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Ira Sachs

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Ira Sachs
Sachs at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival
Born (1965-11-21) November 21, 1965 (age 59)
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
OccupationFilmmaker
Known forFull list
Spouse
Boris Torres
​
(m. 2012)​
Children2

Ira Sachs (born November 21, 1965) is an American filmmaker. Sachs started his career directing short films such as Vaudeville (1991) and Lady (1993) before making his feature film debut with The Delta (1997). Sachs later won acclaim for his dramatic independent films Forty Shades of Blue (2005), Keep the Lights On (2012), Love Is Strange (2014), Little Men (2016), and Passages (2023).

Early life

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Sachs was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His father grew up in Park City, Utah. Sachs frequently attended the Sundance Film Festival when it was titled, The U.S. Film Festival in the 1980s. In 1986 he spent a few months in Paris as a student. Sachs attended Yale University and graduated in 1988 with a degree in literature, with a focus in film studies and film theory.[1] Sachs said he applied to film school at University of Southern California, UCLA and NYU who all rejected him. He moved to New York City in 1988.[2]

Sachs stated, "The first thing I did in 1989 when I came to New York was worked as an assistant on a film called Longtime Companion by the director Norman René, which was about a group of New Yorkers who were confronted with, and confronting, living and dying through the AIDS crisis and it was a very seminal experience, I met a lot of filmmakers who were in the art department or assistants on that film. Kelly Reichardt and I became friends through that film, she was in the art department and I was in the...actually, I quit the art department and got a job as the assistant to the director, which Kelly Reichardt never let me forget."[3]

Career

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1991–2013

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Sachs started his career writing and directing several short films including Vaudeville (1992) and Lady (1993). The short Vaudeville was shot in 16 mm and lasted 55 minutes. The story revolves around a traveling theatrical troupe, made up primarily of gay and lesbian performers, mirrors the troubles of a political and social community through its tight-knit existence.[4] With Lady the film was also shot in 16 mm and lasted 28 minutes. The film revolves around the blurred parameters of sexuality, desire, and female identity.[5]

He made his directorial film debut with the LGBTQ coming of age drama film The Delta (1997) about a young man exploring his bisexuality. Sachs spoke to his inspiration of the film saying, "I wrote the film in New York where I was living, but I grew up in Memphis. It was inspired by my memories and my thoughts and my knowledge of the city."[6] The low budget film was shot on 16 mm. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews.

His next film was released in 2005 entitled, Forty Shades of Blue. The film follows a young Russian woman living in Memphis with an aging music producer who comes to question her life when his adult son comes to visit. The film was influenced by the films of Ken Loach and Satyajit Ray. The film won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize. He followed up with the period drama film Married Life (2007) based on John Bingham's 1953 novel Five Roundabouts to Heaven. The film starred Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Pierce Brosnan, and Rachel McAdams. The film received mixed reviews. He directed the drama Keep the Lights On which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film is based on Sachs' own past relationship with Bill Clegg, a literary agent who wrote a memoir about his struggles with addiction, Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, in 2010.[7] David Rooney described the film as an "immersive portrait of contemporary New York life". The film was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards including for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

2014–present

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He returned to film with the relationship drama Love Is Strange (2014) starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei. The film screened at both the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. Mark Kermode of The Guardian praised the film writing, "Watching this quietly beguiling tale of an ageing gay couple who have been together for decades, I was reminded of the films of Yasujirô Ozu, Woody Allen and Maurice Pialat."[8]

"Sachs has in the past been the poet of middle-aged people's feelings. Now he has gone down a generation, almost into Eric Rohmer territory, into the world of younger people who have much less experience of disappointment and compromise. Or perhaps, in this world of cosmopolitan sophistication, it is Woody Allen territory or Nora Ephron territory"

In 2016 he directed the drama Little Men (2016) starring Jennifer Ehle and Greg Kinnear.[9] The film premiered at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review writing, "Though Sachs' observations do succeed in personalizing the phenomenon, the reason we go — indeed, the reason we care — is because Little Men is also a story about love, and as Sachs has poignantly noted before, love is strange."[10] Sachs received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for his work.

With 2019 drama film, Frankie Sachs cast Isabelle Huppert, Brendan Gleeson and reunited with Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei. The film revolves around an elderly French actress who is in ill health and she decides to spend her last vacation with her family. The film premiered at 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[11] In his mixed review, film critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety compared it to the works of Eric Rohmer writing, "Frankie is a film made with immaculate craftsmanship...Yet for all its naturalistic elegance and lighter-than-air precision, it's an American Rohmer film that doesn't, unfortunately, feel close to being a major Rohmer film."[12]

His next film, Passages, was shot in France and was released in 2023.[13][14] It starred Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos. It depicts a long-time male couple, one of whom has an affair with a woman. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Sachs film calling it a return to form. Bradshaw compared the film to the works of Eric Rohmer, Woody Allen and Nora Ephron and declared, "Sachs strikes gold with sophisticated love triangle".[15] The film received controversy for the Motion Picture Association giving the film an NC-17 rating. Sachs called the rating "A form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist".[16]

Favorite films

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Sachs submitted these films in the Sight & Sound poll as his favorite of all time. He wrote, "The greatest films ever made are for me the ones that have personally affected me most deeply. It is because of their impact that these very same films are the ones that have influenced me the greatest as an artist and filmmaker. These are the films that I hold on to as if each one were a member of my own family. They are the films that have made me who I am, as my father and mother have, my siblings and my cousins and my friends. I would be someone different if I had never seen any one of them. They are a part of me."[17]

Personal life

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Sachs is Jewish and gay.[18][19] He described Keep the Lights On as a semi-autobiographical film.[20] In January 2012, Sachs married artist Boris Torres in New York city, a few days before their twins were born.[21][22] Sachs and Torres co-parent the children with documentary cinematographer and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, who bore them.[23]

He appeared in the German documentary Wie ich lernte die Zahlen zu lieben / How I Learned to Love the Numbers (2014) by Oliver Sechting and Max Taubert.

