The Myopia Podcast

#72 Losing Sight - Inside The Myopia Epidemic With Jane Weiner

Dr. David Kading

About Jane Weiner

Born in Manhattan, Jane Weiner grew up in the Arizona desert. After majoring in Biology and American History, she received her BA in
English Literature and did her MA studies in Film at San Francisco State University. In 1972, she left California to begin shooting her
feature-length documentary on the life and career of renowned cinema vérité flmmaker Richard Leacock at M.I.T.
During 1973-75, she was Artist-in-Residence with the National Endowment of the Arts’ Artist-in-the-Schools Program and with The
Communications Experience in Philadelphia, offering workshops in flm, video, and photography to underprivileged children in rural and
inner-city public schools. In the mid-1970s, she advanced from assistant editor on 35mm feature flms in New York City to become a
supervising editor on more than 100 documentaries produced by the National Film Board of Canada for the United Nations' Habitat
Conference in Vancouver.
In the early 1980s, while working with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and with broadcasters in the UK, Holland, Sweden and
France, she began organizing international co-productions for television, festival, and cinema release. Since 1993, dividing her time between
the USA and France, she continues to write, shoot, direct, and consult on award-winning flms around the world.
She taught at the New School Graduate Media Studies Program in New York (1982-91) and was Associate Professor at Newhouse School
of Communication Syracuse University (2002-04). She has led scriptwriting and production workshops in the USA, Europe, North Africa,
and Asia and served on many international flm festival juries.
FILM AWARDS & ACCOLADES
2x EMMY Awards (Documentary & Regional Cultural); 2x Sundance Film Festival (Grand Jury & Special Jury); Los Angeles Critics Award;
Prix Italia; Peabody Award; International Documentary Association Award; Berlin Film Festival 'Teddy'; Prix Europa; Golden Gate Award;

Vision de Réel Festival-Grand Jury Prize; 'Best Of Series' European Arts Union; FIPA-Palme d'Argent; UNESCO-Best Film; Vue sur les Docs-
Grand Prix; LaScam-l'Etoile; Biograflm-Special Mention; and Environmental Festival du flm documentaire de politiques publques-Grand Prix.