Kagan's feature film credits include the box-office hit Heroes, The Big Fix a political comedy-thriller starring Richard Dreyfuss; The Chosen, from the classic book of the same name by Chaim Potok; The Journey of Natty Gann, the first American movie ever to win the Gold Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival; the underground comedy Big Man on Campus ; the cult classic fencing film By The Sword ; and the hybrid film Golda's Balcony, from the hit play of the same name. He has also been a prolific television director, starting already in 1972 at the age of 26, directing The Most Crucial Game, an episode in the second Columbo season. In 1996, Kagan won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the Chicago Hope episode "Leave of Absence". Other credits include the television movie', which he also wrote, and ' for which he won the CableACE Award for Best Dramatic Special. Kagan also directed , which garnered a Golden Globe Award nomination. Other television films include The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, Courage with Sophia Loren, Scott Joplin, Descending Angel for HBO and for ShowtimeColor of Justice, Bobbie's Girl, and Crown Heights, about the riots in 1991 which won the Humanitas Award in 2004 for "affirming the dignity of every person." This film also received an NAACP Image Award and the Directors Guild nomination for best family film. Kagan also directed a movie episode of Steven Spielberg's Emmy winning Taken. He has worked on several other series shows including The West Wing, The Guardian, Resurrection Blvd., Picket Fences, Boomtown and more. Kagan produced and directed the ten-part series The ACLU Freedom Files, in 2006 and 2007 which received a number of awards and was shown on Link TV, Court TV and PBS. Kagan recently made a number of short documentaries and advocacy films for NGOs including The Doe Fund which works with the homeless and formerly incarcerated, and The Democracy School a movement developing local governance, and Bioneers which advances achievements in environmental and social justice.
Other ventures
Kagan is a full tenured professor at the University of Southern California where he teaches the graduate courses in directing and has recently created the Center for Change Making Media which is to become a hub for research and training in advocacy cinematic techniques. He has served as artistic director at the Robert Redford's Sundance Institute and is on a National Board Member of the Directors Guild of America and chairperson of its Special Projects Committee which provides cultural and educational programs for the 14,000 members. In 2004 he was honored with the Robert Aldrich Award for "extraordinary service to the guild." In his capacity with the Directors Guild of America, Kagan also moderates the group's annual roundtable discussion featuring that year's five nominees for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film. Kagan is also the author of the book Directors Close Up. 0240804066
Personal life
Kagan lives in Venice, California with his companion Anneke Campbell. She is an author, and was a writer on the series Freedom Files. His daughter Eve is a graduate of the Harvard Ed School, and is now an actress, writer, and yoga teacher.
