Josh Fox is an American film director, playwright and environmental activist, best known for his Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning 2010 documentary, Gasland. He is the founder and artistic director of a film and theater company in New York City, International WOW, and has contributed as a journalist to Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, NowThis, AJ+ and Huffington Post.
Josh Fox rehearsing The Truth Has Changed, NYC January 2020
Fox was born in New York City and lived there and Milanville, Pennsylvania through high school. He is Sephardic Jewish on his father's side and Calabrese Italian on his mother's side. His father was a displaced person, a Jewish refugee and an infant survivor of the holocaust, arriving in New York City when he was 8 years old.[1] He went to PS 6 in New York City, Wagner Junior High School and Columbia Preparatory School for High School. He attended Oberlin College for two years and then transferred to Columbia University, majoring in theater, and graduated in 1995.[2]
His band, The 3rd Degree, which he co-founded at age 14 with Noah Shachtman was a staple of the NYC Ska scene in the late 1980s, playing often at CBGB's and other downtown NYC venues until their breakup in 1991. After dropping out of Oberlin College, Fox worked as an actor in Chicago in the early 1990s, and was featured in plays including Drunkboat with Tracy Letts, Jim True and Michael Shannon at Steppenwolf theater, Goose and TomTom by David Rabe at the Theater Building, and The Love of the Nightingale directed by Amy Landecker at the Next Theater. Beginning in 1994, Fox trained with Anne Bogart, and SITI Company members Ellen Lauren, Will Bond, Stephen Webber and Barney O’Hanlon in Viewpoints, Suzuki and Composition.
Fox founded the film and theatre company International WOW Company in Chiang Mai, Thailand with a group of performers from New York City and Asia. He has written and directed over 30 plays with his ensemble.[3] Works include ?WOW! (1996), This is Not the Ramakian (1997), Stairway to the Stars (1999), HyperReal America (2001), The Bomb (2002),[4] Orphan on God's Highway (2002), Death of Nations Parts 1-4 (2003-6), The Comfort and Safety of Your Own Home (2004),[5]The Expense of Spirit (2004),[6]Limitless Joy (2005), Surrender (2008),[7] and Solutions Grassroots (2014). In addition, Fox has written, directed, and produced seven feature films, and over 25 short films, which have premiered in New York, Asia and Europe. The New York Times has hailed him as “one of the most adventurous impresarios of the New York avant-garde”[8] and Time Out NY called him “one of downtown’s most audacious auteurs,” citing his “brilliantly resourceful mastery of stagecraft.”
In addition, Fox has participated as an actor, director, designer and writer in international theater collaboration projects in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Germany. He starred as David Conde in Yoji Sakate's Emperor and Kiss performed by the Rinko Gun company, along with Kameron Steele, marking the first time that the company worked with a western performers. He was also the first western performer to work with Pappa Tarahumara dance/theatre company, creating roles for WD (2001) and The Sound of Future Sync (2002) which performed at the Setagaya Public Theatre and the New National Theatre in Tokyo. He created Heimwehen, Death of Nations Part V (2006) with Frank Raddatz, the former dramaturg of Heiner Muller, for the Forum Freies Theatre in Düsseldorf. Fox was a collaborator of Filipino playwright, actor and screenwriter Rody Vera in the early 2000s.
In 2008, Fox directed his first narrative feature film, Memorial Day, an examination of American party culture, the Iraq War and torture which was executive produced by Jim McKay and Michael Stipe of R.E.M.[9] In 2010, he wrote, directed, and produced Gasland, one of the first major films about the environmental impacts of fracking. Gasland premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in competition, winning the critics poll and the Special Jury Prize for Documentary. The film is widely credited as galvanizing the anti-fracking movement worldwide, making fracking a household word. Fox later produced an HBO sequel Gasland Part II, which aired July 2013 and was released on DVD in January 2014.[10]
On October 1, 2015, Fox's mini-documentary GasWork, which detailed hazardous working conditions in the hydraulic fracturing oil and gas drilling industry, debuted on All In with Chris Hayes.
In 2017, he produced, co-directed and co-wrote AWAKE, A DREAM FROM STANDING ROCK with indigenous filmmakers Doug Good Feather and Myron Dewey, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on Earth Day, launched on Netflix and toured around the world. In 2018 he co-founded the AWAKE MEDIA FELLOWSHIP for indigenous youth with leaders Stephanie Cassidy, Doug Good Feather and others.
