Mark Achbar

Categories

transgendered

Social Justice

Media/Media Advocacy

Film

Documentary

Cultural Commentary

Corporate Social Responsibility

corporate responsibility

Corporate Personhood

Corporate Accountability

Consumer Advocacy

Bus. Social Responsibility

Burning Man

Bioethics

Alternative Economics

Activism

Whether following Noam Chomsky around the world, chronicling a sex change, or interviewing Fortune 500 CEOs, for three decades Mark Achbar's filmmaking passion has been with the players and the politics in the struggle for human rights and social change. His penchant for quirky visuals and intelligent humour combine to make complex ideas compelling and entertaining. Achbar is one of a new wave of non-fiction feature filmmakers reaching large international audiences through mainstream theatres, TV, DVD, and the internet.

A graduate of Syracuse University's Fine Arts Film Program, Achbar interned in Hollywood on the kid’s show Bill Daily's Hocus Pocus Gang, followed by a three year stint in Toronto with Sunrise Films on their documentary series Spread Your Wings and the CBC/Disney series Danger Bay. He then teamed up with director Robert Boyd, and received a Gemini (Canada’s Emmy) nomination for Best Writer on The Canadian Conspiracy, a cultural/political satire for CBC and HBO's Comedy Experiments which chronicled Canada’s secret takeover of the USA. It won a Gemini for Best Entertainment Special and was nominated for an International Emmy.

Achbar went on to diversify in independent media, working in many capacities on films, videos and books on issues ranging from nuclear lunacy, poverty, and East Timor, to the media, U.S. hegemony and corporate power.

With Peter Wintonick, Achbar co-directed and co-produced MANUFACTURING CONSENT: Noam Chomsky and the Media, which was, until 2004, Canada's all-time, top-grossing feature documentary and winner of 22 awards. Achbar’s companion book to the film hit the national best-seller list in Canada.

Achbar collaborated with editor Jennifer Abbott to create Two Brides and a Scalpel: Diary of a Lesbian Marriage, a low-budget video diary by the couple known as Canada's first legally married lesbians. This true story of “boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy becomes girl” received rave reviews and festival invitations from around the globe and was broadcast in Canada on Pridevision and the Knowledge Network.

In 1997, Achbar initiated a project titled The Corporation with author and law professor Bakan. Bakan wrote the film and book, while Achbar directed, produced and executive-produced the film. Jennifer Abbott joined the team as editor and co-director in 2000. The Corporation superceded Manufacturing Consent's success. It won 25 awards, 10 of them audience awards (including Sundance), was released theatrically in 20 countries, grossed over six million dollars at the box office, and sold over 150,000 DVDs. It is used in thousands of high school and university courses.

Over half a million internet downloads of The Corporation inspired Achbar to adapt a popular method of software distribution to independent film by encouraging downloading of a filmmaker’s “shareware” version of The Corporation and providing a way to support the filmmakers through an online honor payment system at www.thecorporation.com.

For booking availability and press inquiries:
Please contact Mark Achbar's speaker agents at the Evil Twin Booking Agency.

email: Liz Cole and Scott Beibin [ info (at) eviltwinbooking (dot) com ]
+1.215.473.0308 | eviltwinbooking.com

Mark Achbar Speakers Bureau