ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Bart Weiss

Bart Weiss is an award-winning independent film and video producer, director, editor and educator, who has lived in Dallas since 1981.

He is mostly known as the director and founder of the Dallas Video Festival. He produces the TV show “Frame of Mind” on KERA TV in Dallas, and is the artistic Director of 3 Stars Cinema.

He has taught film and video at Texas A&M’s Visualization Lab, Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Austin, and West Virginia State College, and is currently an Associate Professor at UT Arlington.

He is a former President of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), former (and founding) board member Dallas Artists Research and Exhibition (DARE), past Vice President of the Texas Association of Film and Tape Professionals (TAFTP), founder and past President of the West Virginia Filmmakers’ Guild, and co-founder of the Dallas Video Festival and the Video Association of Dallas.  He has been a video columnist for The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times Herald, and United Features Syndicate.

Bart received an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University

in 1978 and a B.A. in Radio TV and Film from Temple University in 1975.

Mark Birnbaum

From Nicaragua dancing with socialism to Tom DeLay dancing with the stars, Mark Birnbaum’s documentary films have probed, celebrated and exposed people to places and personalities from all over the globe.

Birnbaum began making films while serving in the United States Army as a photographer and filmmaker in Vietnam. When he returned from his tour of duty, Birnbaum went to work for the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting. He left his roots in Baltimore and moved to Texas where he worked at Dallas’ PBS affiliate for several years before becoming an independent filmmaker.

His latest film, Swingman, (World Premiere Dallas Video Festival) tells the story of Captain Marshall Allen, a fireman’s fireman, who nearly lost his life when an injury paralyzed him, but six months later was back on the job, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s “personal, powerful and poignant” — Ft. Worth Star Telegram. In Larry v. Lockney, (National PBS Broadcast on POV, international broadcast True Stories: Life in the USA), he tells “a riveting story of good people — on both sides — trying to do the right thing for their children and their town” —Houston Chronicle. The Big Buy, about Tom DeLay’s rise and fall, “presents its evidence clearly and with a welcome sense of humor” —New York Times, and is “more feisty and fun than a drunken barbecue in Beaumont” —Tallahassee Democrat. Once in a Lifetime follows eight American high school students to China (Official Selection: Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival). Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper in Peril (World Premiere, AFI/Dallas International Film Festival) is “Surprisingly inspiring, as it points to the inevitable reinvention of an industry in need of new life.”—Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer. SLANT45: The Movie, by turns comical and poignant, offers an intimate look at children who, through ingenuity, courage and spirit, embarked on a year-long journey to identify problems and improve the lives of those around them (Official Selection, Dallas International Film Festival).

Mark is currently producing a wide range of projects. They include A Wrinkle in Time: The Documentary About The Opera About The Book, that will follow the creation of a world premiere production by the Fort Worth Opera based on the wildly popular book, and Do something Different the Brave Combo Story , about the Denton, Texas based band.