In 2018, Fox created The Truth Has Changed, a solo performance, book and film about misinformation, propaganda and psycho-graphic targeting aimed at manipulating our current media and political ecosystem. In the performance he tells of his frontline reporting with an emphasis on the smear campaigns waged against him for nearly a decade by the fossil fuel industry. The project has toured to over 25 cities in the US and Europe and has been seen by thousands of people in support of dozens progressive, environmental and grassroots organizations. The Truth Has Changed is Fox's first book, published by Seven Stories Press.[11] In January 2020 The Public Theater abruptly ended Fox's run on The Truth Has Changed following a dispute with the theater. Fox and International WOW Company staff including producer Diane Crespo alleged that Public Theater staff had physically attacked Fox while preparing for a show. Fox also alleged that festival director Mark Russell was verbally abusive to him before shows. Fox and the company submitted formal written complaints about code of conduct violations and while pursuing these complaints the show's run of three remaining shows was halted. Fox was asked to meet with Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and associate artistic director Shanta Thake months later in hopes of finding a reconciliation wherein Ms Thake remarked "mistakes were made" by the Public Theatre staff.[12][13] The feature film version of The Truth Has Changed was released in 2021.[14]
In March 2020, during the covid lockdown Fox launched Staying Home with Josh Fox[15] a nightly interview program featuring guests from the world of politics, cinema, and music. Guests on the program included Cory Bush, Marc Ribot, Kim Stanley Robinson, Preston Reed, Jamie Margolin, Rebekah Jones among others. The show ran for more than 200 episodes on The Young Turks network in 2020 and 2021.
In 2023 premiered THE EDGE OF NATURE, a feature film about the anthropause, the moment during the covid lockdowns in 2020 where fossil fuel emissions decreased, having a measurable impact on the climate and pollution of the planet and the Byron Bay Film Festival where it won best Environmental Film. In 2024 Fox premiered the project at La Mama Experimental Theater Club as a performance and film that you watch at the same time. Fox performed the narration of the film live as well as playing the musical score by Dougie Bowne & Fox with songs by Pete Seeger, with an ensemble of 12 musicians. The performances received rave reviews and support from notable people such as Bernie Sanders, Steven Donziger and Sean Lennon[16]
Activism
Fox is known for his opposition of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. He has campaigned for a ban on fracking and against the gas industry's exploitation of loopholes in the Clean Water act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.[17]
In 2011 Fox co-founded The Solutions Project[18] Fox was forcibly removed from the board in 2016 by Ruffalo and Executive Director Sarah Shanley Hope after he complained the organization was too heavily dependent on celebrity. All founders except Ruffalo were removed from the board in subsequent years. In 2021, The Solutions Project accepted 43 million dollars from Jeff Bezos and the Bezos Earth Fund an action which was condemned by Fox as helping to greenwash Bezos and the large carbon footprint and unfair labor practices of Amazon.[19]
In February 2012 Fox was arrested during a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on hydraulic fracturing when he attempted to videotape the proceedings.[20][21]
Josh was advisor to Artists Against Fracking, Damascus Citizens and other organizations involved in the successful fight to ban fracking in New York State and the Delaware River Basin. Fox's films have toured to hundreds of cities worldwide helping to form the global movement against fracking.
In 2016, he worked as a surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders as the Creative Director for Our Revolution and as a member of the campaign's NY Platform Committee. He worked alongside Bill McKibben, Nina Turner, Ben Jealous, Jane Kleeb and Dr. Cornel West to pass an amendment to the Democratic Platform which addressed carbon pricing, the phasing out of natural gas power plants, community involvement, and adopting the Keystone XL climate standard for all federal energy projects.[22]
Josh Fox performs at WDCD Mexico CIty 2021
Personal life
In 2008, Fox's family was offered $100,000 in order to allow a natural gas fracking company to use his land in northern Pennsylvania. Fox set out to learn more about the fracking industry. After doubting some of the natural gas company's claims, he went on a mission to research them further, crossing the country visiting other gas fields. His experiences lead to his anti-fracking activism.[23]
In January 2020, Fox contracted Covid after completing his run of The Truth Has Changed in New York City. He began experiencing neurological symptoms from Long Covid in March 2020 and suffered symptoms until October 2021. He created the film The Edge of Nature documenting his experiences healing from the disease while living in a one room cabin in the woods of Pennsylvania. Excerpts from The Edge of Nature film were performed live by Fox at the What Design Can Do conference in Mexico City and Amsterdam. The feature film premiered on opening night at the Byron Bay International Film Festival in Australia in October 2023. Fox told The Guardian that he was fully healed from Long Covid but that there are valuable lessons to be learned from the experience. [24]
Gasland Part II premiered on HBO July 8, 2013 won the 2013 Environmental Media Association award for Best Documentary,[25] the Best Film at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, and the Hell Yeah Prize from Cinema Eye honors. It was nominated for a 2013 News and Documentary Emmy.
