Biographie
Jeff L. Lieberman is an Emmy and WGA-nominated director, writer, producer, filmmaker, journalist, and founder of Re-Emerging Films.
His latest Oscar-qualifying documentary, "Bella!", highlights the pioneering congresswoman Bella Abzug. It is a 2024 Writers Guild of America nominee for Best Documentary Screenplay and won the 2022 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film.
"Bella!" tells Bella Abzug’s inspiring story and her advocacy for women, the working class, and the LGBTQ+ community, featuring new interviews with Barbra Streisand, Shirley MacLaine, Hillary Clinton, Lily Tomlin, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Maxine Waters, Phil Donahue, and others. Through never-before-seen home movies, audio diaries, and newly uncovered news footage, the film offers not only a portrait of one woman but also an immersive look at a vibrant and challenging era with striking parallels to today. The film premiered in theaters in August 2023 and will debut on PBS’s "American Masters."
Lieberman’s previous documentaries include "The Amazing Nina Simone" and "Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria," screened in over 100 theaters across 21 countries and available on Amazon, iTunes, and various streaming platforms.
"The Amazing Nina Simone" (2015) has been praised by The New Yorker as the best of the three Nina Simone films and described by Blavity as "the Nina Simone film we should all be watching." It received a nomination for Outstanding Documentary from The Black Reel Awards and was lauded by The New York Times, BBC News, and The Hollywood Reporter for its thorough exploration of the iconic singer and civil rights activist. This followed Lieberman’s Academy Award-qualifying documentary "Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria," hailed by New York’s Amsterdam News as "one of the must-see documentaries of 2013."
Lieberman has also served as Co-Executive Producer on Vice’s "Sex Before The Internet," Senior Producer at CNN, National Producer for CBS News, and Video Reporter for The New York Post.
At CNN, he led a team producing the Emmy-nominated film "Taking on Taylor Swift," which aired in primetime in 2022.
He has directed numerous short films, including "In the Mix: 25 Days and Not a Minute More," starring Usher, and the viral election video "Call Your Zeyde."
Lieberman is currently set to direct the feature narrative "My Harlem," based on his recent screenplay.
