Jeff Zimbalist

Jeff is a director, cinematographer, and editor whose films have been broadcast on HBO, Cinemax, PBS, Channel 4 in the UK, the BBC, the Sundance Channel, Current TV and WE television, as well as theatrically distributed throughout North America, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia. Jeff´s work has been featured at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Massachusetts and the Institute of Contemporary Art in London.  

Jeff teaches at the New York Film Academy and the Maine Photographic Workshops. He has produced educational and promotional films for clients throughout the United States, in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and in Latin America, as well as provided media consulting services to the United Nations Development Program’s South Asian Poverty Alleviation Project and various international non-profit service organizations. Most recently, Jeff completed a four continent industrial documentary for the infoDev branch of the World Bank Group on business incubators.  He is a Massachusetts State Cultural Council Fellow and a 2006 Ford Foundation Grantee.  

Favela Rising, which he directed, shot, edited and produced, was Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Feature Length Documentary in 2005, and among the 36 international awards it has won are Film of the Year by the International Documentary Association, Best Film at the Sydney International Film Festival, and Best Director at the Tribeca Film Festival. Favela Rising (www.favelarising.com) was theatrically exhibited in five continents, held over in theaters in the United Kingdom for six months, and theatrically released by ThinkFilm and HBO in 34 cities in North America. 

Jeff is currently in development on a narrative feature he wrote and will direct with his brother, Michael Zimbalist. Jeff is also producing and directing a short format documentary for HBO, and directing a six part series for BET.  Jeff’s segment on The Addiction Project, HBO’s14 part series on drug abuse, premiered in March, 2007. 

Jeff graduated from Brown University with honors in Art Semiotics and Modern Culture and Media.