Mitchell Block, Oscar nominee for ‘Poster Girl’ documentary, dead at 73

EUGENE, Ore. — Mitchell Block, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the 2010 documentary “Poster Girl,” died May 30. He was 73.

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Block died at his home in Eugene, Oregon, his daughter, Anja Block, told The Hollywood Reporter.

At the time of his death, Block was a professor of documentary and film studies at the University of Oregon, according to the school’s website.

Block shared director duties with Sara Nesson on “Poster Girl,” an HBO documentary that followed Robynn Murray, a sergeant during the Iraq War who battled PTSD when she returned from the front, according to IMDb.com.

Block was executive producer on the 2000 documentary, “Big Mama,” which won an Oscar for short subject documentary. The film followed Viola Dees, an 89-year-old woman fighting to retain custody of her rebellious grandson, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

He also worked on “The Testimony” in 2015, and “Women of the Gulag” three years later.

Block, who was born in Cincinnati, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a master’s in business from Columbia University, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He also studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

While at NYU in 1973, Block wrote, directed and produced a 16-minute film, “No Lies.” The film, about a sexual assault and its aftermath, was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2008, the entertainment news website reported.

According to IndieWire, the film was named one of the 10 best short films ever made. “It’s fiction forged from absolute truth,” the website wrote.

Before coming to Oregon, Block taught classes in independent film production at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts from 1979 to 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In addition to his daughter, Block’s survivors include his son, Pieter. His wife, Joan, died in 2020, according to the entertainment news website.

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