Metallica recently celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their groundbreaking documentary Some Kind of Monster and sadly, not long after, they are now mourning the death of one of the movie's directors -- Bruce Sinofsky (pictured left). The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, shown at left above, died Saturday morning (Feb. 21) in his sleep from complications stemming from diabetes. He was 58.

Sinofsky partnered on many of his films with Joe Berlinger, including the widely acclaimed Paradise Lost trilogy that centered on the three teens known as the West Memphis Three who had been convicted of the killings of three young boys despite a lack of evidence. The films helped bring attention to the plight of the jailed youths which eventually helped in getting their eventual release from prison.

During their time working on 1996's Paradise Lost: Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, Sinofsky and Berlinger crossed paths with Metallica, who contributed music to the film's score. That relationship would later yield Metallica's Some Kind of Monster documentary in 2004, which landed Sinofsky and Berlinger the Independent Spirit award for Best Documentary Feature.

Metallica relayed the news of Sinofsky's passing on their website with the following statement:

We lost a valued member of our family today as award winning filmmaker Bruce Sinofsky passed away this morning.
Bruce, along with Joe Berlinger, was the architect of our film Some Kind of Monster. Smart, funny and dedicated, Bruce was with us almost every day in the early 2000's and was an integral part of helping us to navigate the rough waters during those times. Although not very welcomed at times, he was there through some of the darkest times of Metallica. He became a dedicated comfort and visual lifeboat, while objectively observing the unraveling and rebuilding of our inner and outer selves. We admired Bruce and Joe's work in Brother's Keeper, but of course were blown away by what Bruce and Joe accomplished with the Paradise Lost trilogy of films. With their relentless work and attention to detail, Bruce and Joe's films drew attention to the miscarriages of justice associated with the trial of three teens accused of murder and helped to lead to their eventual release from prison after over 18 years behind bars.
After Some Kind of Monster, Bruce went on to do more brilliant work on the Sundance Channel series Iconoclasts, and History's 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America along with numerous other film and television projects.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Bruce's family and friends. We will miss Bruce. A courageous man with deep empathy and wisdom who wasn't afraid to dig deep to tell the story.
RIP Bruce.

The band also left a touching testimonial to Sinofsky on their Instagram account. Meanwhile, Joe Berlinger, Sinofsky's frequent collaborator, also issued a statement to Variety that reads:

Bruce’s humanity is on every frame of the films that he leaves behind, and words can’t express how graced I feel my life has been by having the extraordinary opportunity of being able to say we were partners and, more importantly, best friends.

Sinofsky's other credits included Brother's Keeper, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Good Rockin' Tonight and Hollywood High among others. Our condolences go out to Metallica, Berlinger and Sinofsky's family. A memorial service will be held in March.

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