cinema Limited in Santa Monica, California. Block also consulted on documentaries and fiction works. He worked with filmmakers globally on funding, writing/editing, producing, festival selection/marketing, distribution and placing works on public, cable and other television/streaming outlets. He also worked with numerous Internet start-ups.
Block produced "The Testimony", directed by Vanessa Block and produced by Steve Tisch. "The Testimony" was short listed for a short film Academy Award nomination in 2016. The film aired on Netflix.
"Poster Girl", produced by Block and directed by Sara Nesson, was nominated for an Academy Award (Documentary Short Film) in 2011. It premiered at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival and in Europe at the IDFA Film Festival. "Poster Girl" is the story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high school cheerleader turned "poster girl" for women in combat, marked by Army Magazine's cover shot. This film was selected by the International Documentary Association as the "Best" Documentary Short of 2011.
Block produced "Vessel" directed by Diana Whitten which is a portrait of Rebecca Gomperts, MD who created Women on Waves. Armed with a mobile clinic on a boat, abortion medication, and a creative interpretation of international law, her organization works to bring hope to countries where abortion is illegal. This film won Jury and Audience Awards South by Southwest, Hot Docs - Audience Award and the Sheffield Film Festival - The First Peter Wintonick Award.
He was an executive producer of "Stealing America: Vote by Vote," a documentary feature which documents how millions of votes have not been counted. This new film opened in NY and Los Angeles in July and August 2008.
Block conceived, co-created, and was an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning 10-hour documentary series "Carrier" and a producer of the companion documentary feature "Another Day in Paradise." He was president of The Carrier Project. Mel Gibson's Icon Productions financed the films which aired on PBS in 2008.
He was a consultant on short and feature nonfiction projects for HBO/Cinemax from 1998 to 2006 reporting to Sheila Nevins. He served as a consultant on short films and documentaries worldwide.
Block's "Guide to Documentary Film Distribution", published by International Documentary, is the classic resource in the field. He taught independent film producing at USC's School of Cinematic Arts on an adjunct basis since 1979. He was an executive-producer (with Sheila Nevins) of HBO's 2000 Oscar-winning film "Big Mama."
"..No Lies" produced, written and directed by Block, was selected in 2008 by the Librarian of Congress for the National Register of Historical Films. "Indiewire" critics selected it as "One of the 8 Best Short Films Ever Made" in 2016. Over the last 20 years 500 films have been selected. The other films so far selected from 1973 are "American Graffiti," "Badlands," "Enter the Dragon," "Frank Film," "Mean Streets" "The Exorcist" and "The Sting." "No Lies" won a national Emmy in 1975 for "Best Community Service Show" under the title "It Happens to You." (WGBH-TV)
Block was appointed to fill the first Jon Anderson Chair, Professor of Documentary Studies and Production at the School of Journalism and Communications at the University of Oregon in Eugene in 2020 and directs the documentary film production program. He taught independent film producing at USC's School of Cinematic Arts on an adjunct basis from 1979 to 2017. Block's Guide to Documentary Film Distribution published by International Documentary is the classic resource in the field. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-LA, and a life member of the UFVA and the IDA.
