Greta Schiller is a renowned producer and director of documentary films, and co-founder of Jezebel Productions, a nonprofit women's production company established in 1984. Throughout her illustrious career, she has produced over a dozen films that bring to light the previously overlooked histories of marginalized groups, skillfully weaving their stories into the cultural narrative.
Her latest project, The Five Demands, has been released by Icarus Films and is currently playing in cinemas. Schiller's dedication to her craft has earned her numerous accolades, including the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Documentary filmmaking. Her work has been supported by esteemed organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Library of Congress/Ken Burns Prize.
Some of her most notable films include Before Stonewall, which premiered at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival, was broadcast on PBS in 1987, and won an Emmy Award in the same year. It was also inducted into the National Film Registry in 2019. International Sweethearts of Rhythm, another notable film, won the Best Documentary award at the New York Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival. Paris Was a Woman, released in 1995, won the Audience Award at the Berlinale, while The Man Who Drove with Mandela, released in 1998, won the Best Documentary award at the Berlinale and was broadcast on PBS.
Schiller's films have been screened at numerous prestigious international film festivals over the past 35 years, solidifying her position as one of the most respected and longest-producing independent filmmakers of her generation. Her latest feature documentary, The Land of Azaba, explores a massive ecological restoration project taking place on the Spanish-Portuguese border and was released in 2020.
Greta Schiller holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The City College of New York (CCNY) and a Master's degree in Education from CCNY, which she earned in 1978 and 2002, respectively. She has been awarded the Townsend Harris Medal for her achievements and is a member of The Communications Alumni Hall of Fame. Schiller has also received two Fulbright Fellowships, the first ever US/UK Fulbright Arts Fellowship in Film in 1989-90, and a Global Fulbright Award in 2016-17.
