Eugene Jarecki

Eugene Jarecki is a renowned American documentary filmmaker, best known for his award-winning films Why We Fight, Reagan, and The House I Live In. He has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Emmy and Peabody Awards. Apart from his films, Jarecki is also the author of The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril. All four brothers in the Jarecki family are in the film industry, with the most notable being Andrew who has also won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Emmy award for his own films and series.

After graduating from Hackley School in 1987, Jarecki attended Princeton University. There he initially trained as a stage director but eventually found success in film. The first recognition of his work came when his first short film, Season of the Lifterbees won the Time Warner Grand Prize at Aspen Film Festival. Some of his other notable works include The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Freakonomics, The Opponent, and Quest of the Carib Canoe. His most recent feature, The King, was nominated for two Emmys in 2020 and a 2019 Grammy Award for Best Music Film of The Year.

In addition to filmmaking, Jarecki has cemented himself as a public intellectual on U.S. domestic and international policy. Also, he is the Founder and Executive Director of The Eisenhower Project, an academic public policy group dedicated to studying the forces that shape American foreign policy. He has participated as a speaker at several international conferences including Ted, Nantucket Project, and will.i.am's TRANS4M gathering for the i.am.angel Foundation.