Lee Hirsch

Last updated
Lee Hirsch
Born1972 (age 51–52)
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active1993–present

Lee Hirsch (born 1972) is an American documentary filmmaker. Hirsch is a graduate of The Putney School in Vermont and Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. He wrote and directed the documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony . [1]

Hirsch also contributed a chapter to Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (The MIT Press, 2008), edited by Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky).

His film Bully premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. [2] Bully follows several families from across ethnic, cultural and geographic boundaries as they grapple with the tragedy their family has faced as a result of bullying. Several of the families profiled in the film had lost a child because he or she became fed up with the mostly mental and sometimes physical abuse they experienced on a daily, even hourly basis at school, on the school bus, and in their communities.

In a screening of Bully in Minneapolis in September 2011, director Hirsch told the audience during the post-film Q & A that he himself had been bullied, and that was part of the inspiration for the film, and for the direction he took it. [3] In an interview with Twin Cities Jewish news website TC Jewfolk after the screening Hirsch continued:

"I felt that the hardest part of being bullied was communicating," Hirsch said. "And getting help. I couldn’t enroll people's support. People would say things like 'get over it,' even my own father and mother. They weren’t with me. That was a big part of my wanting to make the film. It’s cathartic on a daily basis." Hirsch said he hoped the film grows far beyond him, inspiring advocacy, engagement, and empowerment not just in people who are being bullied and in their families, but by those of us who all too often stand by and do nothing. He stated, "I hope we build something that’s really sustainable. I hope this takes on a life of its own." [3] Hirsch is Jewish. [4]

In a Google+ Hangout on March 19, 2012, Lee Hirsch was interviewed by newscaster Tony McEwing at My Fox 11 LA studios, where Hirsch said: "I want this to be a grassroots movement so that the local cities can get behind this movie and support it. This is a great way for people to get involved on social media to help raise awareness." [5] The New York Times described Bully as "moving and troubling". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Schwartzman</span> American musician and actor

Robert Coppola Schwartzman, also known as Robert Carmine, is an American director, screenwriter, actor, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock/pop band Rooney. Schwartzman directed the films Dreamland (2016), The Unicorn (2018), and The Argument (2020), acted in his cousin Sofia Coppola's projects Lick the Star (1998) and The Virgin Suicides (1999), and starred in The Princess Diaries (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Spurlock</span> American filmmaker (1970–2024)

Morgan Valentine Spurlock was an American documentary filmmaker, writer, and television producer. He directed 23 films and was the producer of nearly 70 films throughout his career. He received acclaim for directing the documentary Super Size Me (2004), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. He produced What Would Jesus Buy? (2007) and directed Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (2008), POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011), Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope (2011), and One Direction: This Is Us (2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribeca Festival</span> Annual film festival held in New York, US

The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2002 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Until 2020, the festival was known as the Tribeca Film Festival.

<i>4 Little Girls</i> 1997 film by Spike Lee

4 Little Girls is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the murder of four African-American girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. The film was directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Garfein</span> American director (1930–2019)

Jakob Garfein was an American film and theatre director, acting teacher, and a key figure of the Actors Studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy</span> Pakistani filmmaker and journalist (born 1978)

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a Canadian-Pakistani journalist, filmmaker and political activist known for her work in films that highlight gender inequality against women.

<i>Falling for Grace</i> 2006 American film

Falling for Grace is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed by Asian-American Fay Ann Lee, who also co-wrote the film with Karen Rousso, and stars alongside Gale Harold. It debuted at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. New York magazine called the film one of the two best entries in the "New York, New York" competition that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviva Kempner</span> American filmmaker (born 1946)

Aviva Kempner is a German-born American filmmaker. Her documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history and focus on the untold stories of Jewish people. She is most well known for The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.

<i>The Boys from Baghdad High</i> 2007 British-American-French television documentary film

The Boys from Baghdad High, also known as Baghdad High, is a British-American-French television documentary film. It was first shown in the United Kingdom at the 2007 Sheffield Doc/Fest, before airing on BBC Two on 8 January 2008. It also aired in many other countries including France, Australia, the United States, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. It documents the lives of four Iraqi schoolboys of different religious or ethnic backgrounds over the course of one year in the form of a video diary. The documentary was filmed by the boys themselves, who were given video cameras for the project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Jenks</span> American filmmaker (born 1986)

Andrew Jenks is an American filmmaker.

