Justin Zimmerman

Justin Zimmerman, an Athens resident who received his MFA from OU in Sept. 2002, has already produced two Ohio-based documentaries and is working on another.

Zimmerman said his extensive community involvement inspired his master¹s thesis at OU, which has appeared in film festivals nationwide.He has worked with the YWCA in Hubbard, Ohio as well as mentored inner-city schoolchildren in Columbus.Here in Athens, he works as the school-based programs coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters and has volunteered at ATCO.

He explained that his work with these groups led to his creation of ³One in Five,² a film that examines the lives of a young boy with Down¹s syndrome, a girl trying to come to terms with her mother¹s alcoholism, a poor boy from Appalachia, an inner-city grandmother with Alzheimer¹s disease, and a person who is paranoid-schizophrenic.

³I picked kind of the five most interesting folks that I¹ve met through community work and through my involvement in different social organizations and groups,² he said. ³I was invited into their lives for a short amount of time, and I was able to capture some amazing stuff.²

The documentary won an award for Best Non-Fiction Short at the 2002 Chicago IFP Film Festival and made its Ohio debut at the Cleveland International Film Festival on March 23.It also earned Zimmerman, 25, a $5,000 Ohio Arts Council fellowship.The fellowship, which is awarded anonymously, requires applicants to send in an artist¹s statement explaining the methodology behind their work as well as two original works.

³It was really exciting in that it had nothing to do with me as a person; it had only to do with my work, which is a great validation and just a great honor,² Zimmerman said.

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Zimmerman won in the media arts category.

Since receiving the OAC fellowship, Zimmerman¹s career has continued to blossom.He has his own production company, Bricker-down Productions, and was recommended for an OAC Individual Artist¹s Project Grant worth nearly $10,000.He also has received more than $26,000 in in-kind donations.

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Zimmerman is now involved in preproduction of another Ohio-based film about a 1963 fire in a Fitchville, Ohio retirement home that killed 63 patients.The film, entitled ³Fireland,² will be a feature-length documentary.

³It¹s about a disaster, an incredibly important social disaster that has been ignored and in some ways covered over for years and years,² he said. ³It¹s also got a real present feel to it because it affects so many people in that community today.²

Two of Zimmerman¹s other upcoming projects are not based in Ohio, but he said the area will still play a big part in their success.He has been hired by a private group of investors to create a trailer of the first intercollegiate sporting event between Harvard and Yale universities, a crew competition between the two schools.He said he has been working with the OU crew team to get preliminary footage and to gain a better understanding of the sport.

Zimmerman said he also has recently received permission to film ³The Man Who Loved Flowers,² a short story from ³Night Shift² by Stephen King. ³I figured if I¹m going to start off with a narrative film, it might as well be a Stephen King,² he said.

Zimmerman said he purchased the rights to the story and received permission to adapt and shoot the film, which will be a six- to seven-minute piece.He plans to begin shooting the film in Maine within the next couple of years, but said that many Ohio personnel will be involved in the process.More information about Zimmerman¹s work can be found at www.brickerdown.com.