How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, and won the Environmental Advocacy award at the Washington DC Environmental Film Festival. The film was awarded the 2016 Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary,[25] Fox's third consecutive win in that category.
The Truth has Changed won best film at the Transitions Film Festival and the Montauk Film Festival in 2022. "The Edge of Nature" won best Environmental Film at Byron Bay Film Festival and the F. Lammot Belin Award for excellence at the NEPA Film Festival in 2023.[27]
Joshua Thomas Radnor is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014). He made his writing and directorial debut with the 2010 comedy drama film Happythankyoumoreplease, for which he won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
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Deborah Wallace is a Scottish born actress, playwright and producer.
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David Roma is a television producer, filmmaker, musician and activist, born in 1974. The son of 1950s and 1960s Capitol Records recording artist Frank Roma and grandson of a classical pianist, David spent his early years until the age of 21 developing a career as a concert pianist before leaving his pursuit in 1996 to become a writer, producer and director of films and television shows. David has performed live around the world and has produced beats for members of the Wu-Tang Clan and composed the music for many of his TV shows.
Stephen Belber is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 50 countries. He directed the film adaptation of his Broadway play, Match, starring Patrick Stewart,. He also wrote and directed the film Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson and wrote the HBO film O.G., starring Jeffrey Wright, Theothus Carter, and William Fichtner. Belber was an actor and associate writer on The Laramie Project,, as well as a co-writer of The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later.
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Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer are conservative Irish documentary filmmakers and New York Times best-selling authors. They have written and produced the political documentaries FrackNation, Not Evil Just Wrong, and Mine Your Own Business, as well as The Search for Tristan's Mum and Return to Sender. Their latest project, Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, is a true crime drama film based on the crimes of Kermit Gosnell. Their book, Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer, was an Amazon and New York Times best seller. They were married at the Basilica Church of St Mary Magdalene in Dublin in 1992.
Gasland is a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Josh Fox. It focuses on communities in the United States where natural gas drilling activity was a concern and, specifically, on hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), a method of stimulating production in otherwise impermeable rock. The film was a key mobilizer for the anti-fracking movement, and "brought the term 'hydraulic fracturing' into the nation's living rooms" according to The New York Times.
Michael P. Nash is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is the founder of Beverly Hills Productions.
FrackNation is a feature documentary created by Phelim McAleer, Ann McElhinnery, and Magdalena Segieda. The film, released in 2013, claims to address alleged misinformation from environmentalists about the process of hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking.
Promised Land is a 2012 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt and Hal Holbrook. The screenplay by Damon and Krasinski is based on a story by Dave Eggers. Promised Land follows two petroleum landmen who visit a rural Pennsylvania town in an attempt to buy drilling rights from the local residents.
The anti-fracking movement is a political movement that seeks to ban the practice of extracting natural gasses from shale rock formations to provide power due to its negative environmental impact. These effects include the contamination of drinking water, disruption of ecosystems, and adverse effects on human and animal health. Additionally, the practice of fracking increases the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, escalating the process of climate change and global warming. An anti-fracking movement has emerged both internationally, with involvement of international environmental organizations, and nation states such as France and locally in affected areas such as Balcombe, Sussex, in the UK. Pungești in Romania, Žygaičiai in Lithuania, and In Salah in Algeria. Through the use of direct action, media, and lobbying, the anti-fracking movement is focused on holding the gas and oil industry accountable for past and potential environmental damage, extracting compensation from and taxation of the industry to mitigate impact, and regulation of gas development and drilling activity.
The Solutions Project is an organization first conceived in 2011 by prominent figures in science, business and the entertainment media with the goal of utilizing the combined efforts of individuals in the fields of science, business and culture to accelerate the transition to 100% renewable energy use in the United States. Based on the results of academic research, the organization maintains that America is capable of meeting its entire energy needs through renewable energy sources, and that this goal can be achieved by the year 2050. Furthermore, the organization claims that the solutions that will be needed to achieve this goal are primarily social and political, not technical, in nature, as most of the technology necessary to bring about the transition already exists.
Dayne Pratzky is an Australian anti-fracking activist known colloquially as the Frackman. He is also the subject of a 2015 feature-length documentary film of the same name produced by Smith & Nasht.
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