Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme Biography

Jonathan Demme is the director of such well known films as, "Silence of the Lambs", "Philadelphia" and "Married to the Mob".

the subject to which Demme has most often returned is Haiti. He's produced six features for others, in the process providing opportunities for young Haitian filmmaker Patricia Benoit (Tonbe Leve, Courage and Pain).

And he's directed two himself.

The first was Haiti: Dreams of Democracy, shot in 1987, about a year after the overthrow of dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, and a little under three years before the 1991 landslide election of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical Catholic priest.

The second, The Agronomist, completed before Demme began work on The Manchurian Candidate, deals with the life and death of outspoken Radio Haiti journalist Jean Dominique, who was murdered by two gunmen in April 2000. source: theage.com.au

Jonathan Demme's Haitian Art Collection:

Jonathan Demme has been collecting Haitian art since 1987. His collection of more than 300 paintings is said "to be one of the most comprehensive in the United States." source mediala.net

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