Debra Zimmerman is an American film distributor and lecturer. She has been the Executive Director non-profit media arts organization

Women Make Movies Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Li ...

since 1983.

Life and career

Zimmerman was born in New York City. In the late 1970s she worked as an intern at Women Make Movies and was then hired by the organization as the Associate Producer and Editor of Why Women Stay, which was directed by Jacqueline Shortell-McSweeney. After working freelance in production, she went to work at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation as an Assistant to Patricia Carry Stewart. In 1983 she became the Executive Director of Women Make Movies. She has moderated panels and given master classes at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

, and Reel Screen. She lectures regularly on women filmmakers and independent film at various universities, including

the New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

the University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

. She has keynoted conferences on women’s cinema at

SUNY Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...

and the

University of Sunderland , mottoeng = Sweetly absorbing knowledge , established = 1901 - Sunderland Technical College1969 - Sunderland Polytechnic1992 - University of Sunderland (gained university status) , staff = , chancellor = Emeli ...

, England. Zimmerman served on the juries of various film festivals, including the

Abu Dhabi Film Festival The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF; ar, مهرجان أبو ظبي السينمائي), formerly the Middle East International Film Festival, was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 20 ...

, the

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

, the Cartagena Film Festival and the

One World Film Festival One World ( Czech: ''Jeden svět'') is the largest human rights film festival in the world (125,947 spectators in 2018), held annually in Prague and other 36 cities of the Czech Republic, with a selection later shown in Brussels and other countries ...

. she held the Laurie Chair in

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

Douglass College Douglass Residential College, is an undergraduate, non degree granting higher education program of Rutgers University-New Brunswick for women. It succeeded the liberal arts degree-granting Douglass College after it was merged with the other und ...

and Rutgers University in 2014-15. She was the author of a Chapter, ''Film as Activism and transformative praxis: Women Make Movies'' in the book, ''The Routledge Companion to Cinema & Gender''. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Cinema Tropical.

Awards and honors

* 2018 - Honorary Maverick Award,

Female Eye Film Festival The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) is a competitive international film festival established in 2001. It is Toronto’s only international film festival geared specifically for women directors. History In 2001, Female Eye Film Festival was est ...

* 2013 - Doc Mogul Award at the

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

* 2012 - Loreen Arbus Award,

New York Women in Film & Television New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) is a non-profit membership organization for professional women in film, television and digital media. The organization is an educational forum for media professionals, and a network for the exchange of ...

* 2011 - The Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award,

Athena Film Festival The Athena Film Festival is an annual film festival held at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City. The festival takes place in February and focuses on films celebrating women and leadership. In addition to showing films, the fest ...

* 2009 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton Award, High Falls Film Festival

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Debra Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from New York City American women academics American lecturers