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Jake Eberts
Award winning movie producer, ‘Journey to Mecca’
Jake Eberts was born in Montreal in 1941 and grew up in Montreal and Arvida, Quebec. He attended Bishop’s College School in Lennoxville and graduated from McGill University (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering 1962) and Harvard Business School (MBA 1966). Eberts began his business career as a start-up engineer for L’Air Liquide in Spain, Italy, Germany and France. After three years on Wall Street, in 1971 he joined Oppenheimer & Co. in London, England, where he became Managing Director in 1976.
In 1977 Eberts founded Goldcrest Films in London. From 1977 through 1983, Goldcrest financed the development and/or the production of Watership Down, The Howling, Escape from New York, Chariots of Fire, Local Hero, Gandhi, The Killing Fields and The Dresser. Together these films received 30 Oscar nominations, winning 15, including two for Best Picture (Chariots of Fire and Gandhi).
In 1985 Eberts founded Allied Filmmakers, based in London and Paris, an independent feature film development and production company. Since then, he has served as the executive producer or producer of The Name Of The Rose, Hope and Glory, The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, Black Robe, A River Runs Through It, James And The Giant Peach, The Wind In The Willows, The Education Of Little Tree, Grey Owl, Chicken Run, The Legend Of Bagger Vance, Open Range, Prisoner Of Paradise, Sacred Planet, America’s Heart And Soul and Two Brothers. Seven of these films received 35 Oscar nominations, winning 12, including two for Best Picture (Driving Miss Daisy and Dances with Wolves).
Academy Award nominations from 1977 to date in all categories total 65, including nine Best Picture nominations, of which four were awarded for Best Picture.
Eberts is currently serving as executive producer of Peter Weir’s The Way Back, Louis Schwartzberg’s Hidden Beauty, Geoff Lindsay’s The Flying Machine and Rob Stewart’s Dragon Reef. He also serves as Chairman of National Geographic Films, whose Academy-Award winning March of the Penguins was released in 2005, and is Trustee Emeritus of the Sundance Institute. Eberts also serves as Media Advisor to Participant Media and the Abu Dhabi Media Company.
In 1991 Eberts published My Indecision Is Final, his autobiographical study of the film industry. In 1992 he became an Officer of the Order of Canada. Eberts was awarded honorary doctorates by McGill University in 1998, Bishop’s University in 1999 and Trent University in 2005.
He is married and has two sons and a daughter.
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