DIRECTOR JOSEPH LOVETT

Joseph Lovett founded Lovett Productions in 1989 after ten years as a producer at ABC News 20/20. Concentrating on health and social issues, the company has produced over 30 hours of prime time television specials in the past 19 years. Broadcasts include Born in my Heart, a Love Story, a Barbara Walters Special on adoption for ABC, Fat Like Me, on childhood obesity for ABC, and Coming Home, on forgiveness for the Hallmark Channel. State of Denial, a film on AIDS denialism in South Africa, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on PBS’ P.O.V.

Three Sisters: Searching for a Cure, an HBO film on a family dealing with ALS premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival as did Gay Sex in the 70s which explores the twelve years between the Stonewall Riots in June 1969 and the June 1981 article suggesting that a deadly epidemic was targeting gay men. The film’s television premiere was on the Sundance Channel.

As a producer for ABC's 20/20 in the 1980's, Joe produced the first in-depth AIDS investigations for national television. Later, as an independent, he produced and directed In A New Light, an annual broadcast of AIDS education and outreach specials using Hollywood celebrities in performance to showcase the real stories of people dealing with different aspects of the AIDS epidemic. In a New Light, aired annually for five years on ABC. Joe’s continuing work against AIDS won him The AIDS Action Foundation AIDS Leadership Award.

The Accident, Joe's first personal feature documentary, is a startling perspective on love and loss in a family memoir shot over twenty-five years. The Accident toured the international festival circuit to sold out audiences. Joe wrote, directed and produced Cancer: Evolution to Revolution, an HBO film about what people with cancer need to know to maximize their chances of survival. The film has been honored with The Peabody Award, The Christopher Award, an Emmy nomination, as well as with numerous awards from cancer advocacy organizations.