Oppenheimer has also been busy practicing a different kind of activism.
Since the summer of 1995, Oppenheimer has been infiltrating neo-Nazi organizations in London, the Northeast United States and the Pacific Northwest.
In London, Oppenheimer infiltrated a group dedicated to using prayer and electroshock therapy to turn gay men straight. Posing as the group's security coordinator, he managed to help sabotage a conference by releasing locusts and flies in the church which hosted the event.
Oppenheimer says that he picked up some of the activist tactics he used at Harvard, like the protest in drag in Mansfield's class, while in London.
Back in the United States, Oppenheimer has infiltrated numerous prominent Christian right groups, in one case posing as a legislative liaison, practicing what he refers to as a marriage of theater and activism.
Oppenheimer, whose work is motivated by his family's flight from Nazi Germany, says he has never helped any of the groups and that he pulls away whenever he senses that he is being given too much responsibility.
While infiltrating groups, he monitors their activities and conducts interviews with members which he then uses in his films.
Oppenheimer's current work, like his thesis, focuses on the growth of America's heartland and its culture that has developed a fascination with the paranormal, anti-government and right-wing movements.
"He got the marvelous overall idea that this country was always going West," Makavejev says of Oppenheimer's thesis, "and people are living without history so they are unaware of how small this country was."
"Finally there was this huge space that was looking like America--the Louisiana Purchase--and then the country went further West and what stayed was the heartland," Makavejev says.
Oppenheimer will continue to explore the nation's heartland as he pursues his dream of becoming a professional filmmaker next year, when he will use his Marshall Scholarship to attend the National Film and Television school in London.
He is currently raising funds to make a feature-length film.
"The world is really coming to him," says Makavejev. "He is going to be a new name."