Meridian Hill Pictures Co-founder Lance Kramer Honored as Filmmaker of the Month
The District of Columbia Office of Motion Picture and Television Development (MPTD) is pleased to recognize Lance Kramer, documentary filmmaker and a co-founder of Meridian Hill Pictures (MHP), as the December 2012 Filmmaker of the Month. A fourth-generation Washingtonian, Lance started Meridian Hill Pictures with his brother Brandon Kramer as a platform for producing community-based and participatory documentary films. MHP works with diverse communities to create compelling and honest films that share under-represented perspectives and advance meaningful dialogue.
Lance produces the studio’s documentary films and media arts education projects; spearheads development, social media, outreach and engagement strategy; and hosts regular pop-up public documentary film screenings. Through MHP, Lance has produced the award-winning independent short films, Community Harvest, Porchfest and Life as a Collage, an official selection of the San Francisco International Film Festival. Recently, Lance directed The Donor, selected runner-up in the inaugural Speakeasy Shorts film competition sponsored by DC Shorts, SpeakeasyDC and MPTD. Lance is actively producing the studio’s first feature-length documentaries: Green Corps and Union Market.
At MHP, Lance has produced short documentary films and affiliated outreach campaigns in partnership with a diverse range of non-profit organizations including the Ford’s Theatre, National Park Service, Center for Inspired Teaching, International Baccalaureate, Washington D.C. Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and Washington Parks & People. Lance has also produced youth media education arts residencies in a number of DC public schools and after-school arts programs, including the DC Arts & Technology PCS (Ward 7) in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Sitar Arts Center (Ward 1), Mundo Verde Public Charter School (Ward 1). Lance has produced a variety of successful projects with emerging digital technologies, including his most recent participation in the Mozilla/ITVS/BAVC LivingDocs ‘Hackathon’ project at Silverdocs 2012.
Lance is passionate about and deeply committed to efforts that cultivate the local filmmaking community and Washington, D.C. as a nationally respected hub for non-fiction filmmaking. Lance actively serves as president of the Board of Directors of Docs In Progress, a non-profit organization dedicated to building community through documentary film, and is an active member of Women in Film & Video.
Lance regularly mentors emerging local filmmakers through MHP’s internship program and advises local filmmakers on their independent documentary projects. He regularly speaks on documentary topics, including presentations at the American Film Institute’s Silverdocs/Schooldocs international documentary conference, George Washington University’s Office of Community Service, Yale University Department of Film, MhZ Networks’ ShortieCon youth media conference, Goethe Institute and DCWeek. Lance is also a Humanities Council of Washington D.C. humanities scholar.
Prior to founding Meridian Hill Pictures, Lance held positions as an educator, community organizer and journalist, focused on work that advanced the arts, environmental causes, community building and cross-cultural dialogue. In 2006, Lance co-founded and taught in a summer English language institute for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the Ethiopian NGO Hope for Children. He currently lives in ward one of the District of Columbia.
The D.C. Film Office launched the Filmmaker of the Month initiative to feature a District-based filmmaker who exemplifies the vast amount of talent and creativity based here in the nation’s capital. The Filmmaker of the Month initiative is part of its mission to elevate the national and international profile of the city’s most talented filmmakers. Previous filmmakers honored include “ANACOSTIA” web series creator and director, Anthony Anderson; Theresa Bucci, documentary filmmaker specializing in short films about social causes; documentary filmmaker and founder of redfitz productions Nick Fitzhugh; and accomplished writer and producer Aviva Kempner.
You can visit the Filmmaker of the Month section to learn more about Lance and previous Filmmaker of the Month recipients.