THE DIRECTOR

 

Lisa Katzman – Director and Producer 

 

Producer/Director Lisa Katzman is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, and screenwriter.  Katzman’s award-winning documentary Tootie’s Last Suit, which explores New Orleans’ Black Masking Indian culture and the life and artistic work of iconic Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana was shown at numerous film festivals, including Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Pan-African Film Festival, and played theatrically in Manhattan and Chicago. The film received the Jean Rouch award from the Society of Visual Anthropology and received a special distinction from the Margaret Mead Film Festival. 

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Katzman’s documentary Flamencos: Here and There explores the contested cultural history of Flamenco music and dance in Spain, and the central role of women to the tradition. It premiered during the Flamenco Festival at the Payment Performing Arts Center in Truro, Massachusetts and has been shown at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Manhattan and other cultural venues. 

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9/11’s Unsettled Dust, which Katzman 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.

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Katzman’s documentary film work has been supported by grants from Ford Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, The Nation Institute, Mott Foundation, and the Independent Film Project, among other foundations.

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For her original investigative work on BP’s use of Corexit, a toxic dispersant used during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, Katzman was the recipient of a research fellowship from Type Media (formerly The Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund). She has worked as a writer and drama 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, a commissioned 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, The Village Voice, Mother Jones, Film Comment, Interview, Saveur, Playboy, High Times, Los Angeles Times, New Art Examiner, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Reader. She has taught film studies, screenwriting, and literature courses at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Tulane University, Vassar College, and Bard College in Annandale.