LANDAU: OBJECTIVE, BUT NEVER DETACHED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060010-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: April 24, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060010-1
s ' T I C . X , AP
ON PAGE
to terrible on this side of the:
camera," Saul Landau rgri-
maces as a photographer-staits to
..w
take his picture.
Landau is not at all shy behind.the'
camera. In fact,' he's particularly'.
adept at capturing the more elusive
human elements-of the situations bee
fore his camera.He is Washington's
foremost, and probably least gener
ally appreciated; documentary film-
irs
maker.
Tonight, the" Institute, for' Policy.
Studies begins a-five-week series of
his films; beginni*o with "Paul. Ja-
cobs and the Nuclear- Gang," co-
written and directed with Jack
Willis in 1979. :-'
The series continues May 1-with
"Que Hacer?" the film Landau
made with Nina Serrano and Raul
Ruiz during the Chilean elections of
1970. Documentary footage sets the
scene for a fictional story of political
intrigue and transformation. It will
be followed on May-8 by "Who Shot:
Alexander Hamilton?" - awittylook
at the Watergate Congress-and its pe-
culiarities...
The harrowing "Brazil: Report on-
Torture;" in.whiclx.Landau? and..Hast,?
kell Wexler interviewed. exiled Bra-
zilian prisoners, wi l be shown May,
'15. Elie series closes on May 22 with'
? two tascinatin . portraits of to era :
whistle-blowers in.-THe CIA Lase
icer and a ne r u a er. Alt
shows start at p.m:a .NW,
and will.be4ollowed by discussions
with guest speakers. Admission is
S3.50, with a series discount avail--
able.
The opening film, "Paul Jacobs
and the Nuclear Gang," won-.the
George PolkAward for investigative.,
journalism in 1979 and an Emmy for
best documentary.: In it; reporter,
Paul Jacobs? himself hying of. a rare
WASHITIGTON STAR (GREEN MITE)
24 APRIL 1981
'He wear
cancer- thought to have been. con pled cordu
tracted'during his reportage on low- shoes. His office is crowded with
the way: various government .agen-
cies have covered up the effects of
nuclear. testing and the nuclear.
energy industry in the United States.
The film is a remarkably moving.
document;-a? human portrait'-of- a
friend- making his last stand in a..
long struggle against bureaucracy
and-secrecy, as well as a revealing
piece of journalism. It is probably
Landau's. best-known film, though it
is only one of more than., two dozen.
he has worked on since he wrote his
first script, for Robert Nelson's fam
ous satirical short, "0.Dem Water:
melons," in 1966. ?
At the ' time, ? _ Landau was a
playwright for the San' Francisco
Mime Troop. Shortly thereafter, pub-.
lic television station KQED hired
him to write and co-produce a film
about life in the.black ghetto of Oak-
land.
"In those days, white people still
did that," Landau says. The resulting
film, "Losing Just the Same," was a
controversial success, incorporating
R.atasy sequences acted by the sub-
jects of the documentary..
He continued to produce films for
public television, but kept locking
horns with cautious executives over
journalistic standards and conven-
tional cinematic language. ("That
grammar is industrial and serves the
same function as automobile de-
sign," he says of Hollywood's -ideas
about structuring information and
drama.) He became an independent
producer. ' .
Landau likes'his privacy, which is
one reason the public doesn't know
much about him. But another is the
books and posters of the movements
he has been part of (the first was an
effort to recall Sen. Joseph McCar-;
thy, the "Joe-must-go"% campaign at
the University of Wisconsin in the
'S0s} in his career as apolitical ac-
tivist,--journalist and filmmaker. ~.
? Landau is an incredibly boyish 45,
with laugh lines around his eyes and'
a ready smile, but when you look- at
the posters and think of the books
and fif ns,'it's sobering to remember
how many of his friends and co-
_tWorker-shayedied-doing-their work.
:
There was Paul Jacobs., for in-
.stance , with;.; whom Landau:
completed . two:_,',-books .'of - doc--
umentary history about the anti-war
movement and racism. Jacobs died
of cancer during.the filming of "Paul
' Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang." Lan-
dau's most recent book?-"Assassina-
tion on Embassy Row," written with
John Dinges, chronicled the 1976
bombing murder in Washington of
IPS colleagues and friends Orlando4
Letelier and Ronni Moffat. And some
of those who worked with Landau on
."Que Hacer?" have-since been im-
prisoned or executed by the military .
junta that overthrew Salvador Allen-
de in1973.'.?.
It was during the making of "Que
Hacer?" that Landau met Haskell,
.Wexler, whose camera work has l
graced many Hollywood features, in-
cluding "Bound for Glory," for
which he won an Oscar. Wexler had
just directed "Medium Cool" and
agreed to-invest some money in Lan
dau's film:
"We . just immediately- -became
friends," Landau recalls, especially-
after Wexler joined him for a trip_to
Thunderbird College in -Arizona
,
film are nearly always controversial whete "Fidel," Landau's intimate
political and social problems -'thee film.portrait of Fidel Castro as both
kind!of things that often'scare off man -and leader; was to be shown.
the mainstream mediae and are the it seems this w a lace that was '
daily meat of the Institute for Policy set u
.y a LIA and maor
Studies; where he is a fellow.mu tall
a
lon
i corporations t o trin,
ea "Working at IPS provides me with tor
-alotoffreedom Iwouldn't otherwise eign s u en fo serve as execu_
li
ves overseas, an au says.
have," Landau says, propping his mon t e student
chair back against a filing cabinet. v t ra t e Bay o igss It
Someone waves to- him from across - was pret interestin . I was. hall _
,Q Street, where IPS has more offices ing in a fiav rom t e gate s we
on the upper floor of the old Anchor- "drove in." ? ?
age Building. Landau waves back - ??- "
and- laughs.
~oxgzx~~
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060010-1