Madeleine Sackler

Madeleine Sackler is an American director, editor and producer. Her grandfather, Raymond, was one of the three Sackler brothers who owned Purdue Pharma. Sackler began her career as a film editor, and then began creating documentaries. Her first film is a documentary titled The Lottery. She has since made other documentaries including Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus and It's a Hard Truth Ain't It. In 2018, Sackler released her first fictional film, O.G. She has received criticism for her family fortune, which derives in part from the sale and manufacture of the highly addictive pharmaceutical drug Oxycodone.

Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus is an observational documentary directed by Sackler for HBO. It was the winner of the 2015 Emmy for Outstanding Arts and Cultural Programming. Sackler began production on the film in Belarus in the summer of 2010. She gathered footage of Belarus Free Theatre, an underground theatre group that had been censored and deemed illegal by the Belarus government. In the documentary, Sackler captures the theatre group's performances, as well as their everyday lives and struggles under what they consider to be totalitarian control. Sackler also films tense political moments; six months into filming, Belarus experienced an election that resulted in Alexander Lukashanko, who some have called ‘Europe's last dictator', winning a fourth-consecutive term as president against democratic candidate Andrei Sannikov. Following the election there were riots with civilians clashing with police followed by arrests including opposition candidates, with some members of Belarus Free Theatre being involved and others fleeing for countries such as England and America. This turbulent election altered Sackler's documentary from themes of dictatorship, power, and censorship, to topics of exile, family, and home.

Sackler's first film The Lottery was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2011. Her second film Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus won the award for Outstanding Arts and Cultural Programming at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards.

After graduating from Duke University, Sackler used her skills in computer software to begin her career as a film editor. She created her first documentary titled The Lottery in 2010. Sackler has since filmed more documentaries including Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus and It's a Hard Truth, Ain't It. She finished production on her first fictional film titled O.G in 2018. Sackler has also produced some of her own films, and is the founder of a production company Great Curve Films.

Sackler was born in 1983, and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. She went to public high school and attended Duke University. Sackler was a biopsychology major at Duke and considered going to med school. However, she was equally interested in reading, writing and photography. Sackler incorporated these interests into her time at Duke with a minor in English, a photography elective, and creating a documentary short as an independent study.