<i>Normal People Scare Me</i> 2006 American film

Normal People Scare Me: A Film about Autism is a 2006 American documentary film about autism, produced by Joey Travolta. The project began as a 10-minute short film co-directed by an autistic teenager named Taylor Cross, and his mother Keri Bowers. Travolta first met Cross at a program Travolta led teaching the art of filmmaking to children with special needs. He mentored Cross, and the documentary was expanded into a feature-length film.

<i>Defamation</i> (film) 2009 Israeli film

Defamation is a 2009 documentary film by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir. It examines antisemitism, the way perceptions of antisemitism affect Israeli and U.S. politics, and explores the suggestion that claims of antisemitism are exaggerated or weaponized to stifle dissent against Israel. A major focus of the film is the Anti-Defamation League. Defamation won Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Ian Ayres is an American filmmaker.

<i>Bully</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Lee Hirsch

Bully is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Lee Hirsch and produced by Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen. It documents the lives of five students who face bullying on a daily basis in U.S. schools. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2011.

<i>Not My Life</i> 2011 film by Robert Bilheimer

Not My Life is a 2011 American independent documentary film about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. The film was written, produced, and directed by Robert Bilheimer, who had been asked to make the film by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bilheimer planned Not My Life as the second installment in a trilogy, the first being A Closer Walk and the third being the unproduced Take Me Home. The title Not My Life came from a June 2009 interview with Molly Melching, founder of Tostan, who said that many people deny the reality of contemporary slavery because it is an uncomfortable truth, saying, "No, this is not my life."

<i>A Brony Tale</i> 2014 documentary film

A Brony Tale is a 2014 Canadian-American documentary film directed by Brent Hodge. The film explores the brony phenomenon, the adult fan base of the children's animated show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic that arose shortly after its premiere in 2010. The film is structured around the journey of Ashleigh Ball, one of the principal voice actresses for the show, including her initial reactions to learning of this older fanbase, and her travel as a Guest of Honor to one of the first fan conventions BronyCon held in New York City in 2012. Hodge, a close friend of and previous collaborator with Ball, was curious as she was as to this phenomenon and opted to film her travel and appearance at the convention for the documentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Loach</span> British filmmaker (born 1936)

Kenneth Charles Loach is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialism are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty, homelessness, and labour rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Lee Carr</span> American documentary filmmaker

Erin Lee Carr is an American documentary filmmaker. She is also an author for publications including VICE and her memoir called All That You Leave Behind: A Memoir, a story about love, addiction, and the relationship between father and daughter. In 2015, Variety included Carr as one of its "10 Documakers To Watch". Carr made the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30 list.

<i>Vaxxed</i> 2016 anti-vaccination documentary film

Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe is a 2016 American pseudoscience propaganda film alleging a cover-up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a purported link between the MMR vaccine and autism. According to Variety, the film "purports to investigate the claims of a senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who revealed that the CDC had allegedly manipulated and destroyed data on an important study about autism and the MMR vaccine"; critics derided Vaxxed as an anti-vaccine propaganda film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Z Weinstein</span> American filmmaker

Joshua Z Weinstein is an American independent filmmaker based in New York City. He directed the A24 film Menashe (2017), and the feature documentaries Drivers Wanted (2012) and Flying on One Engine (2008). His director of photography credits include Bikini Moon (2017), Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (2013), and Code of the West (2012). Weinstein was nominated for Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards and Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards. He has been nominated for a Cannes Lion for his advertising work and won a first place POY for his work with The New York Times.

References

  1. ↑ Jami Bernard (February 19, 2003). "A Chorus of Protest". The Daily News. Retrieved February 28, 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ "International slate heads Tribeca Film Festival". Associated Press. March 7, 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.[ dead link ]
  3. 1 2 Leora Itman (September 21, 2011). "On Being Bullied, and Tikkun Olam, "Bully Project" Documentary Filmmaker Lee Hirsch Weighs In". TC Jewfolk. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  4. ↑ Bloom, Nate (February 28, 2012). "Jews in the News: Jessica Westfeldt, Maya Rudolph, Michael Chabon". Jews in the News. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
  5. ↑ Lee Hirsch (March 19, 2012). "Bully". Google+ (audio/transcript). Interviewed by Kim Beasley. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ A. O. Scott, " Behind Every Harassed Child? A Whole Lot of Clueless Adults", The New York Times, March 29, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.