DAN COGAN | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Mr. Cogan is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Impact Partners, an investment services group for high net-worth individuals interested in financing social-interest cinema. IP pursues a dual-bottom line: it aims for both profit and the creation of films of significant social value.
Films that IP members have financed include BORN INTO BROTHELS (winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature); GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB (winner of the 2007 Emmy for Best Documentary Special); FREEHELD (winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short); and both SECRECY and THE RECRUITER (world premieres in the Documentary Competition of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival).
IP is currently in production or development on more than ten films, including new projects by award-winning directors Jose Padilha (BUS 174, ELITE SQUAD), Rachel Boynton (OUR BRAND IS CRISIS), Jennifer Dworkin (LOVE & DIANE), Susan Motamed and Melanie Judd (ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM), Ross Kaufman (BORN INTO BROTHELS), and Greg Barker (GHOSTS OF RWANDA).
Mr. Cogan is also the founder and President of DMC Films, a production company devoted to discovering emerging voices in documentary and fiction film and to exploring new models of independent film finance. DMC Films currently has projects in development with Universal Studios, New Line Cinema, and Casey Silver Productions.
In 2006, Mr. Cogan launched the Chrysler Film Project. This screenwriting and directing competition, underwritten by Chrysler, sought to identify an important new voice in American independent film and finance their feature film. The winning project, Derek Cianfrance’s BLUE VALENTINE, will star Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.
Mr. Cogan’s credits as a Producer include THE LIFESTYLE, a feature-length documentary about middle-American swingers directed by David Schisgall and executive produced by Ted Hope and James Schamus; and TORTE BLUMA, a short film based on the true story of Nazi death camp commandant Franz Stangl. TORTE BLUMA was directed by Benjamin Ross (RKO 281, THE YOUNG
POISONER'S HANDBOOK) and stars Stellan Skarsgard and Simon McBurney.
Before entering the film business, Mr. Cogan worked as a speechwriter for Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and as a journalist, writing for The New Republic, The New York Observer and The Washington Monthly.
Mr. Cogan received his B.A. from Harvard College (Magna Cum Laude) and attended the Film Division at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts.
<< CAST & CREW