David Schisgall
David Schisgall | |
|---|---|
| Born | U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Director, Writer, Producer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
David Schisgall is an American documentary filmmaker and writer based in Brooklyn, New York.[1][2][3] His most recent project is the 2025 Peacock docuseries Anatomy of Lies.[4]
Career
Earlier in his career Schisgall was an associate of Errol Morris, working on A Brief History of Time, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, Mr. Death, and other projects.[5] His directorial debut, The Lifestyle (1999), explored suburban swinging culture.[5] During the 2000s, he served as a conflict reporter for MTV, covering the Second Intifada in Israel/Palestine, the war in Iraq, and the civil war in Colombia for True Life and other programs, reaching millions of young viewers with insights into America’s conflicts abroad.[6] In 2004, he received the Edward R. Murrow Award for his film about Iraq. Following this, he produced Operation Filmmaker (2007), focusing on collaboration during wartime Iraq.[7]
In 2007, Schisgall directed and produced Very Young Girls, a documentary about the commercial sexual exploitation of young women in New York City.[8] Activists in the space called it "the film which launched a movement." He also developed episodes of This American Life for television in 2007–2008.[9] He co-wrote the screenplay for Our Idiot Brother (2011), a comedy directed by Jesse Peretz.[10] Another project, Theo Who Lived (2016), documented journalist Theo Padnos’s captivity by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria.[11] In 2020, Schisgall directed and produced The Oil War, which explored America’s military involvement in the Middle East based on the works of Col. Andrew Bacevich.[12]
Schisgall has served as an Adjunct Faculty member at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.[13]
Personal life
Schisgall is married to Evgenia Peretz, a writer for Vanity Fair.[14]
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Contribution | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Anatomy of Lies | Director and executive producer | Documentary series |
| 2020 | The Oil War | Director and producer | Documentary |
| 2016 | Theo Who Lived | Director and writer | Documentary |
| 2011 | Our Idiot Brother | Writer | Feature film |
| 2010 | Five Weddings and a Felony | Producer | Documentary |
| 2007 | Very Young Girls | Director and producer | Documentary |
| 2007 | Operation Filmmaker | Producer | Documentary |
| 2003-2004 | True Life | Director and Producer | Documentary series |
| 1999 | The Lifestyle | Director | Documentary |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Work | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Nominated | Warsaw Film Festival | Best Documentary | Very Young Girls | [15] |
| 2005 | Won | Edward R. Murrow Award | Best News Documentary | True Life: I'm Living in Iraq | [16] |
References
- ^ "Swinging Verite, David Schisgall Enters "The Lifestyle"". indiewire.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "A NIGHT OUT WITH: David Schisgall; Sex on the Other Side of the Hill". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "David Schisgall". tfiny.org. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "What Is Anatomy of Lies, the Docuseries About Alleged Grifter Elisabeth Finch?". them.us. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ a b "The Lifestyle". variety.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "MTV NEWS: TRUE LIFE: I'M LIVING IN IRAQ". paleycenter.org. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ ""Operation Filmmaker" Director Nina Davenport". indiewire.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "Case Study: Documentarian Aims to "Change the Narrative" of Teenage Prostitution". theclick.news. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "This American Life". metacritic.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "Movie Review: Our Idiot Brother, a Comedy of Uplift". vulture.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "'Theo Who Lived': Film Review". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "The Oil War". docnyc.net. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ "Teaching Professionals". journalism.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "Evgenia Peretz's Family Business". interviewmagazine.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "24th Warsaw Film Festival – New Films, New Venues, New Ideas". filmneweurope.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
- ^ "Artists In Residence". mewshop.com. Retrieved 2025-03-10.