Dana Glazer '92. Illustration by Chelee Ross '12.
This profile originally appeared in the Winter 2012 issue of Bowdoin magazine.
Bowdoin major: History
Current residence: Ridgewood, New Jersey
Bowdoin connections: My father, Martin, is a member of the Class of ’68. My parents married in the Chapel and lived during my dad’s senior year at the Chamberlain house.
On the origins of The Evolution of Dad: You can’t make a film like that without being a father yourself. Having our first child was a real awakening for me-and still is. What made the process increasingly concrete was how little I realized I knew about fatherhood in the big sense of the word. I certainly knew about my own experience but was stunned to find how much the role is so culturally de-emphasized and marginalized. It’s really a big problem, you know, and so many of the challenges we face as a culture could be fixed if dads got more involved with their kids. I truly believe that.
On the film production: Making a documentary is an organic process. You start with a plan and then hope that more magical stuff happens along the journey. I could never have imagined the dads that I would meet over the course of making the film.
The ideal day: Any day that I am able to fuse my creative passion, spend time with family and friends, and the weather is welcoming, is a good one for me.
If you could choose any other decade during which to be a filmmaker, which, and why? I try to focus on the present because I am prone to being overly nostalgic. However, Hollywood was in a more creative moment in the 1970s and the excitement of film as a medium back then was much more enhanced than it is now with so many other media platforms vying for our attention.
Most inspirational books: 100 Years of Solitude; The Red and The Black; Handbook To The Higher Consciousness; Save The Cat.
All-time favorite musician: Bruce! Springsteen, hands down. I really discovered him at the end of my freshman year and have fond memories of playing “Jungleland” over and over in my dorm room in Hyde the night before I moved out.
