Jed Riffe

Jed Riffe is an American filmmaker. For over 30 years his documentary films have focused on social issues and politics including: Native American histories and struggles (Ishi, the Last Yahi, California's "Lost" Tribes, Who Owns the Past?,) and agriculture, food and sustainability issues (Ripe for Change). He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Biography Riffe was born in Dallas, Texas, and attended El Centro College in Dallas, where he studied journalism. In 1968, he published The Good Life magazine and soon became politically involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements in Texas. He organized demonstrations as part of the national Vietnam Moratorium Committee campaign, and was hired as the Texas organizer for Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. His activism inspired his interest in filmmaking.

Riffe's best known film, Ishi, the Last Yahi was released theatrically and aired on the PBS series The American Experience. The film went on to win "Best Documentary" awards at eight film festivals and was nominated for a national Emmy award in 1994.

Riffe served as series and executive producer on California and the American Dream, an independently produced national series that aired on PBS.

Riffe's other credits include interactive producer and video director of the first Africana Interactive Studies Center at Merritt College; interactive producer/writer for four interactive exhibits for the Autry Museum of American History; interactive producer and writer for Public Broadcasting In Public Places. Riffe and his team designed, programmed, built and installed four interactive media kiosks with 160 minutes of content from the California and the American Dream series. Riffe wrote, produced and directed TV of Tomorrow, an interactive prototype demonstrating the possible ways interactive content might appear on television in the future. In 1990, Riffe produced 86 minutes of video for three interactive History Information Stations, at the Oakland Museum of California.

Riffe also consults on film and video distribution.

Filmography A Dangerous Idea: Eugenics, Genetics and the American Dream (producer) 2018 The Long Shadow (co-producer) 2017 Andre: The Voice of Wine (producer) 2017 A New Color (executive producer) 2016 In the Name of the Gene (producer) 2016 Shut Up, Sit Down and Listen (producer) 2011 To Chris Marker, an Unsent Letter (executive producer) 2012 Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? (consulting producer) 2011 Smokin' Fish (executive producer) 2010 Convention (line producer) 2008 California and the American Dream (series producer) 2006 California's "Lost" Tribes (producer, director, co-writer) 2006 The New Los Angeles (executive producer) 2006 The Price of Renewal (executive producer) 2006 Ripe for Change (producer) 2006 Waiting to Inhale (producer, director) 2006 Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House (consulting producer) 2002 Who Owns the Past? (producer, director) 2000 Ishi, the Last Yahi (producer, director) 1992 Rosebud to Dallas (producer, director, co-writer) 1977 Promise and Practice (producer, director, co-writer) 1975

Awards and recognition

California's "Lost" Tribes: 2001 Gerbode Fellow for Excellence in Non-Profit Management Ishi, the Last Yahi: "Special Awards: for Writing, Directing and Editing", Association of Visual Communicators