THE DIRECTOR

 

Lisa Katzman – Director and Producer 

 

Lisa Katzman is a journalist, film critic, documentary filmmaker, and screenwriter. Tootie’s Last Suit, her feature documentary film about the history and culture of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians and Chief Tootie Montana, premiered at the 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, played theatrically in New York and Chicago, and received the prestigious Jean Rouch Award from the Society for Visual Anthropology. 9/11’s Unsettled Dust, which she produced and directed (and which was executive produced by Eric Overmyer and Charles Burnett) premiered on WNET in New York in honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Katzman also produced and directed Flamencos: Here and There, a documentary that explores the contested cultural history of Flamenco music and dance in Spain, and the central role of women to the tradition. Her documentary film work has been supported by grants from numerous foundations, including Ford Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, The Nation Institute, Mott Foundation, and the Independent Film Project.

 

For her original investigative work on BP’s use of Corexit, a toxic dispersant used during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, Katzman received a research fellowship from Type Media (formerly The Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund). She has worked as a drama and script consultant on writer/producer David Simon’s HBO series The Deuce, Israeli director Amos Gitai’s film Eden, and Kartemquin Films' documentary, Golub.  Original screenplays include Rachel and Gerard, an interracial romance set in the art world of Chicago that will be directed by Academy award-winning filmmaker Charles Burnett; and Deep Song, an adaptation of Dorien Ross’ memoir Returning to A, about the author’s experiences studying Flamenco guitar with a Roma master in Andalusia during the Franco regime. Katzman has written extensively about film, art, the environment, feminism, food, music, the sex industry, and human rights for many publications, including The New York Times, Village Voice, Mother Jones, Film Comment, Interview, Saveur, Playboy, High Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Reader.  As an educator, she has taught film studies and screenwriting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Tulane University, Vassar College, and is currently an Artist-in-Residence in the Film and Electronic Arts Department of Bard College in Annandale, New York.