Biography
Sig Libowitz is an award-winning producer, writer, actor, attorney and former studio and production executive. Sig wrote and produced The Response (2008), a courtroom drama based on the actual transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals which was shortlisted for an Academy Award (Best Live Action Short).
The film, a non-partisan look inside the tribunal process, revolves around the case of a suspected enemy combatant and the three military officers who must decide his fate. The Response (2008) won the ABA Silver Gavel Award as "Best of the Year" in Drama & Literature (past winners include To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and 12 Angry Men (1957)); the Audience Award at the Politics & Film Festival (Washington, DC) and acceptance to seven (7) Academy Award qualifying film festivals. The film screened at the Pentagon, West Point, the U.S. Congress, Harvard, Oxford, the Department of Justice and the French Embassy, among others. Following the Pentagon screening, Sig was invited to travel to Guantanamo to serve as a legal observer to the ongoing military commissions.
Most recently, Sig produced At Middleton (2013), a romantic comedy starring Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga. The film won several festival awards, was released theatrically, and debuted in the top 10 (Art House) On Demand releases.
Previously, Sig served as the Executive-in-Charge of Production for In the Bedroom (2001) (starring Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marisa Tomei), which was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Additionally, he served as the Vice-President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions at Paramount Classics (L.A.), Director of Production at Film Four (then based at Warner Brothers in L.A.), and Production Executive at Good Machine (now Focus Features).
On the other side of the camera, Sig's acting credits include recurring roles on both The Sopranos (1999) and Law & Order (1990), and a featured role in The Believer (2001) (opposite Ryan Gosling), which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature. As a writer, in addition to The Response (2008), Sig has written or co-written several optioned screenplays, treatments and plays.
Since 2009, Sig has lectured and served on panels across the United States and England to discuss Guantanamo, U.S. detention policies post 9/11, the "War on Terror" and how film and theater can transform and add unique perspectives on political & social issues. Sig has guest lectured at Oxford, Harvard, William & Mary, the University of London, George Washington University, Fordham, Columbia and the US Army JAG School, among others.
Sig's legal practice covers Entertainment, Copyright, White Collar, Congressional and internal investigations, National Security and FCPA compliance. An honors graduate of both New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Maryland School of Law, Sig was awarded the 2010 Benjamin Civiletti DC Pro Bono of the Year award for his work in helping to win the release of a man who had been wrongly convicted and served nearly 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
