Joshua Seftel is an Oscar®-nominated and Emmy-winning film director committed to telling underdog stories with strong social impact. His most recent film, Stranger at the Gate, a 2023 Academy Award®-Nominee, Executive Produced by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, is a part of Seftel’s Emmy and Peabody-nominated Secret Life of Muslims project (SXSW), a series that has been viewed more than 70 million times. For the past several years, Seftel has focused on work that combats hatred, Islamophobia and shatters stereotypes, an effort which stems from the antisemitism he faced as a child.
Seftel is also known for directing the Emmy®-winning landmark series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the anti-war movie War, Inc. starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Ben Kingsley, and his regular appearances on CBS Sunday Morning where he interviews his 87-year-old mother about current events and social issues. The New York Times wrote of their conversations, "the word 'droll' seems as if it were invented for these two." He is also a contributor to the Peabody Award-winning podcast This American Life and to The New York Times.
Seftel received his first Emmy nomination at age 22 with his documentary Lost and Found (PBS), about Romania’s orphaned children. The film led to the American adoption of thousands of Romanian orphans. Some of his other award-winning films include the political campaign documentary Taking on the Kennedys (POV), the underdog sports film The Home Team (SXSW), the document of the first days of an 11-year old Pakistani refugee in New York City, Zain’s Summer (National Geographic), the behind-the-scenes film about Annie’s Broadway revival It’s the Hard Knock Life (PBS), and the portrait of a photographer obsessed with death, The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano (Tribeca Film Festival, New York Times Op-Docs) which won the IDA Documentary Award and became the most viewed Op-Doc of the year.
In the summer of 2021, Seftel was invited to direct the music video marking the reopening of New York City featuring Stephen Colbert, Idina Menzel, Sara Bareilles, Suzanne Vega, and others singing Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind. The film launched Clive Davis’ Homecoming Concert in Central Park, was shown at Mets home games and in New York City taxi cabs across the city, and quickly became a social media hit. It has been seen tens of millions of times.
Seftel lives in Brooklyn with his wife, filmmaker Erika Frankel, and their two young daughters.
SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS
Academy Award®, Best Short Documentary Nominee, 2023
Tribeca Film Festival, Special Jury Mention, 2022
Critics Choice Documentary Award, Nominee, 2022
Indy Shorts, Grand Jury Prize, Winner, 2022
Emmy Award, Winner, 2022, 2005, 2004
Emmy Award, Nominee, 2021, 2017, 2010, 2009, 2005, 1993
Official Selection Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, 2020
MPAC Media Awards, Honoree (with Sir Bob Geldof and Lena Khan), 2018
P.T. Barnum Awards, Honoree, Tufts University, 2018
International Documentary Association, Winner (with The New York Times Op-Docs), 2017
American International Broadcast Award, Winner, 2017
Fearless Ally Award, Nominee, El-Hibri Foundation, 2017
Peabody Awards, Finalist, 2016
South by Southwest Film Festival, Grand Jury Award Nominee, 2016, 2014
Goldziher Prize for Excellent Journalism covering American Muslims, 2016
Full Frame, Best Short Documentary Nominee, 2016
Tribeca Film Festival, Jury Award Nominee, 2015, 2008
Sheffield Doc/Fest: Best Short Documentary Nominee, 2015
Kavli Science Journalism Award, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2014, 2011
James Beard Awards, Nominee, 2012
Daytime Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Children's Series, 2011, 2010, 2009
Environmental Media Awards, Winner, 2004
GLAAD Media Awards Winner, 2004
National Arts Journalism Program Fellow, Columbia University, 2002-2003
The Best of 1996, Time Magazine, 1996
