Cohort 
2022

Zach Bandler

Film Director and Screenwriter

If society is to ever truly reduce the global health impact of dementia, it will take not only the work of dedicated researchers, but also storytellers committed to visibility and public advocacy.

Current Work

Zach is a director and screenwriter focused on creating informed and empathetic narratives through his work in film and television.

Personal Hero

John Steinbeck

Words of Strength

Collaboration

Vision

If society is to ever truly reduce the global health impact of dementia, it will take not only the work of dedicated researchers, but also storytellers committed to visibility and public advocacy for the individual human lives who inspire that work.

Strategy

Zach is committed to a deep-research process in his work that dramatizes the lives of his characters with authenticity. Zach believes that it is imperative that, as a filmmaker, he approaches the human stories of dementia with as much accuracy as he does creativity.

Impact

Zach intends to immerse himself in cross-disciplinary collaboration necessary to help him accurately dramatize the lives of those experiencing and treating dementia. Through cinema, he hopes to bring dignity, beauty, witness, and compassion to their stories.

Motivation

Dementia is ubiquitous in the United States but its effects are particularly hard on rural communities where people deal with growing healthcare inequity, senior poverty and lack access to the institutional resources available in large urban centers.

Education & Experience

Zach is a director and screenwriter whose films have played festivals and won awards across the globe. His piece "The Lightkeeper" (2018) was named final recipient of the CINE Golden Eagle Award for Narrative Short Film, an award recognizing rising filmmakers since 1957 which has honored the early careers of Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Taylor Hackford and others. His screenplays and teleplays have placed in a number of international screenwriting competitions, with his feature film screenplay "Land of the Young" named by director Francis Ford Coppola as the winner of the 2023 American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition. Prior to transitioning behind the camera, Zach spent the first half of his career as an actor. He has appeared in a number of American television shows, as well as acting Off-Broadway, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Lincoln Center, and regionally around the United States in live theatrical productions. He is a graduate from the School of Theatre at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Northwestern University
Theatre
Bachelor's degree

Awards & Honors

American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition Winner
Feature Film Screenplay
61st CINE Golden Eagle Award
Narrative Short Film
Ashland Independent Film Festival Audience Award
Best Short Film
Woods Hole Film Festival Jury Prize
Best Short Film
SENE Film Festival Jury Prize
Best Short Film
PAGE International Screenwriting Award Finalist
Feature Film Screenplay

Videos

"The Lightkeeper" film about dementia