In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Sachs signed an open letter published in the French newspaper Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.[24][25][26]

Filmography

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Short films

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Year Title Notes
1991 Vaudeville
1994 Lady
2000 10/26/00
2002 Untitled
2002 Get It while You Can
2009 Last Address

Feature films

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As a Director

Year Title Notes
1997 The Delta
2005 Forty Shades of Blue
2007 Married Life
2012 Keep the Lights On
2014 Love Is Strange
2016 Little Men
2019 Frankie
2023 Passages[27]
2025 Peter Hujar's Day [28]

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result
1997 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize The Delta Nominated
1997 Rotterdam International Film Festival Outstanding Emerging Talent Nominated
1997 Gotham Awards Open Palm Award Nominated
2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Forty Shades of Blue Won
2005 Deauville Film Festival Grand Special Prize Nominated
2012 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Keep the Lights On Nominated
2012 Berlin International Film Festival Teddy Award Won
2012 Chicago International Film Festival Best Feature Nominated
2012 Cahiers du cinéma Best Film 10th Place
2013 Independent Spirit Awards Best Feature Nominated
2013 Best Director Nominated
2013 Best Screenplay Nominated
2014 Cahiers du cinéma Best Film Love Is Strange 8th Place
2014 Deauville Film Festival Grand Special Prize Nominated
2014 Independent Spirit Awards Best Feature Nominated
2014 Best Screenplay Nominated
2014 Gotham Awards Best Feature Nominated
2014 Audience Awards Nominated
2014 Satellite Award Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2016 Berlin International Film Festival Best Feature Film Little Men Nominated
2016 Teddy Award Nominated
2016 Deauville Film Festival Grand Special Prize Won
2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival Audience Award Nominated
2017 Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
2019 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Frankie Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Meacham, Brian. "Treasure Talks: Ira Sachs on TAXI ZUM KLO". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Growing Up at Sundance, Being Rejected from Film School and More Highlights from Ira Sachs' Masterclass". IndieWire. 27 October 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  3. ^ "Growing Up at Sundance, Being Rejected from Film School and More Highlights from Ira Sachs' Masterclass". IndieWire. 27 October 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  4. ^ "Vaudeville. 1992. Directed by Ira Sachs". MoMa. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  5. ^ "Lady". MoMa. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  6. ^ "Six Questions For Ira Sachs, Director of 'The Delta'". IndieWire. 25 January 1997. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  7. ^ "Keep the Lights On: Sundance Film Review". September 2, 2023. 21 January 2012.
  8. ^ Kermode, Mark; Critic, Observer Film (15 February 2015). "Love is Strange review". The Guardian. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  9. ^ Ira Sachs Archived 2006-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Filmmakers Profile. Sundance Channel L.L.C.
  10. ^ "Little Men review". Variety. 26 January 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  11. ^ "Cannes festival 2019: full list of films". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  12. ^ "Film Review: Frankie". Variety. 20 May 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  13. ^ "Passages". SBS Distribution. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  14. ^ Debruge, Peter (7 December 2022). "Sundance Unveils Female-Dominated 2022 Feature Lineup, Including Films From Nicole Holofcener, Sophie Barthes and Jane Campion's Daughter". Variety. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  15. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (30 August 2023). "Passages review – Ira Sachs strikes gold with sophisticated love triangle". The Guardian. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  16. ^ Olsen, Mark (19 July 2023). "Sundance sensation 'Passages' gets an NC-17 rating. Its director calls that 'censorship'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Ira Sachs film director". BFI. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  18. ^ "Ira Sachs Interview". Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
  19. ^ Elizabeth Thompson (2014-01-07). "Ira Sachs on Queer Art". Papermag.com. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  20. ^ "Out of the Dark". 6 September 2012. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  21. ^ "With 'Love Is Strange,' Ira Sachs Made The Year's Best Love Story". 21 August 2014. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  22. ^ "Will Gay Drama 'Love Is Strange' Shatter Hollywood's Glass Ceiling?". 13 August 2014. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  23. ^ Hubert, Craig (September 15, 2016). "At Home With a Very Modern, Very Artistic Family". T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  24. ^ "Gaza : des cinéastes du monde entier demandent un cessez-le-feu immédiat". Libération (in French). 28 December 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  25. ^ Newman, Nick (29 December 2023). "Claire Denis, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Christian Petzold, Apichatpong Weerasethakul & More Sign Demand for Ceasefire in Gaza". The Film Stage. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  26. ^ "Directors of cinema sign petition for immediate ceasefire". The Jerusalem Post. 31 December 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  27. ^ Pearce, Leonard (November 15, 2021). "Ira Sachs Begins Shooting Passages Starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw & Adèle Exarchopoulos". The Film Stage. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  28. ^ Debruge, Peter (Dec 11, 2024). "Sundance 2025 Lineup: Jennifer Lopez, Benedict Cumberbatch and a Boatload of First-Timers Head to Penultimate Park City Edition". Variety. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
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