Line #6 Creator/AlexGibney


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alexgibney_atlantic.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:299: When there's muck to be raked, this is the man you want.]]
3	->''"I think of my films as not necessarily political but more moral. Between my father, my stepfather, and my mother - they all felt pretty passionately about the importance of standing up and doing the right thing, and none of them were suck-ups. What motivates me is usually abuse of power."''
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5	Philip Alexander "Alex" Gibney (born October 23, 1953) is a documentary filmmaker and producer. His production company, Jigsaw Productions, is based out of New York City. While arguably not as recognized a name as Creator/MichaelMoore or Errol Morris, Gibney has had increasing success since 2005 creating many highly-acclaimed documentaries on a variety of subjects.
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7	His first film to receive wide-spread public exposure was ''Film/EnronTheSmartestGuysInTheRoom'', which chronicled the rise and fall of the Houston, TX commodities broker Enron and of its corrupt chief executives, Jeffery Skilling and Kenneth Lay. The film, based on the book of the same name [[http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2006/apr/28/3 written by Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind]], was nominated for an Oscar. [[note]] It ultimately lost to ''Film/MarchOfThePenguins''. [[/note]]
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9	Some of his other note-worthy films and TV series include:
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11	* ''The Pacific Century'' (1992), a {{Creator/PBS}}-commissioned ten-part documentary series. [[ParentChildTeam Co-written with his father]], journalist Frank Gibney (who was a veteran of [[WorldWarII/WarInAsiaAndThePacific the Pacific Theatre of World War II]]), the series delves into the long history of East and Southeast Asia (with particular focus given to {{UsefulNotes/China}}, {{UsefulNotes/Taiwan}}, {{UsefulNotes/Japan}}, UsefulNotes/SouthKorea, {{UsefulNotes/Philippines}} and {{UsefulNotes/Singapore}})--focusing on how their experiences during the Pacific War and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (not to mention the big role American interventionism played in those) have driven their then-contemporary economic, business and political upheavals. While definitely useful in terms of historicizing the previous century (and documenting the conflicts of Asian nations in the 1990s), much of its predictions have since become DatedHistory. The whole series is made available for free online [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw4XQ9zXMtseA4JsFWq2n7PW5Kz_izLxJ here]].
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13	* ''Taxi To The Dark Side'' (2007), concerning the torture and murder of an Afghan taxi driver by American soldiers while being held in detention at the Parwan Detention Facility in Afghanistan. It also focuses on America's increasing use of torture in its post-9/11 policies. It went on to win both a Peabody Award and the Best Documentary Oscar, and received even more mainstream exposure when it was broadcast by HBO in 2008. It currently holds a 100% rating on Website/RottenTomatoes.
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15	* ''Casino Jack And The United States Of Money'' (2010) a documentary on super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion in 2006 (12 others who associated with Abramoff, including a member of the House Of Representatives, were also fined or jailed) who eventually would be paroled for good behavior at the end of the year (he does not participate directly in the film). It also uses Abramoff's story to highlight the larger role lobbyists have taken in American politics in the past few decades.
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17	* ''Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer'' (2010) details the story of the former New York governor, who ultimately resigned the position in the fallout of a sex scandal, after only spending less than 15 months in office. The film was based on a book written by ''The Smartest Guys In The Room'' co-author Peter Elkind. The film also theorizes that the scandal, considering the timing, was less about upholding moral fortitude than it was an act of political sabotage of Spitzer's progressive policies, and to derail what many believed would be a future presidential bid.
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19	* ''Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God'' (2012) concerns the culture of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, centering on the story of four deaf men abused as boys when attending a Catholic school in Milwaukee in the 1960's. The story also details the Church's tendency to relocate or ignore problem priests rather than to excommunicate them, and of the varying tactics the church have used to cover-up multiple cases of abuse that have been discovered throughout the world, of which some have included even high-ranking priests and bishops within the Vatican itself. It was nominated for six Emmy awards, winning three.
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21	* ''[[Literature/GoingClear Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief]]'' (2015) based on the 2013 book by Lawrence Wright (also known for his Pulitzer Prize winner ''The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11'' (now a [[Series/TheLoomingTower series]] on Creator/{{Hulu}}), chronicles the life of author Creator/LRonHubbard and his founding of the Main/ChurchOfHappyology. It includes interviews with several prominent former members. It also uses rare footage of Main/ChurchOfHappyology events (including a music video), news clippings, documents from his naval service, and diary entries from Hubbard's ex-wife to document his transformation from sci-fi author to religious figurehead. It also covers the tactics the Church used to reach tax-exempt status and how it disciplines problem members. It won the 2015 Emmy Award for Best Documentary. [[note]] beating another note-worthy HBO documentary, Film/TheJinx. [[/note]]
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23	* ''Series/DirtyMoney'' (2018-), a Creator/{{Netflix}} series focusing on greed, corruption, fraud, crime, and abuse of power within the global economy. Gibney is the series' executive producer and directed its first episode, which details Volkswagen's emissions fraud. Other episodes focus on UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's business history; payday lending; price-gouging by pharmaceutical companies; money-laundering by American banks for Mexican drug cartels; and a $18 million maple syrup heist (yes, seriously).
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25	* ''Film/TotallyUnderControl'' (2020) covers the Trump administration's response to and handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in America.
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27	!!Common tropes found in the films of Alex Gibney:
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Context Creator / AlexGibney