Short Bio of the Filmmaker - Joe Tripician

Joe Tripician is an Emmy award-winning producer / writer / director and a published author. His work has been broadcast and exhibited across America, Europe and Japan, has shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

How and Why did you become a documentary maker? 
Since I was young, I was fascinated by TV. How did they create those images? When my father showed me his 8mm film camera, I was hooked. I wanted to capture everything: our dog digging, my brothers playing. More than that, I sought the story in everyday life. I went through many reels of film to craft my first story-driven films. I still owe my father for those lab fees!

What makes a good documentary? 
If a documentary sparks your curiosity about its subject, the filmmaker has done well. For me, pacing is key to a good doc. With over thirty years as an editor, I see editing as a musical piece where every cut is a note guiding the viewer's journey.

Why did you make Honeymoon in Oak Ridge and what were the key challenges to make the film? 
I was about 7 when my father showed me his US Army uniform and the special patch from his work on The Manhattan Project. I struggled to understand how my dad, who ran a candy store, helped create the first atomic bomb. The army recruited my parents just before their wedding. They moved from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. My father was an electrical engineer, and my mother oversaw security for the secretarial pool. They suspected they were making a bomb, but security was tight. Every worker in Oak Ridge was monitored, both on the phone and at home. They learned the truth on the day of the Hiroshima bombing, reading it in the newspaper. In 1998, I took them back to Oak Ridge to relive their memories. My challenge was to blend their personal story with the broader story of the bombs. For years, the footage sat in storage because I didn't know how to finish it. In 2023, I finally found the story. I included interviews with my two daughters and my wife to share their feelings about my parents, who carried the weight of their time in Oak Ridge.

What's next for you? What projects are you currently working on? 
I'm in post-production on a feature documentary called "I Was a Paid Propagandist". It tells how, in 1997, I was hired to write the "official" biography of an authoritarian Balkan president. The film follows my return to the Balkans to uncover disinformation and its motivations. It also reveals the powers vying for historical memory.

I'm not sure why these projects took so long, but I promise my next film will be quicker.