Worked as consultant to Werner Herzog and Volker Schlondorff

Directed first feature, "Gates of Heaven" a documentary about two California pet cemetaries

Completed second documentary, "Vernon, Florida" an account of an eccentric American town (aired on PBS in 1983)

Breakthrough feature, "The Thin Blue Line"; film led to release of its subject, the unjustly imprisoned Randall Dale Adams

Narrative feature directorial debut, "The Dark Wind"; produced by Robert Redford and released directly on video

Directed the documentary film, "A Brief History of Time" about the physicist Stephen Hawking

Profiled four esoteric professionals in "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control"

Helmed the documentary, "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr." about the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier

Directed the documentary, "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara"; based on the life of the Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations

Filmed the documentary "Standard Operating Procedure," which explores the events surrounding the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse