Documentary filmmaker Jaime Kibben dead at 55

Jaime Kibben, a documentary filmmaker who worked for six years as a sound engineer on the "MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour" and recently was working on a film about the Middle East, died in a car accident in Tel Aviv, Israel, on his way to catch a flight home to San Francisco.

Friends said Kibben, 55, who died Saturday, had been working on "Holy Land: Common Ground, " a documentary intended to further the peace process in the region.

James Huber Kibben, who was born in Rapid City, S.D., began his career in 1965 as a professional musician, touring nationally with groups including Sonny and Cher and Spanky and Our Gang. He moved to San Francisco in 1980 and started working in film as a sound recordist.

A decade later, he received an Emmy nomination for his musical composition work on "Thanh's War," a documentary about a Vietnamese-American man who returned to his old village.

Kibben directed many of his own projects in recent years. He had a passion for the environment and indigenous cultures, learning Spanish a decade ago so he could make a film about sustainable farming in Chiapas, Mexico.

His recent films included "The Will of Dean Snider," about a filmmaker friend with Parkinson's disease who chose to take his own life rather than suffer the degenerative effects of his affliction, and "The Greening of Cuba," about how organic farming replaced chemical-based agriculture in that country following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

From 1990 to 1996, Kibben worked with Elizabeth Farnsworth, senior correspondent for the "MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour," and filmmaker John Knoop, on 27 reports in 10 countries.

He is survived by his wife, actress Jeri Lynn Cohen, and a 3-year-old daughter, Julia Rose, of San Francisco; another daughter, Amy Rebecca Hess Kibben of Colorado; a sister, Roxanne Kibben of Minneapolis; a brother, Allin Kaufman Kibben of Tucson, Ariz., and two grandchildren.