{{Short description|American documentary filmmaker|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | name = John Block | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = John Simeon Block | birth_date = 1951 | birth_place = Chicago, IL, U.S. | occupation = filmmaker | years_active = | spouse = | children = }}
'''John Simeon Block''' is an American documentary filmmaker.
==Career== John Block, a native of Chicago, is a 1972 graduate from Northwestern University. In 1977 he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in filmmaking from the New York University. From 1980 until 1983 he worked for WCBS and then came to NBC in 1983. Initially he was a "Special Segment" producer for the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. In 1990 he became a producer/writer for Real Life with Jane Pauley and in 1991 a producer/writer for the ''Brokaw Reports''. From 1992 until 2009 Block was a producer/writer for Dateline NBC.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131130080958/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/630518/John-Block New York Times: John Block]</ref>
Since 2010, Block has been an independent producer and filmmaker.
Block's subjects cover a wide spectrum of social issues and problems including poverty, homelessness, medical issues, broken families, drugs, crime, and education. He has also made videos for educational and medical support programs.
==Personal life== Block resides in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife Maria. They have three children.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/The-Home-Forum/2008/0213/p19s01-hfes.html |author=John Block |title=Who gets to propose the next time? |publisher=Christian Science Monitor| date=February 13, 2008 |accessdate=November 20, 2015}}</ref>
==Awards== * 1981 Guggenheim Fellowship<ref>[http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/john-block/ Guggenheim Fellow: John Block]</ref> * 10 nominations and 3 Emmy Awards
==Selected filmography== * ''The Sixth Week'' (1978), "Best Documentary", Student Academy Awards of the Academy of Motion Pictures * 1981-82 Daytime National Emmy for work on children series * ''Class Photo'' (1995), Dateline NBC, a documentary about the fate of 21 of 25 Afro-American youths from Bedford-Stuyvesant twelve years after their fourth-grade class picture,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/24/arts/television-review-those-lucky-few-youngsters-who-escape-tragic-streets.html |author=Walter Goodman |author-link=Walter Goodman (critic) |title=TELEVISION REVIEW; Those Lucky Few Youngsters Who Escape Tragic Streets |work=New York Times|date=July 24, 1995 |accessdate=November 20, 2015}}</ref> duPont-Columbia Award * ''Miracle on the Hudson'' (2007), at Dateline NBC documentary, Emmy Award * ''New Orleans Rising'' (2010), a CNN documentary * ''Different is the New Normal'' (2011), about a young man with Tourette syndrome, Emmy nomination<ref>{{cite news| url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-08/business/ct-biz-1108-small-documentary-20111108-35_1_tourette-syndrome-association-film-project-smalls | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127190215/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-08/business/ct-biz-1108-small-documentary-20111108-35_1_tourette-syndrome-association-film-project-smalls | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 27, 2012 |author=Robert Channick |title=A different kind of documentary.Homegrown portrait of area student with Tourette syndrome on cusp of national exposure |publisher=Chicago Tribune| date=November 8, 2011| accessdate=November 20, 2015}}</ref> * ''The Stand-In'' (2011), a personal documentary about elder care and the undocumented with a premiere on PBS.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/06/post_8.html |author=Kathleen O'Brian |title=Fathers and sons explored in Montclair filmmaker's PBS documentary |publisher=NJ Advance Media, NJ.com |date=June 17, 2013 |accessdate=November 20, 2015}}</ref> * ''Sounding the Alarm: Battling the Autism Epidemic'' (2014), a documentary about raising a child with autism, presented at the Nantucket Film Festival<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nantucket-film-festival-2014-lineup-698065 Nantucket Film Festival, 2014]</ref> and the Tribeca Film Festival * ''The One That Got Away'' (2016), a documentary about a promising at-risk youth who went to jail. Preview at the 2015 Montclair Film Festival and premiere at PBS.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-documentary-the-one-that-got-away-examines-the-life-of-an-at-risk-youth-monday-september-12-at-930-pm-on-thirteen-300320910.html| title=New Documentary The One That Got Away Examines the Life of an At-Risk-Youth Monday, September 12 at 9:30 p.m. on THIRTEEN | publisher=PR Newswire |date=August 31, 2016| accessdate=November 16, 2016}}</ref> * ''Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists'' (2019), an HBO documentary about two journalists from New York City, Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill,<ref>[https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/breslin-and-hamill-deadline-artists HBO: Breslin and Hamill Deadline Artists, January 2019]</ref> 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Documentary.<ref>[https://www.montclair.edu/newscenter/2020/09/23/steve-mccarthy-and-team-win-emmy-for-hbo-documentary/ Montclair University press release, September 2020]</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|4485929|John Block}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Block, John}} Category:Living people Category:1951 births Category:American documentary filmmakers Category:Film producers from Illinois Category:Mass media people from Montclair, New Jersey Category:Film people from Chicago Category:News & Documentary Emmy Award winners Category:NBC News people Category:Film producers from New Jersey