Jeff B. Harmon
Encyclopedia
Jeff B. Harmon is an American
film director
, writer
and producer
. He is also an actor
, photographer and song writer.
As a journalist
and war correspondent
, he penetrated the Nazi underground in Paraguay
while searching for Dr. Josef Mengele
, right-wing death squads in El Salvador
, covered Emperor Bokassa's coronation, the fall of Idi Amin
, the war in Afghanistan
(from both the Mujahideen
and Soviet
sides), and Saddam Hussein
's Iraq
.
Working as an independent filmmaker together with British cameraman, Alexander Lindsay, in 1989 Harmon completed his Afghan Trilogy, which included the documentaries Jihad, Afgan and Warlord of Kayan
.
Jihad took over one year to make and was filmed clandestinely in different provinces of Afghanistan, including in Kunar
and Kandahar
. It showed combat
and daily life under Soviet occupation, as seen through the eyes of Haji Adbul Latif, the ‘Lion of Kandahar’ and his Mujahideen fighters. Jihad won various awards including the prestigious Royal Television Journalism Award, the ACE Award (the highest award in US cable television),the Blue Ribbon at the American Film & Video Festival, and CINE's Golden Eagle.
Harmon and Lindsay were among the very few who later managed to create another documentary, Afgan, about the same war, but this time shot from the side of the Soviet army, receiving unprecedented access to the troops and even flying on missions with the Spetsnaz
. Afgan won the Blue Ribbon at the American Film & Video Festival.
Warlord of Kayan told the story of Sayed Jafar Naderi
, the son of an Afghan Ismaili
leader and a former member of a hippie
motorcycle gang in Allentown
who used to work in McDonalds and play the drums in a heavy metal
band
. He later became a provincial governor and chief of a 12,000 man private army in Afghanistan. He fought with the Northern Alliance
against the Taliban. The film won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival
.
Just before the start of the first Gulf War, Jeff Harmon travelled to Iraq
to film the day-to-day life and the cult of Saddam Hussein
. His documentary, Saddam's Iraq depicted a prosperous and sophisticated society in which every aspect of life was coloured by ‘love’ for the ‘Great Leader’. Darkly ironic
, the film captured the surreal
and Orwellian
nature of life under Saddam Hussein.
Critics called Harmon’s 1996 low-budget satiric musical
comedy
Isle of Lesbos a cross between The Rocky Horror Picture Show
and The Wizard of Oz
http://www.tuseta.fi/vinokino/1997/pervoplanet/isle_lesbos.html. It portrayed a closet lesbian
who reaches the point of desperation on her wedding day in her redneck hometown of Bumfuck Arkansas, shoots herself and is instantly sucked through her mirror
and into a lesbian fantasy land. When her enraged parents try to get her back, the Sisters at the Isle of Lesbos put up a fight. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival
.
Harmon wrote, produced and directed a variety series for Brazilian television O Circo De Bozo
which was broadcast live to evoke the heyday of 1950’s television. This series won two Brazilian Emmys.
His writings and photographs have been published in various periodicals including Life Magazine, Harper's, the Sunday Times, Independent Magazine, National Geographic, Newsweek
, U.S. News & World Report
, Penthouse Magazine, Gallery, Icon and The Daily Telegraph
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He is also an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, photographer and song writer.
As a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
, he penetrated the Nazi underground in Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
while searching for Dr. Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
, right-wing death squads in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, covered Emperor Bokassa's coronation, the fall of Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
, the war in Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
(from both the Mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
sides), and Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
Working as an independent filmmaker together with British cameraman, Alexander Lindsay, in 1989 Harmon completed his Afghan Trilogy, which included the documentaries Jihad, Afgan and Warlord of Kayan
Warlord of Kayan
Warlord of Kayan is a 1989 documentary film produced and directed by Jeff B. Harmon.The film tells the story of Sayed Jafar Naderi, the son of an Afghan Ismaili leader, who used to be a member of a hippie motorcycle gang in Allentown, Pennsylvania and later became a provincial governor and chief of...
.
