Alexander Glustrom is an American film director and cinematographer.[1] He has directed award winning films and shot projects for HBO, CNN, New York Times, A&E, Vice, Great Big Story, and Democracy Now.[2] He currently works as a cinematographer on commercials, films and tv shows.
Glustrom was born in Midtown Atlanta. His grandparents Marian and John Glustrom were allies in the civil rights movement.[3] He graduated high school from The Paideia School in Atlanta and college from Tulane University in New Orleans. At Tulane, he founded the student organization Tulane University Community Advancement Network (TUCAN)[4] which brought students to The Boys and Girls Club to tutor and learn from the youth participants. After graduating he worked at the Boys & Girls Club located in The Iberville Projects.
Glustrom's feature-length documentary directorial debut Big Charity premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2014 where it won the Audience Award and Jury Prize for Best Louisiana Feature.[5] Mike Scott of NOLA.com declared it as one of the top 5 films made in New Orleans in 2014[6] and described the film as "a stark, pull-no-punches look at the shameful political maneuvering and blatant opportunism that played out in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."
Glustrom's second feature documentary film was released in 2019 and has won more than 15 awards at festivals around the world.[7] The film premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival where it won The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights.[8] It also won Documentary of the Year from Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities[9] and the David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking Award from Montclair Film Festival.[10] Reviewing it for The New York Times, Glenn Kenny wrote: "The film tells the story of a centuries-old black community in Louisiana laid waste by a chemical company, and of the residents who refuse to leave." In The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck described the film as "a powerful portrait of the human cost of environmental devastation."[11]