John Haptas

John M. Haptas (* around 1949) is an American sound engineer , film editor , film director , film producer , screenwriter and cameraman as well as editor who, together with his wife Kristine Samuelson, made a name for himself mainly because of both documentaries .

biography

John Haptas practiced as a lawyer in Oakland , California after graduating from law school . He was visiting professor at Stanford University and the School of Journalism Film Program at the University of California at Berkeley . While attending law school, he wanted to raise money for a project to provide legal aid to prisoners in Soledad. To do this, he showed a film on campus, but had little idea how to set it up properly. Kristine Samuelson, who studied at Stanford, which among other things dealt with documentaries, helped him. Their debut together, The Harder They Come , played in front of a full house and meant that it wasn't long before they both got married and started a family. From then on, the law graduate turned more and more to film.

For many years he mainly worked as a sound engineer before he became an editor for documentary films, but at the same time also looked around in other areas of the film industry. His first job as a sound engineer was in David Lynch's science fiction film The Desert Planet .

Together with his wife, Haptas worked in the field of fine arts at the University of Melbourne , and he also gave masterclasses at the Academy of Theater and Cinema in Hanoi , Vietnam .

For an episode of the TV series National Geographic Explorer , entitled Inside Guantanamo Hapas received an Emmy nomination. Haptas and Samuelson made a number of documentaries together on various topics, such as tourism in Paris (Empire of the Moon , 1991), the Vietnam War (Riding the Tiger , 1999) or homelessness (The Days and the Hours , 2006). With their award-winning film Tokyo Waka (2012), a portrait of Tokyo and the city's crows, they have been to festivals around the world. The film was shown at the Film Forum in New York, as well as in Toronto and Seattle. In their romantic short documentary Barn Dance from 2013 they showed a couple dancing a pas de deux in the light and shadow of an old barn . Her 2019 documentary Vom Leben überholt , which deals with a phenomenon that was first observed in refugee children in Sweden, also attracted attention, as this traumatic illness was previously largely unknown. In addition to several prizes, the film has also been nominated for an Oscar at the 92nd award ceremony in February 2020 in the "Best Documentary Short Film " category.

For more than twenty years, Haptas has worked for all types of productions, from commercials to feature films, but most of all for documentaries.

Filmography (selection)

- in the area of ​​sound engineer -

• 1984: The Desert Planet (Dune)
• 1987: Wrong Place, Wrong Time (documentary)
• 1989: Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (documentary)
• 1991: Empire of the Moon (documentary)
• 1992–2009: American Experience (series, documentaries, 11 episodes)
• 1993: The Great Depression (series, documentary, episode A Job at Ford’s )
• 1993: Aldous Huxley: Darkness and Light (documentary)
• 1994: Crumb (documentary)
• 1994–2001: Real Sex (series, documentaries, 5 episodes)
• 1998, 2005: Frontline (documentary television series, 3 episodes
  • Last Battle of the Gulf War ,
  • The High Price of Health and
  • The OJ Verdict )
• 2002: Crime & Punishment (series, documentary)
• 2002: Evolution (mini-series, documentaries, episode Extinction! )
• 2002: Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy (mini-series, 3 episodes)
• 2002, 2005: Nova (series, documentaries, 2 episodes Fire Wars and Saving the National Treasures )
• 2003: Becoming Amerian: The Chinese Experience (series, documentaries, 2 episodes)
• 2003, 2004 + 2008: Independent Lens (series, documentaries, 4 episodes)
• 2004: The Congregation (documentary)
• 2005: American Masters (series, documentary,
  episode Mitten im Leben - Ernest Hemingway OT: Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea )
• 2006: Hellwach ( Wide Awake ; documentary)
• 2006: Shameless: The Art of Disability (documentary)
• 2007: Nanking (documentary)
• 2007: The War - The Faces of War (mini-series, documentaries, 7 episodes)
• 2007: POV (series, documentary, episode Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner )
• 2009: The National Parks: America's Best Idea (mini-series, documentaries, 6 episodes)

- as editor, producer or screenwriter -

• 2002: Underground Zero (segment The World as We Know It ; director)
• 2004: POV (series, documentary, episode Freedom Machines ; screenplay)
• 2006: The Days and the Hours (video documentation; sound engineer, editor, director, producer)
• 2006: Quest for Truth (series, episode Mysteries of the Bible: Exodus Revealed ; screenplay)
• 2007: Man Made: Secret History of the Bra (documentary; editor)
• 2007: Mega-Buildings ( Man-Made , TV series, episode The Flashlight ; editing)
• 2008: Nova (series, documentary, episode Hunting the Hidden Dimension ; editor)
• 2008: I Can See Everything (documentary short film; sound engineer, editor, director, producer)
• 2009: National Geographic Explorer (series, documentary, episode Inside Guantanamo Bay ; editor, screenplay)
• 2012: Tokyo Waka (video documentary; editor, director, producer, camera)
• 2013: Barn Dance (documentary short film; director)
• 2013: Independent Lens (series, documentary, episode Island President , editing)
• 2014: Regarding Susan Sontag (documentary; editor, screenplay)
• 2017: Filmmakers Unite (FU) (documentary film; producer)
• 2019: Overtaken by Life ( Life Overtakes Me , documentary short film; editor, director, producer, camera)

Awards (selection)

- Nominated ... -

• 2000: International Documentary Association
  for the Video Source Award together with Kristine Samuelson
• 2010: News & Documentary Emmy Awards
  for the Emmy with Jonathan Halperin for the episode Inside Guantanamo
• 2014: San Francisco International Film Festival
  for the Golden Gate Award together with Kristine Samuelson and Amy Seiwert for the short documentary Barn Dance
• 2019: Sundance Film Festival
  for the Grand Jury Prize in the “Short Film” category together with Kristine Samuelson for Vom Leben übereholt
• 2020: Academy Awards 2020
  for the Oscar in the category “Best Documentary Short Film” together with Kristine Samuelson

- Excellent … -

• 2001: Florida Film Festival
  with the Grand Jury Prize in the “Best Short Film” category together with Kristine Samuelson
• 2013: Columbus International Film & Video Festival
  with the Best of Festival award for Tokyo Waka
• 2019: Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
  with the Audience Award together with Kristine Samuelson for Vom Leben überholt
• 2019: Chicago Critics Film Festival
  with the Audience Award together with Kristine Samuelson for Vom Leben überholt

Web links

• John Haptas in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• John Haptas Image of John Haptas in the IMDb

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Haptas on radaris.com
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} John Haptas see page americanfilmshowcase.com (English).
3. ↑ ^{a b} In Focus: John Haptas and Kris Samuelson on Barn Dance see page blog.sffs.org (English).
4. ↑ John Haptas see page sontagfilm.org (English).
5. ↑ Professor emerita Kristine Samuelson earns Oscar nomination see page news.stanford.edu (English).
6. ↑ Riding the Tiger - A documentary essay see page web.stanford.edu (English).