Alex Gibney

Alex Gibney is an American documentary director and producer who founded Jigsaw Productions Jigsaw ProductionsJigsaw Productions is an American documentary production company founded in 1982 by the director Alex Gibney and based in New York. Its work includes Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side and Going Clear. Content Media took a 50% stake in 2012, and Wendy Schmidt acquired a majority stake in 2025; the company co-produced the documentary Musk.Open the full entry in 1982. He won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature for Taxi to the Dark Side and was nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. His documentary Musk was selected for the 2026 Venice Film Festival and opened in U.S. theaters in October 2026.

Contents10 sections

Key facts

Early Life: Family and Education

Gibney’s father, Frank Gibney, wrote for Time and Newsweek, and his stepfather was the minister William Sloane Coffin Jr. He studied at Yale University Yale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry and then UCLA film school.⁠[1]

1982Founding Jigsaw Productions

Gibney founded the documentary company Jigsaw Productions in 1982.⁠[2]

2003–2005From Producing to Directing

After producing the 2003 PBS series The Blues he moved into directing; his first feature documentary as director was Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005).⁠[1]

2006Oscar Nomination for Enron

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room was nominated for Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, with Alex Gibney and Jason Kliot as nominees.⁠[3]

2008Academy Award for Taxi to the Dark Side

Taxi to the Dark Side won Documentary Feature at the 80th Academy Awards, awarded to Alex Gibney and Eva Orner.⁠[4]

2025Majority Stake in Jigsaw Sold

In February 2025 he sold a majority of Jigsaw to Wendy Schmidt and kept running it.⁠[5]

2026The Documentary Musk

Gibney spent nearly four years on the documentary Musk, and Musk did not sit for an interview. Musk called Gibney an “idiot” on X, and his camp threatened lawsuits.⁠[6]

The film was selected for the Venice Open, out-of-competition section of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, with a running time of 232 minutes.⁠[7]

It opened in four U.S. theaters on October 9, taking $64,087 on its opening weekend, and expanded to a maximum of 472; it had grossed $696,344 domestically through October 30.⁠[8]

As the film disappeared from most big-city screens, Gibney urged viewers to “See it while you can.”⁠[9]

Works: Other Notable Films

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief won three Emmys and a DuPont-Columbia Award, and Taxi to the Dark Side also won an Emmy.⁠[10]

His other work includes Mea Maxima Culpa, We Steal Secrets, Zero Days, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, Citizen K, Totally Under Control and the first episode of the Hulu series The Looming Tower.⁠[11]

Honors: Other Awards

Gibney has also received a Grammy, several Peabody Awards and WGA Awards, as well as the IDA Career Achievement Award (2013), the inaugural Christopher Hitchens Prize (2015) and the Robert J. Flaherty Award (2019).⁠[11]