Debra Zimmerman

Debra Zimmerman has been Executive Director of Women Make Movies since 1983. During her tenure, Women Make Movies has grown into the largest distributor of media by and about women in North America. She has curated and organized video and film exhibitions for numerous organizations, including the American Film Institute, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Zimmerman has lectured on women's media throughout the world, including Japan, Spain, Brazil, Kenya, Russia and Finland. In the United States she has taught workshops on the distribution and marketing of independent film and video at Seattle's 991 Media Art Center, Boston Film Video Foundation, Film/Video Arts and regularly lectures at New York University, Barnard College, and other educational institutions across the United States.

She has been a panelist for the New York State Council of the Arts Electronic Media and Film Program, the NEA Regional Media Fellowships in Chicago and Minneapolis and has reviewed media proposals for the North Carolina Humanities Council and the Alabama Humanities Council. She has served on the juries of the Great Plains Film and Video Festival , the Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Nordic Glory Film Festival in Finland, the Florida Film Festival and most recently, the Kudzu Film Festival.

She is the author of "How to Choose a Distributor and Not Cry Yourself to Sleep," published in Distribution: The Next Step and has consulted with numerous organizations and independent producers on developing new media distribution strategies. She is also the associate producer of WHY WOMEN STAY, a video documentary on battered women. Formerly the President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), and a member of the board of the National Alliance of Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC), Ms. Zimmerman currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Boston Women's Film and Video Festival, San Francisco's Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Northampton Film Festival, the New York International Children's Film Festival. She sits on the Advisory Committee of DocuClub,NY and Reel NY, Channel 13's series on independent film and is a member of National Video Resources' Publications Advisory Committee. (09/09)

Why Women Stay
A film by Jacqueline Shortell-McSweeney and Debra Zimmerman, 1980, 30 min., BW
This documentary examines the complex reasons why women remain in violent homes and challenges the prevailing attitudes which accept domestic violence...