Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny
Director and Producers Jeff Bieber and Chana Gazit, Producer Salme M. López Sabina
Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny illuminates the extraordinary life and work of one of the most influential and fearless political thinkers of the 20th century. Arendt’s time as a World War II political prisoner and refugee generated daring insights about the human condition and totalitarianism, which continue to resonate profoundly today.
Phase of Support: Production
Jeff Bieber
Director, Producer
Jeff Bieber is a 40-year veteran of public media. His films and social impact campaigns include Avoiding Armageddon (8-hours, 2003), My Journey Home (2-hours, 2004), America At A Crossroads (12-hours, 2007), The Jewish Americans (6-hours, 2008), Latino Americans (6-hours, 2013), Italian Americans (4-hours, 2015), The Pilgrims (2-hours, 2015), and Asian Americans (5-hours, 2020). He has earned two national Emmy Awards, a duPont-Columbia Award and three Peabody Awards. Jeff Bieber Productions was created in 2022. Projects include Dante, a 4-hour series directed by Ric Burns (April 2024), The Harvest, a 2-hour film for American Experience (September 2023); Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined (September 2024);Weaving Nature (April 2024). Projects currently in production for American Masters include Hannah Arendt Facing Tyranny; Projects in development include Liz Diller: Making Space for the Future for American Masters, slated for 2026.
Chana Gazit
Director, Producer
Chana Gazit is an award-winning documentary producer, director and writer. Her work has been honored with multiple Emmy nominations and three Emmy Awards. Additionally, her work has been recognized by, among others, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards, the Peabody Awards, the Writer’s Guild Awards, and the Sundance Film Festival. Films include Franklin Roosevelt (4-hours) and Lyndon Johnson (4-hours) PBS series, American Experience: Chicago ‘68, Surviving the Dust Bowl, Meltdown at Three Mile Island, Fatal Flood, The Pill, Test Tube Babies, The Forgotten Plague, and The Codebreaker. Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers, Slavery & the Making of America, Destination America, This Emotional Life, Soundtracks, a look at the social movements of the last half-century through the lens of music. Ballerina Boys, and Big Pharma, (6-part series).
Salme M. López Sabina
Producer
Salme M. López Sabina has led production for several groundbreaking, critically acclaimed films for Public Television including Latin Music USA, FRONTLINE and American Experience’s co-production of God in America and most recently, the highly anticipated six-hour series Latino Americans, which aired in the Fall of 2013. Honing her craft within news and documentaries over the last ten years, Salme began her career in journalism where she worked for the most widely read newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico El Nuevo Día. Salme was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated to the United States in 1992.