Career Highlights

• His film Why We Fight won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
• Attended Princeton and New York University
• Began his career directing stage plays
• Founder and executive director of The Eisenhower Project
• His documentary The Trials of Henry Kissinger has been broadcast in over 30 countries

Eugene Jarecki, award-winning dramatic and documentary filmmaker, attended Princeton University to study English with a focus on stage directing and political drama. He also attended New York University. Jarecki began his career directing stage plays while still at Princeton, his first being Season Of The Lifterbees which premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and won a Student Academy Award and the Time Warner Grand Prize at the Aspen Film Festival.

Jarecki moved on to directing films and even authored a book titled The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril. His films include Quest of the Carib Canoe, The Opponent, The Trials of Henry Kissinger and Why We Fight. Jarecki is the founder and executive director of The Eisenhower Project. The Eisenhower Project is an academic public policy group; it was created in the spirit of Dwight D. Eisenhower and is dedicated to studying the influences that shape American foreign policy.

Jarecki’s 2005 film Why We Fight was first screened at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize. The film is a documentary inspired by Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell speech. It examines the military-industrial complex and looks at America’s motivations and forces behind the wars we wage.

Our Interview

Eugene Jarecki came to the ThinkTalk studios to talk to Zack Sherwood about his filmmaking career. He talks about the challenges of making controversial documentaries and answers questions about the source of his inspiration.