Debra Kirschner (USA)

Debra Kirschner specializes in telling honest stories about funny, flawed characters. She is best known for writing, directing and producing the indie feature The Tollbooth –called “a wonderfully honest coming-of-age film” by e-insiders.com–, a film that was nominated for the Golden Starfish Award at the Hamptons Film Festival and won the Best Feature Film award at FirstGlance Philadelpia, among other awards. More recently, Debra created the web series The Happy Mommy Hustle. She has written several scripts and has directed and produced several promotional videos for the web, as well as produced interviews for New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT). Debra started and led a creative writing program for homeless adults at the Hoboken Shelter and led a creative writing workshop for women over sixty in Brooklyn, who helped inspire Mallwalkers. Currently she is one of five filmmakers selected to participate in NYWIFT’s inaugural From Script to Screen workshop.

Mallwalkers — A retired music teacher, reclusive since her husband died, is coaxed by her daughter to take daily walks in the mall, where she befriends a posse of wild seniors and gets embroiled in a mysterious caper.