Deborah Shaffer

Deborah Shaffer is an American documentary filmmaker. She began making social issue documentaries as a member of the Newsreel collective the 1970s.[1] She co-founded Pandora Films, one of the first woman’s film companies, which produced several shorts. Her first feature documentary, The Wobblies,[2] premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1979. During the 1980s Shaffer focused on human rights in Central America and Latin America, directing many films including Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 58th Academy Awards in 1985. The producer of Witness to War, David Goodman was the recipient of the Academy Award. Goodman and Shaffer accepted the award together and in her acceptance speech Shaffer dedicated the film to the memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero as the ceremony was held on the sixth anniversary of his death.[3] Shaffer also directed Fire from the Mountain based on the book by Omar Cabezas[4] and Dance of Hope about the Pinochet regime in Chile[5][6] which both played at the Sundance Film Festival. Shaffer directed one of the first post-September 11 films, From the Ashes: 10 Artists followed by From the Ashes: Epilogue, which premiered at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals.[7] Shaffer is also the Executive Producer of the Academy Award-nominated short Asylum and the HBO documentary Very Semi-Serious and has directed numerous acclaimed public television programs on women and the arts. She directed and produced To Be Heard,[8] which won awards at DOC NYC, the San Diego Latino Festival, and the Sarasota Film Festival and aired nationwide on PBS.[9] Her most recent film is Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack, about the artist Audrey Flack, which screened at Film Columbia[10] and DOC NYC[11] in fall 2019. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship,[12] an Academy Award,[13] and an Emmy award.[14]