Filmmaker Bios

CINDY BURSTEIN, Director/Producer

Cindy Burstein is a filmmaker, educator, freelance producer and engagement coordinator. Following a career in community organizing, she received her MFA from Rutgers University to pursue the use of documentary film as a tool for social change, dialogue and civic engagement.  In addition to producing and directing, she has worked with other independent filmmakers to develop public engagement initiatives for theatrical releases, broadcast premieres and educational distribution. For ten years, she served as the Philadelphia Regional Outreach Coordinator for the Independent Television Service Community Cinema Program -- a groundbreaking public education and civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens. She is the recipient of a Leeway Transformation Award, a fellowship which recognizes women artists who are engaged in social change. She also teaches media production at Temple University and Philly Cam (Philadelphia's Community Access Media Center).

TONY HERIZA, Director/Producer

Since co-founding the Community Media Workshop in Dayton, Ohio in 1974, Tony Heriza has been involved in many aspects of media for social change—producing, editing, teaching and working with community organizations. He is an award winning producer and his documentaries have been broadcast nationally on PBS, screened at the Margaret Mead and other festivals. He has a B.A. from Antioch College and a Master's degree from Rutgers University, where he was a staff producer and adjunct faculty member. He is now Director of Educational Outreach for the American Friends Service Committee and teaches documentary video production in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pennsylvania.