Alek Keshishian

Young Harvard-educated director of music videos (Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative," Elton John's "Sacrifice" and Vanessa Williams's "He's Got the Look") selected by pop diva Madonna to helm a feature-length documentary about her four-month Blond Ambition Tour. "Truth or Dare: On the Road, Behind the Scenes, and in Bed With Madonna" (1991) marked Keshishian's feature debut. Given complete access to the star's most intimate moments, he fashioned a controversial yet intelligent film that aroused curiosity about its sexually explicit exhibitionism even before its debut at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Keshishian's first fiction film, "With Honors" (1994), starred Joe Pesci as a homeless man who teaches a few Harvard students the meaning of life.