Jihad took over one year to make and was filmed clandestinely in different provinces of Afghanistan, including in Kunar
Kunar
Kunar may refer to:*Kunar Valley, Afghanistan and Pakistan*Kunar Province, Afghanistan*Kunar River, Afghanistan and Pakistan...
and Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
. It showed combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
and daily life under Soviet occupation, as seen through the eyes of Haji Adbul Latif, the ‘Lion of Kandahar’ and his Mujahideen fighters. Jihad won various awards including the prestigious Royal Television Journalism Award, the ACE Award (the highest award in US cable television),the Blue Ribbon at the American Film & Video Festival, and CINE's Golden Eagle.
Harmon and Lindsay were among the very few who later managed to create another documentary, Afgan, about the same war, but this time shot from the side of the Soviet army, receiving unprecedented access to the troops and even flying on missions with the Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz, Specnaz tr: Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya; ) is an umbrella term for any special forces in Russian, literally "force of special purpose"...
. Afgan won the Blue Ribbon at the American Film & Video Festival.
Warlord of Kayan told the story of Sayed Jafar Naderi
Sayed Jafar Naderi
Sayed Jafar Naderi Sayed Jafar Naderi Sayed Jafar Naderi (born 1965 in Kayan, Baghlan, and also known as Sayyid Nadir Shah Husayn or simply Sayyid-i Kayan is an Ismaili Afghan who formerly controlled Baghlan Province during the early 90s...
, the son of an Afghan Ismaili
Ismaili
' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...
leader and a former member of a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
motorcycle gang in Allentown
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
who used to work in McDonalds and play the drums in a heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
. He later became a provincial governor and chief of a 12,000 man private army in Afghanistan. He fought with the Northern Alliance
Northern Alliance
The Afghan Northern Alliance is a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996.Northern Alliance may also refer to:*Northern Alliance , a Canadian white supremacist group...
against the Taliban. The film won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
.
Just before the start of the first Gulf War, Jeff Harmon travelled to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
to film the day-to-day life and the cult of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. His documentary, Saddam's Iraq depicted a prosperous and sophisticated society in which every aspect of life was coloured by ‘love’ for the ‘Great Leader’. Darkly ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
, the film captured the surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and Orwellian
Orwellian
"Orwellian" describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society...
nature of life under Saddam Hussein.
Critics called Harmon’s 1996 low-budget satiric musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
Isle of Lesbos a cross between The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
and The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
http://www.tuseta.fi/vinokino/1997/pervoplanet/isle_lesbos.html. It portrayed a closet lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
who reaches the point of desperation on her wedding day in her redneck hometown of Bumfuck Arkansas, shoots herself and is instantly sucked through her mirror
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
and into a lesbian fantasy land. When her enraged parents try to get her back, the Sisters at the Isle of Lesbos put up a fight. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
.
Harmon wrote, produced and directed a variety series for Brazilian television O Circo De Bozo
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
which was broadcast live to evoke the heyday of 1950’s television. This series won two Brazilian Emmys.
His writings and photographs have been published in various periodicals including Life Magazine, Harper's, the Sunday Times, Independent Magazine, National Geographic, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
, Penthouse Magazine, Gallery, Icon and The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
.
Filmography
- 1983: The Front Line
- 1986: JihadJihad (documentary)Jihad is a 1986 documentary film produced and directed by Jeff B. Harmon about the Soviet war in Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of Haji Latif, 'The Lion of Kandahar’, and his group of Islamic holy warriors....
- 1989: AfganAfgan (documentary)Afghan: The Soviet Experience is a 1989 documentary film produced and directed by Jeff B. Harmon about the Soviet war in Afghanistan.It tells the stories of officers and soldiers serving in various units of the Soviet Armed Forces just prior to their withdrawal from Afghanistan, after the signing...
- 1989: Warlord of KayanWarlord of KayanWarlord of Kayan is a 1989 documentary film produced and directed by Jeff B. Harmon.The film tells the story of Sayed Jafar Naderi, the son of an Afghan Ismaili leader, who used to be a member of a hippie motorcycle gang in Allentown, Pennsylvania and later became a provincial governor and chief of...
- 1991: Saddam's Iraq
- 1996: Isle of Lesbos
External links
- The Isle of Lesbos film review
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCAwgZlQmYgJeff Harmon interviewed by Harold ChannerHarold ChannerHarold Hudson Channer is a talk-show host on public-access television cable TV network Manhattan Neighborhood Network, or MNN. He is the longest-running producer for the network, having done over 2,200 interviews over 40 years...
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