Oscar-nominated filmmakerBruce Sinofskypassed away at the age of 58 on Saturday morning. The news was confirmed by longtime collaboratorJoe Berlinger.Bruce Sinofskyreportedly died from complications of diabetes, but there are no further details at this time.
Bruce Sinofskyspent the past thirty years as a documentary director, helping to create some of the most important true-life films of the past three decades. He is best known for co-directingMetallica: Some Kind of MonsterwithJoe Berlinger, which looks at the band as they go through relationship counseling while trying to create a new album. BothJoe BerlingerandBruce Sinofskyare also created with helping to free the West Memphis Three with theirParadise Lostdocumentary trilogy, which helped uncover evidence in the case against three wrongly convicted men accused of child murder. The final chapter in this harrowing saga,Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, earned bothJoe BerlingerandBruce Sinofskyan Academy Award nomination back in 2012.
One of the duo’s earliest movies, 1992’s Brother’s Keeper, which follows an elderly man accused of murdering his brother, is credited as inspiring filmmaking duo The Coen Brothers and their unique style.Bruce Sinofsky’s other works include “American Masters” Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records and episodes of Sundance Channel series Iconoclasts.Joe Berlingerreleased this statement about his partner’s passing:
“Bruce encouraged both of us to throw caution into the wind to start capturing what would become Brother’s Keeper in 1991 with no money in our pockets, in the pre-video 16mm age of documentary-making, when making a no-budget film took a little more ingenuity to get in the can. His unique combination of courage and empathy made that possible, as well as everything that came after for us. The extraordinary adventures we had on the road and the deeply stimulating experiences we had in the editing room were life-changing for all of us who knew him thanks to his wisdom and fervor to change the world. Bruce’s humanity is on every frame of the films that he leaves behind, and words can’t express how graced I feel my life has been by having the extraordinary opportunity of being able to say we were partners and, more importantly, best friends.”
A memorial service forBruce Sinofskywill be held in March. His last project wasOprah’s Master Class: Civil Rights Special, which aired this past January.
