Peter Emanuel Goldman, an American film director, was born in 1939 in New York.
Growing up, Goldman did not have a strong interest in film, but he was influenced by the early works of the French New Wave. He enrolled in university, initially in New York and later at La Sorbonne in Paris, but did not complete his studies.
Returning to New York, Goldman was given an old 8 mm camera by his father, which sparked his interest in filmmaking. He began shooting street scenes in Greenwich Village, capturing everyday moments that would later become the foundation for his feature-length films.
Goldman's first feature, Echoes of Silence, was a silent film that followed the adventures of an aimless young man wandering the streets of New York. The film was shot over two years on a budget of $1600 and premiered at the 1966 New York Film Festival.
In the late 1960s, Goldman traveled to Europe to shoot his next film, Wheel of Ashes, starring Pierre Clémenti. The film premiered at the 1968 Venice Film Festival.
The 1972 Munich massacre at the Summer Olympics had a profound impact on Goldman, who became a committed Zionist. He wanted his wife to convert to Judaism, but she refused, and the two ultimately divorced.
In the 1980s, Goldman served as the head of Americans for a Safe Israel, a position that allowed him to express his strong support for the Israeli government. During this time, he also directed a documentary, NBC in Lebanon: A Study in Media Misrepresentation, which accused NBC Nightly News of bias in its coverage of the 1982 Lebanon War.
Throughout his career, Goldman has remained committed to his artistic vision, using his films to explore themes of identity, community, and social justice.
