Greta Schiller is an American film director and producer, best known for the 1984 documentary '' Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community''.

Personal life

Schiller received the US/UK Fulbright Arts Fellowship in Film and grants from multiple organisations. She is openly lesbian.

Career

Her 1976 film ''Greta's Girls'' is, following Barbara Hammer, one of the first independent short films to focus on lesbians. She had a part directing the 1981 documentary ''Greetings from Washington, D.C.'' which details the first important LGBT walk in 1979. In 1984, Schiller and Andrea Weiss founded Jezebel Productions. The company emphasizes on educational films based on real people. It is based in New York City, and in London since 1998. Schiller and Weiss were strongly influenced by both the New Left movement and the women's and gay liberation movements of the 1970s. In 1985, she and Weiss teamed up to direct ''Before Stonewall'', which won two Emmy awards. ''Before Stonewall'' was the first gay or lesbian film to be funded by the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

. They also directed ''

International Sweethearts of Rhythm The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that incl ...

'' (1986), about African American women musicians performing in the 1930s to 1940s; ''Tiny & Ruby: Hell Divin' Women'' (1988), and ''Paris Was a Woman'' (1996). ''Paris Was a Woman'', about creative lesbians in 1920s

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, was a labor of love for the two filmmakers, taking 5 years to produce and breaking house records. Schiller directed ''Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be In Love'' (1990), ''Woman of the Wolf'' (1994), '' The Man Who Drove With Mandela'' (1998), ''I Live At Ground Zero'' (2002), and ''The Marion Lake Story: Defeating the Mighty Phragmite'' (2014). She produced and directed ''No Dinosaurs in Heaven'' (2010), about the problem of creationists infiltrating science education.

Films

'' Before Stonewall'' combines interviews with multiple forms of media that shows the history of gays and lesbians during the early 20th century to the 1960s. '' The Advocate'' said that Greta Schiller is "gifted". ''Time Out New York'' wrote that ''Paris Was a Woman'' might cause viewers to "want to leave their spouse and move to Paris. The author of ''Black Popular Culture'' included a picture from the film ''Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be In Love'' on the first page of the book. ''The Atlantic Journal'' wrote that ''International Sweethearts of Rhythm'' "makes you glad documentaries were invented."

Awards and nominations

Greta Schiller has won several awards over her career. ''Before Stonewall'' earned her an award at the Torino Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, as well as a Grand Jury Nomination at the Sundance Film Festival. ''Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women'' earned Schiller a Teddy at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

. She won another Teddy in 1999 for Best Documentary for ''The Man Who Drove with Mandela''. The film also won Best Documentary at the Milan International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Newport International Film Festival in Rhode Island.Greta Schiller's IMDb Awards page
/ref> In 2019, Schiller’s film '' Before Stonewall'' was selected by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Filmography

* ''Greta's Girls'' (1978) * ''Greetings from Washington, D.C.'' (1981) * '' Before Stonewall'' (1984) * ''

'' (1986) * ''Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women'' (1989) * ''Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be In Love'' (1990) * ''Woman of the Wolf'' (1994) * '' Paris Was a Woman'' (1996) * ''The Man Who Drove with Mandela'' (1998) * ''Seed of Sarah'' (1998) * ''Escape To Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story'' (2000) (directed by Andrea Weiss) * ''I Live at Ground Zero'' (2002) * ''U.N. Fever'' (2008) * ''No Dinosaurs in Heaven'' (2010) * ''The Marion Lake Story: Defeating the Mighty Phragmite'' (2014) * ''Bones of Contention'' (2017) * ''The Land of Azaba'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Jezebel Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiller, Greta 1954 births Living people American documentary filmmakers American film directors American film producers Lesbian artists LGBT film directors LGBT producers LGBT people from Michigan American women documentary filmmakers 21st-century American women