Josh Hanig(1951-1998)

Josh Hanig produced and directed films and television for more than a dozen years. His first film, Men's Lives, (with Will Roberts) was a look at the traditional role of American men. The film won a student Academy Award and went on to wide distribution, winning prizes at several international film festivals. Song of the Canary (with David Davis) a hard-hitting expose about toxic hazards in the environment, was nominated for a national Emmy and won the Best Documentary prizes at the Chicago, Mannheim and Athens Film Festivals. Coming of Age, about inner city youth in Los Angeles, had its premiere at the New York Film Festival, and won Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He was one of the first producers to open the door to the Soviet Union--traveling to that country just before Gorbachov's Glasnost for a series on Soviet life. He also produced and directed Generation at Risk, a PBS Outreach Special on contemporary teenagers narrated by Sam Waterston; Storytellers, narrated by Glenn Close, a celebration of American writing, starring Kurt Vonnegut, Woody Allen, Alice Walker, Eudora Welty, and other major American writers; and The Common Enemy, a film hosted by Bill Cosby about the joint efforts of Russian and American scientists in the battle against cancer. He wrote and directed for A&E's Ancient Mysteries series and completed a special on the early pioneers of television for The History Channel. Josh also directed music videos with people such as Bobby McFerrin, and directed for the theatre, including productions of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke and Horton Foote's Land of the Astronauts. He also taught at the University of Southern California. Josh grew up in Texas and Indiana, and graduated from Antioch College.