Jeremiah Zagar

Jeremiah Zagar grew up in South Philly spending most afternoons in a dark movie theater or wandering the aisles of his local TLA video store. In 2008 he completed his first documentary, In a Dream, which screened theatrically across the US and in film festivals around the world. It was broadcast on HBO, shortlisted for an Academy Award and received two Emmy nominations, including "Best Documentary."

His next feature-length documentary, Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart, premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO to much fanfare in 2014. His latest film, the feature-length narrative We the Animals, premiered at Sundance in 2018 and took home the NEXT Innovator Award, and was nominated for 5 Independent Spirit Awards.

Chosen Interviews:

• Criterion Top 10 Lists
• Independent Magazine

Creative Resources:

• Photographers Eugene Richards, Mary Ellen Mark, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Tim Hetherington, Mike Kamber - when I need some inspiration, I'll often go leaf through their books.
• I love this book store - McNally Jackson. Some days I'll just sit and leaf through books on the recommend table there - I just finished The Book of Emma Reyes which I loved (recommended to me by the brilliant Justin Torres).
• I watch movies as often as I can (I have a 4-year old so that   can make it tough). Recently, I've been really into Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa, Christian Petzold's Transit, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Never Look Away, and I loved Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's American Factory. 
• I also recommend if you're ever in NYC just going to Coney Island and hanging out all day - nothing better for creativity than that.