Aviva Kempner

Aviva Kempner is a Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker, creates successful and critically acclaimed documentaries about under-known Jewish heroes and social justice. In 2019, she premiered her fifth commercially-released film, "The Spy Behind Home Plate". Her other films include "Rosenwald", a documentary about how Chicago businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington in establishing over 5,000 schools for African Americans in the Jim Crow South; "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg", about Gertrude Berg, who created the first television sitcom; and the Emmy-nominated and Peabody-awarded "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg", about the Hall of Famer who faced anti-Semitism during the '30s. Both "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg" and "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" grossed over a million dollars at the box office and are highly ranked, along with Rosenwald, on Rotten Tomatoes. She also produced the award-winning documentary Partisans of Vilna, about Jews fighting the Nazis. Her most recent film, "Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting", will be available on Apple iTunes and Amazon Prime on February 6, 2024. She is presently completing a documentary on screenwriter and political activist Ben Hecht in 2024. Kempner is also making "Pissed Off", a documentary short exploring the struggles faced by female lawmakers in Congress who advocated for potty parity in the United States Capitol.