Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew

Matthew Buzzell earned his MFA in direction from the American Film Institute in 1999. His thesis film, 6 and a Half, received The Martin Ritt Foundation Award and Buzzell was honored as conservatory’s 1999 Director of the Year. In 2001, he collaborated with filmmakers Elizabeth Massie and Jacob Bricca on the Teresa Heinz Foundation-commissioned documentary What A Girl Wants. After winning a number of film festivals, Buzzell’s feature-length portrait of a jazz vocal legend, Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew, received its broadcast premiere on Independent Lens in 2004, winning the Audience Award. In 2006, two of Buzzell’s films premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Tell Me Do You Miss Me chronicles the bittersweet final bows of the critically acclaimed NYC indie-rock band Luna as they mount their farewell world tour. Putting The River In Reverse documents the historic collaboration between music legends Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint as they embark on the first major recording sessions to take place in New Orleans in the weeks post-Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Buzzell created a number of promotional films, electronic press kits and music videos for artists including Diana Krall, Joe Henry, and Bad Religion. He is developing a number of new projects in both the documentary and narrative arenas.

Since 2000, Brian Gerber has been a member of the Tree Media Group, a multimedia production company in Santa Monica, California. He has produced Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew as well as Matthew Buzzell’s acclaimed music shorts series Alone Together. Gerber also produced the feature film Bug by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, winner of the Audience Choice Award at the 2002 Santa Barbara Film Festival, and Zev Berman’s Briar Patch for Tonic Films and Down Home Entertainment. Before joining Tree Media Group, Gerber spent four years as director of development at Alphaville, a feature film production company at Paramount Pictures. Films released during that time include The Mummy, A Simple Plan, Michael, The Jackal, Freedom Song, Down to Earth, Lucky Numbers, Rat Race, Attila, The Mummy Returns, and The Gift. Gerber received his master's of fine arts in screenwriting from the American Film Institute in 1997. Prior to that, he received his ABJ from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, where he served as a student judge for the George Foster Peabody Awards.