caption birth_place credits birth_date birthname image article_title name occupation
working on a movie in afghanistan in 1988 . united states movies 31 december 1953 jeff b. harmon jeff b harmon by evstafiev.jpg jeff b. harmon
 jeff b. harmon film director
jeff b. harmon

jeff b. harmon -lrb- born december 31 , 1953 -rrb- is an american film director , writer and producer .
he is also an actor , photographer and song writer .
as a journalist and war correspondent , he penetrated the nazi underground in paraguay while searching for dr. josef mengele , right-wing death squads in el salvador , covered emperor bokassa 's coronation , the fall of idi amin , the war in afghanistan -lrb- from both the mujahideen and soviet sides -rrb- , and saddam hussein 's iraq .
working as an independent filmmaker together with british cameraman , alexander lindsay , in 1989 harmon completed his afghan trilogy , which included the documentaries `` jihad '' , `` afgan '' and `` warlord of kayan '' .
`` jihad '' took over one year to make and was filmed clandestinely in different provinces of afghanistan , including in kunar and kandahar .
it showed combat and daily life under soviet occupation , as seen through the eyes of haji adbul latif , the ` lion of kandahar ' and his mujahideen fighters .
`` jihad '' won various awards including the prestigious royal television journalism award , the ace award -lrb- the highest award in us cable television -rrb- , the blue ribbon at the american film & video festival , and cine 's golden eagle .
harmon and lindsay were among the very few who later managed to create another documentary , `` afgan '' , about the same war , but this time shot from the side of the soviet army , receiving unprecedented access to the troops and even flying on missions with the spetsnaz .
`` afgan '' won the blue ribbon at the american film & video festival .
`` warlord of kayan '' told the story of sayed jafar naderi , the son of an afghan ismaili leader and a former member of a hippie motorcycle gang in allentown who used to work in mcdonalds and play the drums in a heavy metal band .
he later became a provincial governor and chief of a 12,000-man private army in afghanistan .
he fought with the northern alliance against the taliban .
the film won the golden gate award at the san francisco international film festival .
just before the start of the first gulf war , jeff harmon travelled to iraq to film the day-to-day life and the cult of saddam hussein .
his documentary , `` saddam 's iraq '' depicted a prosperous and sophisticated society in which every aspect of life was coloured by ` love ' for the ` great leader ' .
darkly ironic , the film captured the surreal and orwellian nature of life under saddam hussein .
critics called harmon 's 1996 low-budget satiric musical comedy `` isle of lesbos '' a cross between `` the rocky horror picture show '' and `` the wizard of oz '' -lsb- http://www.tuseta.fi/vinokino/1997/pervoplanet/isle_lesbos.html] .
it portrayed a closet lesbian who reaches the point of desperation on her wedding day in her redneck hometown of bumfuck arkansas , shoots herself and is instantly sucked through her mirror and into a lesbian fantasy land .
when her enraged parents try to get her back , the sisters at the isle of lesbos put up a fight .
the film premiered at the berlin international film festival .
harmon wrote , produced and directed a variety series for brazilian television `` o circo de bozo '' which was broadcast live to evoke the heyday of 1950 's television .
this series won two brazilian emmys .
his father is the late larry harmon , who owned licensing rights to bozo the clown .
his writings and photographs have been published in various periodicals including `` life magazine '' , `` harper 's '' , the `` sunday times '' , `` independent magazine '' , `` national geographic '' , `` newsweek '' , `` u.s. news & world report '' , `` penthouse magazine '' , `` gallery '' , `` icon '' and `` the daily telegraph '' .
