Margaret Lazarus (born January 22, 1949) is an American film producer/film director known for her work in documentary film. She and her partner, Renner Wunderlich, received an Academy Award in 1993[1] for their documentary Defending Our Lives, about battered women who were in prison for killing their abusers.[2]
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Margaret Lazarus was born into a Jewish family, the daughter of a New York City teacher and a school administrator. She was raised in in Queens and grew up with her immigrant grandparents nearby. She graduated with honors from Vassar College and received a Master’s Degree in Communications and Media from Boston University,[3] and to date has produced and directed 20 films about social justice and women’s issues. She began her career as a producer writer for a weekly public affairs program on the CBS affiliate in Boston.
In 1974 she co-founded with Wunderlich the non-profit organization, Cambridge Documentary Films,[4] and to date has produced and directed 20 films about social justice and women’s issues[5][6]: Including films on rape, “Rape is” and Rape culture, films on body image and media culture, "BirthMarkings", "Killing Us Softly", and "Still Killing Us Softly", and films on labor history, "Eugene Debs and the American Movement". In addition to the Academy Award, her films have won numerous awards and prizes and have been screened at festivals throughout the world. She is currently the Executive Director of Cambridge Documentary Films.
Throughout her career she has combined documentary filmmaking and political activism.[7] In 1999 she produced and directed a series of short films on women, violence and human rights for UNIFEM, which were screened at the UN General Assembly. She is one of the co-authors of the chapter on Violence Against Women, in four of the editions of Our Bodies Ourselves[8].
As a Senior Fellow she taught “Producing Films for Social Change” at Tufts University from 2006-2009[9] . She has served as a member of the executive committee of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.