Debra Zimmerman from Women Make Movies joined us for a conversation on maximizing film’s outreach—eg. getting into the right film festivals, finding a distributor, getting your work broadcast—in the ever shifting landscape of indie media marketing and distribution. Since 1983, Debra Zimmerman has been the Executive Director of Women Make Movies, a non-profit NY-based organization that supports women filmmakers.
During her tenure WMM has grown into the largest distributor of films by and about women in the world and its internationally-recognized Production Assistance Program has helped hundreds of women get their films made. Zimmerman is in great demand around the world as a speaker on independent film distribution, marketing, and financing as well as on women’s media. She has moderated panels and given master classes at the Sundance Film Festival, MIPDOC, and Reel Screen as well as at film festivals in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Zimmerman has been closely affiliated with the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) as the co-host of the Talk of the Day and as a tutor for their Summer Film Academy. She is on numerous advisory boards for media and film organizations and a jury member for many international film festivals, most recently for the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival, Iran’s Cinema Verite Film Festival, the Leipzig Documentary Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival.
The New School Doc Studies 