Jeff L. Lieberman is a film director, screenwriter and producer of both narrative and documentary films. He is the founder of Re-Emerging Films and the filmmaker behind The Amazing Nina Simone, Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria and the upcoming films: Bella! and My Harlem. He is the 2022 winner of The Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film
Early life
Lieberman was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and is a graduate of The Mini School at Prince of Wales Secondary School, Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media, and UCLA's Professional Program in Producing. Lieberman’s first training in tv/film was through Vancouver’s cult-hit community access TV program, The Complaint Department, which he helped produce for several years while in high school. He also received theatrical training during a summer at the famed Stagedoor Manor in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
His sister is the Author & Writer, Leanne Lieberman.
Journalism
During Lieberman’s years in college, both his journalism and production training were further developed as an intern at Business News Network, The Mike Bullard Show, Pearson Television in London, and at KGTV, the ABC Affiliate in San Diego, California. An internship with CNN brought Lieberman to the network's New York Bureau and working directly with Correspondent Maria Hinojosa and Producer Rose Arce, where during the last month of 1999, they covered stories on the impending Y2K technical glitch, the changing demographics of America in the year 2000, and the events surrounding the trials of the 4 NYPD officers charged in the murder of Amadou Diallo.
Lieberman went on to later write, produce and edit news stories at CBS News in New York and The New York Post, where he covered events all over New York and Washington, DC, including the Obama inauguration, The Times Square terrorist attack, New York’s Fashion Week and the 10-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks. In speaking to LGBT Weekly, he told them: "I’m a journalist at heart and hope that my films invite people to consider situations in different ways and provoke them into action."
Documentary Producing
From 2002–2008, Lieberman was the Senior Producer of Hurwitz Creative, producing behind-the-scenes documentaries on the making of many top feature films including Ratatouille, The Incredibles, The Chronicles of Narnia, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Troy, I, Robot, and The Bucket List. Lieberman travelled to film sets around the world, interviewing Hollywood's leading actors, directors, producers and crafts people, producing programs that aired on HBO, Fox, Starz, Discovery Channel, and the DVDs of films from Warner Bros, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate.
Re-Emerging Films
Lieberman established Re-Emerging Films in 2007 at the outset of his first documentary feature. Inspired by Steven Spielberg naming his production company after his first film, Lieberman followed suit and named his company after his first feature: Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria. Through Re-Emerging Films, Lieberman has produced three feature documentaries, two TV pilots (Beauty Queens, Mario The Magician) and has produced hours of content for Disney, Coca-Cola, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Elsevier, Marlo Thomas and Showtime’s Homeland. Lieberman also co-produced the hit viral pro-Obama election video, “Call Your Zeyde”.
Bella! Lieberman's 2023 film, Bella! chronicles the trailblazing political career of Congresswoman Bella Abzug with The New York Times calling it a film that "illustrates the merciless challenges of electoral endurance even for the fiercest fighter." The film debuted in theatres in August 2023 and features brand new interviews with Barbra Streisand, Shirley MacLaine, Hillary Clinton, Lily Tomlin, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Maxine Waters, Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas, Charles Rangel, David Dinkins and Renée Taylor. Bella! was selected as one of two winners of The Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film at an awards ceremony at The Library of Congress in October, 2022. The award is a finishing grant designed to help filmmakers with completion funding.