Justin Schein is an American documentary filmmaker and

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

. He has been cinematographer on over 60 films and is the co-founder of Shadowbox Films. He is best known for his work on cinéma vérité films that include ''America Rebuilds: A Year at Ground Zero'', ''

No Impact Man ''No Impact Man'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein, based on the book by Colin Beavan. The film, which premiered September 4, 2009, follows Colin Beavan and his family during their year-long experime ...

'', and ''Left on Purpose''.

Early life and education

Schein was born in New York and attended Horace Mann School in The Bronx prior to enrolling in Johns Hopkins University in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

. He graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1990 and began working as an intern at Great Projects, a film company in New York City. He later returned to school where he earned a master's degree in documentary filmmaking from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Career

Schein has been involved in directing and cinematography for more than 20 years. He has been the cinematographer on over 60 films that have appeared on networks such as The BBC, The Discovery Channel, HBO, and PBS. Schein is also the founder of Shadownbox Films, a film studio he started in 1998 along with co-founder David Mehlman, a fellow Stanford graduate. One of Schein's more notable early projects is ''America Rebuilds: A Year at Ground Zero'', a documentary that looked at the cleanup of Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks as well as the debate over what should replace the Twin Towers. He collaborated on the project with Daniel Polin, president of Great Projects Film Company, the company where he interned after graduating from Johns Hopkins. Polin was producer on the documentary while Schein worked as co-producer and cinematographer. America Rebuilds was narrated by Kevin Spacey and appeared on PBS on the one year anniversary of the attacks. In 2009, Schein released

, a documentary film he directed with Laura Gabbert based on the book of the same title by

Colin Beavan Colin Beavan (born 1963) is an American non-fiction writer and internet blogger noted for recording the attempts of his family to live a "zero impact" lifestyle in New York City for one year. Zero impact experiment The rules of the experiment in ...

.Anderson, John
"No Impact Man"
'' Variety'', 2009-01-18. Retrieved on 2009-06-30. The film, which premiered 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 ...

and opened theatrically September 4, 2009, follows

and his family during their year-long experiment to have

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

zero

impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impact ...

on the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. The rights of the film were picked up by

Oscilloscope Laboratories Oscilloscope Laboratories is an independent film company and distributor founded by Adam Yauch and former TH!NKFilm executive David Fenkel. It also has a recording studio and film production facilities. Fenkel returned to the company on May 4, 20 ...

. Schein worked as the cinematographer for the documentary ''My So-Called Enemy''. Released in 2010, filming began in the summer of 2002 and documents the relationships between six Jewish and Palestinian girls who come to the United States for a leadership camp. The film documents the bonds that grow between the girls in absence of the violence where the girls live back home. It screened at numerous film festivals, including winning a

Cine Golden Eagle Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer t ...

and being awarded the Best Documentary at the 2010

Boston Jewish Film Festival The Boston Jewish Film Festival (BJFF) is an annual film festival that screens the best contemporary films on Jewish themes from around the world. The festival presents features, shorts, documentaries, and conversations with visiting artists in o ...

. Schein's most recent projects include ''Left On Purpose'', a documentary on the life of political activist Mayer Vishner. Schein originally wanted to document the rebellious legacy of Vishner when he finds out Vishner has severe depression and wants to end his own life as his last political act. Schein and Vishner become friends during the filming and Vishner did not reveal his wishes until later in the filming. Vishner committed suicide on August 22, 2013, twelve hours after dropping his cat off with writer

Michael Ventura Michael Ventura (born October 31, 1945) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film director, essayist and cultural critic. History Michael Ventura commenced his career as a journalist at the ''Austin Sun'', a counter-culture bi-weekly newspap ...

in Texas. The film was funded through a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign in 2015 as well as supported from Sundance Documentary Fund, The Jerome Foundation, and Catapult Film Fund. The night before his death, Vishner told Ventura while smiling "part of me really wants to see the movie." ''Left On Purpose'' began its festival run in the fall of 2015 and went on to win awards at multiple domestic and international film festivals including Audience Awards at DOC NYC and Woodstock Film Festival. As of February 10, 2017, it is available for streaming on multiple major online platforms.

Partial filmography

References

External links

Shadowbox Films official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schein, Justin Living people American documentary filmmakers Stanford University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)