Amy Ziering
Ziering in 2020
Born	September 1962 (age 63)[1] Massachusetts
Occupation(s)	Producer, director
Years active	1998–present
Children	3
Parents	Sigi Ziering (father) Marilyn Ziering (mother)

Amy Ziering (born 1962 inMassachusetts) is an American film producer and director. Mostly known for her work indocumentary films, she is a regular collaborator of directorKirby Dick; they co-directed 2002'sDerrida and 2020'sOn the Record, with Ziering also producing several of Dick's films.

In 2013, she received anAcademy Award nomination forBest Documentary Feature for producing the Dick-directed filmThe Invisible War.^[2]

Ziering was born in 1962. She is the daughter ofSigi Ziering, aHolocaust survivor, andMarilyn Ziering.^[3][4] She grew up inBeverly Hills, California.^[3][4] She graduated fromAmherst College before pursuing graduate work atYale University, where she studied withJacques Derrida.^[5][6]

Ziering's first film,Taylor's Campaign (1998), directed byRichard Cohen, followed Ron Taylor, a homeless resident ofSanta Monica, as he campaigned for the Santa Monica city council.Martin Sheen narrated.

Ziering then began work onDerrida (2002), a documentary about her former mentor, the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. She co-directed the film with Kirby Dick.^[7] It explores Derrida's life and work while questioning the limitations of biography. It won theGolden Gate Award at the 2002San Francisco International Film Festival.

Ziering next produced a feature narrative,The Memory Thief (2007), directed by Gil Kofman. The film chronicles the experiences of a young man who becomes involved in documenting the experiences of survivors of theHolocaust as his commitment turns into obsession and madness. Ziering collaborated with Dick again onOutrage (2009), a documentary about the lives ofcloseted gay politicians who legislate against gay rights, as well as themainstream media's reluctance to report on this subject. It received anEmmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.

In 2012, she premieredThe Invisible War at theSundance Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film examines the epidemic of rape in theUnited States Armed Forces, and has been heralded for exposing a culture of sexual abuse atMarine Barracks Washington.^[8] Several government officials have commented on the film's influence on policy, includingSecretary of DefenseLeon Panetta, who has said that the film convinced him to implement a wave of reforms designed to reduce the prevalence of military sexual assault.^[9]

The film's revelations have also been discussed in congressional hearings and spurred lawmakers to seek better safeguards for assault survivors.^[10] SenatorKirsten Gillibrand credits the film with inspiring her to introduce theMilitary Justice Improvement Act, which would establish an independent judiciary to oversee accusations of sexual assault in the armed forces.^[11]

Among other honors,The Invisible War received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 85thAcademy Awards and wonEmmy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Outstanding Investigative Journalism.^[12][13]

In 2015,The Hunting Ground premiered at the2015 Sundance Film Festival. Produced by Ziering and written and directed by Dick, the documentary is about the incidence of sexual assault on U.S. college campuses and the failed response of college administrators. It was released on February 27, 2015,^[14] an edited version aired onCNN on November 22, 2015,^[15][16] and the DVD was released the week of December 1, 2015.^[17] It was released on Netflix in March 2016.^[18]Lady Gaga recorded an original song, "Til It Happens to You", for the film.^[19]

One day before the film's theatrical release, a bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators, accompanied by the film's lead subjects, Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, reintroduced theCampus Accountability and Safety Act requiring universities to adopt standard practices for weighing sexual charges, and to survey students on the prevalence of assault.

The Hunting Ground was nominated for a 2016Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and for theProducers Guild of America's Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture award.^[20] It won the 2016Stanley Kramer Award given to "a production, producer or other individual whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.^[21]The Hunting Ground was also one of the five movies nominated in the Documentary category of the 2016MTV Movie Awards.^[22]

The Bleeding Edge premiered at the 2018Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews and received further critical acclaim after its worldwide release onNetflix on July 27, 2018.^{[citation needed]} Currently at 100% onRotten Tomatoes^[23] and aNew York Times Critic's Pick of the Week,^[24] the documentary, written and directed by Dick and produced by Ziering and Amy Herdy, is a deep dive into the $400 billion medical device industry,^[25] where the filmmakers find shockingly lax regulations, corporate coverups and profit-driven incentives that put patients at risk daily.^[26]

The film's impact was felt immediately as a week before its release,The Bleeding Edge became a part of a national news story whenBayer removed the birth control deviceEssure from the U.S. market, one of the many devices heavily criticized and warned about in the film.^[27]Entertainment Weekly added it to its list of documentaries that have changed the world.^[28] The documentary received theGeorge Polk Award for Medical Reporting^[29]—one of only a few documentaries to receive the journalistic award—and was nominated for aPeabody Award^[30] and theGrierson Award for Best Science Documentary.^[31]

On October 23, 2017, Dick and Ziering announced an upcoming film on equity, parity, abuse, and representation in Hollywood.^[32] They had begun working on this project while screeningThe Invisible War.^[33][34] In a statement to media, Ziering said, "Every time we screened that film in Hollywood, actors and executives would come up to us and say that they had had similar experiences right here. So we began working on this project and immediately found ourselves grappling with the same forces that had kept this story silenced for so long. Everyone was frightened about what would happen to their careers, and worried about whether they would be sued. Distributors were unwilling to fund or release the film, and few people were willing to talk on the record."^[35]

Once theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations went public, funding appeared through Impact Partners, which also financedThe Hunting Ground andThe Invisible War.^[33] Ziering said, "People at long last are speaking out in large numbers, and we feel this industry, and the country, is finally ready for an unflinching film about the reality of sexual assault and harassment in Hollywood."^[35]

On the Record, Dick and Ziering's film about sexual abuse allegations againstDef Jam co-founderRussell Simmons, premiered to a standing ovation at the2020 Sundance Film Festival.^[36] The film, which includes the voices of nine alleged survivors such as Drew Dixon, Sheri Sher, Sil Lai Abrams, Jenny Lumet, and Kelly Cutrone, has received critical acclaim. Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 99% based on 71 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "On the Record uses harrowing first-person accounts to powerfully and persuasively confront the entrenched sexism of an industry and its culture."^[37] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 22 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[38]

Dick and Ziering's first documentary series,Allen v. Farrow is a four-part series that examines the sexual assault allegation made againstWoody Allen by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow, who was seven when the abuse allegedly occurred. It follows the custody battle between Allen and his former partnerMia Farrow, his marriage to her adopted daughterSoon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years younger than Allen, and the events of subsequent years.^[39] The series premiered onHBO on February 21, 2021, with the last episode airing on March 14, 2021. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 82% based on 56 reviews.^[40] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[41]

RAINN announced that the series resulted in a nearly 20% increase in calls.^[42]

Ziering and Dick directedNot So Pretty, a four-part series about thebeauty industry and harmful chemicals in products, narrated byKeke Palmer.^[43] It premiered on April 14, 2022, onHBO Max.^[44]

Ziering has three daughters and resides inBrentwood.^[45]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAmy Ziering.

• Amy Ziering atIMDb
• Interview with Amy Ziering andKirby Dick, January 2, 2015Democracy Now!
• Interview with Amy Ziering, June 9, 2016Democracy Now!

• Living people
• Film people from Beverly Hills, California
• Film producers from California
• American documentary film directors
• American documentary film producers
• American people of German-Jewish descent
• American people of Polish-Jewish descent
• Yale University alumni
• 1962 births
• People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
• Documentary war filmmakers
• Film directors from Los Angeles
• American women documentary filmmakers
• 21st-century American women

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