Bryan Fogel

Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author and playwright.

Contents

• Jewtopia a bryan fogel film interview with joy parris
• Bryan fogel discusses his documentary icarus
• References

He was born in Denver, Colorado, graduating from East High School and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Fogel along with Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov exposed the single biggest scandal in sports history to The New York Times on May 12th, 2016 that alleged that Russia had orchestrated a state sponsored fraud that had conspired to cheat the Olympics for decades, including the 2014 Sochi Olympics where Dr. Rodchenkov, with the help of the FSB (formerly the KGB) swapped out steroid-tainted urine of the Russian national team to evade positive detection. This story, which Fogel had been documenting as a filmmaker for 3.5 years, is the foundation of his feature documentary film, ICARUS.

Icarus, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival where it won the first ever Special Jury "Orwell Award" and the first ever Audience Choice Award at Sundance Film Festival London. The film was acquired in a historic sale to Netflix and released worldwide on Netflix on August 4th, 2017.

ICARUS has been called a “game-changing documentary” by Variety and "The Best Non-Fiction film of 2017" by the Financial Times among others.

Fogel and the story behind the making of Icarushas been written about in publications around the globe, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Variety , USA Today, Newsweek, The Atlantic, and The Guardian.

Fogel has been a guest on many TV and Radio talk programs among them; NPR's All Things Considered, NBC's Meet The Press, ABC Dateline, Charlie Rose, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Breakfast with the BBC.  

The plot synopsis for ICARUS, as described by the Sundance Institute; The ruthless worlds of international sports and politics rarely collide as spectacularly on screen as they do in Bryan Fogel’s thriller that is sure to set off convulsions of controversy.

While investigating the furtive world of illegal doping in sports, Fogel connects with renegade Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov—a pillar of his country’s “anti-doping” program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program. When the truth is more complex than imagined, and accusations of illegalities run to Russia's highest chains of command, the two realize they hold the power to reveal the biggest international sports scandal in living memory. Exemplifying the special bond between filmmaker and subject, this is a vital portrait of the sacrifice some people will make to stand up for truth. ICARUS places you at the heart of an international game of cat and mouse, where a miscalculation can cost you your life. The stunning events which transpired changed history.

Prior to ICARUS, Fogel developed, co-wrote, and initially starred in the play Jewtopia, an off-Broadway comedy about the dating lives of two young men seeking Jewish women, which was made into a feature film. The play opened in Los Angeles in 2003 and ran for 300 performances. It moved on in 2004 to the off-Broadway Westside Theater in New York, where it ran for more than three years and over a thousand performances before closing in April 2007. It is one of the longest-running and fastest-recouping productions in Off-Broadway history.

Fogel co-authored the book Jewtopia: The Chosen Guide for the Chosen People, with Sam Wolfson. The book was published by Hachette Book Group and Fogel appeared on ABC's The View in support of the book.

Fogel directed, co-wrote and produced the feature film adaptation of Jewtopia which was released in 2013. The film had its U.S. premiere as the opening night gala of the 13th Newport Beach International Film Festival. The film won the audience choice award of the 2012 Malibu International Film Festival.

Fogel had a small part in the 2009 Disney movie Race to Witch Mountain. Where does he live?