Vivian Kleiman is a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

-winning documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

. She has received a National

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Research and executive produced an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominated documentary. Kleiman directed and produced the feature documentar
No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics
(2021), which chronicles queer history in the U.S. through the stories of five featured comic book artists — Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Rupert Kinnard, and Mary Wings. The film premiered in June 2021 at Tribeca Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and AFI DOCS. It has screened at film festivals worldwide, and took home the Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize at Outfest and the NLGJA: Association of LGBTQ Journalists Award for Excellence in Documentary Journalism. No Straight Lines was broadcast on the National PBS award-winning series Independent Lens January 2023. In 2019, Kleiman was awarded a Eureka Fellowship of the Fleishhacker Foundation, a fellowship program for visual artists by invitation only. Also an educator, she served as Adjunct Faculty at

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 ...

Graduate Program Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and struc ...

in Documentary Film and Video Production from 1995–2004. Kleiman was a long time collaborator with Black gay filmmaker

Marlon Riggs Marlon Troy Riggs (February 3, 1957 – April 5, 1994) was a Black gay filmmaker, educator, poet, and activist. He produced, wrote, and directed several documentary films, including ''Ethnic Notions'', '' Tongues Untied'', ''Color Adjustment'', ...

. They founde
Signifyin' Works
in 1991, which creates and distributes films about the experiences of African Americans. Directed by Riggs, their 1992 film

Color Adjustment ''Color Adjustment'' is a 1992 documentary film that traces 40 years of race relations and the representation of African Americans through the lens of prime-time television entertainment, scrutinizing television's racial myths. Narrated by Ruby Dee ...

screened 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 received the

International Documentary Association International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmm ...

's IDA Award, the

Erik Barnouw Award The Erik Barnouw Award—also known as the OAH Erik Barnouw Award—is named after the late Erik Barnouw, a Columbia University historian and professor who was a specialist in mass media. The OAH -- Organization of American Historians -- gives one o ...

from the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...

and the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 1993.

Selected filmography

As executive producer

* Pool Stories, work in progress (Director Vicky Funari *
Near Normal Man
' 28 minutes, 2017 (Director Charlene Stern) * ''

Last Day of Freedom ''Last Day of Freedom'' is a 2015 American black and white and color animated short film, short documentary film about racism, the US Criminal Justice System, and mental health issues. The documentary was well received by critics and earned numero ...

'',

animated documentary The animated documentary (also known as anidoc) is a moving image form that combines animation and documentary. This form should not be confused with documentaries about movie and TV animation history that feature excerpts. History The fi ...

transmedia Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. From a producti ...

project. KQED Truly California, 32 minutes, 2015 (Directors

Dee Hibbert-Jones Dee Hibbert-Jones is a film director, producer and animator. She is best known for co-producing and co-directing the short-documentary ''Last Day of Freedom'' (32 mins) for which she received an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subjec ...

and

Nomi Talisman Nomi Talisman (born 1966) is an Israeli-born, American film director, producer, cinematographer and animator. She is best known for co-producing and co-directing short-documentary ''Last Day of Freedom'' for which she received Academy Award fo ...

). Academy Award nominated *
Strong!
' PBS, ITVS, one hour, 2012. (Director Julie Wyman) *
Passion & Power
', 74 minutes, 2007. (Directors Emiko Omori and Wendy Slick) *
Hope Along the Wind
' (Directo
Eric Slade
PBS, ITVS *
The Key of G
' PBS, ITVS, one hour, 2007. (Director Robert Arnold) *
Maquilapolis: City of Factories
' PBS, ITVS, one hour, 2006. (Directors Vicky Funari and Sergio dela Torre) *
First Person Plural
' PBS, POV and ITVS, one hour, 2000. (Director Deann Borshay)

As producer

*
Forgotten Fires
' PBS, ITVS, one hour, 1998. (with

Michael Chandler Michael Chandler (born April 24, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2009, Chandler first gained n ...

) *
Roam Sweet Home
' PBS, ITVS, one hour, 1996. ''(with

Ellen Spiro Ellen Spiro is an American documentary filmmaker. She was a producer and director of a television documentary ''Are the kids alright?'', which won an Emmy Award in 2005. She is a professor emerita of the University of Texas at Austin, where sh ...

)'' * ''

'' PBS, POV, 90 minutes, PBS, POV series, 90-minutes, 1992 (with Marlon Riggs) * '' Routes of Exile: A Moroccan Jewish Odyssey'' 1982 (with Gene Rosow & Howard Dratch)

As director/producer

*
No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics
' (world premiere Tribeca Festival 2021) *
Families Are Forever
' Commissioned by the Family Acceptance Project, 21 minutes, 2013 ** Audience Award, LA Outfest; Best Documentary Short, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival *
Always My Son
' Commissioned by the Family Acceptance Project, 16 minutes, 2011 * ''Profiles of Change'' Commissioned by Rubicon Programs, 8 minutes, 2011 *
Bianca's Journey
' Commissioned by the Family Acceptance Project, 8 minutes, 2010 *
The Meaning of Food
' PBS, 3 x 60 minute series, 2005 (also Series Producer) *
My Body's My Business
' 16 minutes, 1992. * ''Out For The Count'' Commissioned by Lavender Message Project, 14 minutes, 1992. * ''Ein Stehaufmannchen'' Commissioned by Shana Films, 40 minutes, 1991.

As consultant or writer

* ''Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics & Men'', (Director Sascha Jenkins) Story Consultant, 4 part series, Showtime, 2019 * Strike Anywhere Films - (founded by Barry Jenkins) feature-length documentary, Writer, 2018 (work-in-progress) *
Something Ventured
' - Consulting Producer, 85 minutes, PBS (Directors Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller), 2011. *
Ripe for Change
' - Consulting Writer, one hour, PBS (Director Emiko Omori), 2005. *
The Cockettes
'' 100-minutes, PBS (Directors

David Weissman David Weissman is an American screenwriter and director, most known for his comedies. He frequently collaborates with David Diamond. Diamond and Weissman met in high school, at Akiba Hebrew Academy (now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy). They gradu ...

and

Bill Weber William Weber (born May 8, 1957) is a former television sports commentator best known for his work on TNT and NBC NASCAR broadcasts. Weber was also the lead announcer for Champ Car World Series events and other auto racing series on NBC. He is ...

), 2002.

Selected awards

* Grand Jury Prize, Best Feature-Length Documentary, OutFest Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2021. * Eureka Fellowship,

The Fleishhacker Foundation ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

* National

Nomination for Outstanding Individual Research * Outstanding Documentary Award,

* Erik Barnouw Award,

* National Owl Award,

AARP AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazin ...

* Prized Pieces, National Black Programmers Association * Crystal Heart Award,

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

References

External links

* *
''Vivian Kleiman''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleiman, Vivian American documentary film producers American documentary film directors Living people American women documentary filmmakers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women