Peter Joseph is an American independent filmmaker and activist. He is best known for the Zeitgeist film series, which he wrote, directed, narrated, scored, and produced. He is also the founder of the related Zeitgeist Movement. Other work by Joseph includes the 2017 book The New Human Rights Movement: Reinventing the Economy to End Oppression.

Career

Joseph was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1979 and attended the University of North Carolina and The New School.

In 2009, he founded The Zeitgeist Movement, a self-described "sustainability advocacy organization". It was originally started as the "activist arm" of an organization called The Venus Project, launched by Jacque Fresco in 1994. In 2011, the two organizations separated. Joseph's work with the movement and the Zeitgeist film trilogy has been the subject of national media attention, including articles in The New York Times, The Palm Beach Post, VC Reporter, and TheMarker.

Since 2011, Joseph has supported the Occupy movement.

In 2012, he created the satirical miniseries Culture in Decline, which challenges various contemporary cultural phenomena.

In March 2017, BenBella Books published The New Human Rights Movement, authored by Joseph. Abby Martin discussed his views in the book and generally in an interview on Telesur.

Filmography

Film

• Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007)
• Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
• Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
• InterReflections (2020)
• Zeitgeist: Requiem (2024)

Television

• Culture in Decline (2012)

Music videos

• "God Is Dead?" – Black Sabbath (2013)

Publications

• Murdock, D.M.; Joseph, Peter (2011). The Zeitgeist Sourcebook – Part 1: The Greatest Story Ever Told (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
• The New Human Rights Movement (2017)

See also

• Acharya S
• Post-scarcity economy
• Technocracy