Screened as part of NZIFF 2016

Jim: The James Foley Story 2016

Directed by Brian Oakes

Directed by a longtime friend, this documentary tribute to the life and work of war correspondent James Foley ensures that he will be well remembered for much more than his grisly public death at the hands of ISIS.

USA In Arabic and English with English subtitles
120 minutes DCP

Director

Producers

Eva Lipman
,
George Kunhardt
,
Teddy Kunhardt

Screenplay

Chris Chuang
,
Heather MacDonald
,
Brian Oakes

Photography

Clair Popkin

Editor

Aleks Gezentsvey

Music

Dan Romer
,
Saul Simon MacWilliams
,
Osei Essed

With

Diane Foley
,
John Foley
,
John Foley Jr
,
Michael Foley
,
Mark Foley
,
Katie Foley
,
Nicole Tung
,
Daniel Rye Ottosen
,
Manu Brabo
,
Zac Baillie
,
Clare Gillis

Awards

Audience Award (US Documentary)
,
Sundance Film Festival 2016

Festivals

Sundance 2016

Elsewhere

You probably already know the story of the death of James Foley, the American journalist kidnapped in Syria, imprisoned then beheaded by ISIS in 2014. The video of his execution released by the killers became as ubiquitous an announcement in Western media as they had intended.

“Brian Oakes’ film is an attempt to highlight the human being behind the appalling news story: the ardent, energetic, and above all compassionate journalist and person he was. Jim is divided roughly into two parts. The first is a fairly breezy chronicle of Foley’s upbringing, including his time as an increasingly dissatisfied Teach For America instructor. He was bitten by the foreign-correspondent bug when he was an embedded journalist in Iraq in 2009, and decided to commit his life to journalism through stints in Libya and Syria. The second half homes in on Foley’s imprisonment in Syria, with many of his fellow prisoners offering anecdotes about his actions, behaviour, and overall humane and optimistic spirit… It’s a deeply moving testament to a man who dared to face the worst of humanity and somehow managed to maintain his sense of empathy in spite of it all.” — Kenji Fujishima, AV Club