Alexander Shebanow

About Alexander Shebanow

Alexander Shebanow is an award-winning filmmaker from the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2013, he began work on Fail State, an expansive documentary exposé on predatory for-profit colleges and the student loan debt crisis. Executive produced by Dan Rather, Fail State premiered to packed audiences at the Austin Film Festival and DOC NYC, garnering strong press attention, film festival awards, and rave reviews in The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Fail State was theatrically released in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and debuted to 30 million subscribers on STARZ in December of 2018. From 20••••20, Alexander was a one-year Policy Fellow at the legal non-profit, Student Defense, where he worked on for-profit college issues with a focus on amplifying student voices and strengthening student protections. For his investigative work on Fail State, Alexander was awarded the 2019 William Randolph Hearst Award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting. In 2020, Alexander co-founded The 30 Company, a Hollywood film and production studio guided by Dan Rather’s legacy of fearless journalism and built upon a mission to support and revitalize local news across the United States. Alexander\'s other documentary work include short films on music therapy for children with autism, college mentorship, and the life-changing power of fitness programs for people with physical disabilities. Alexander attended Foothill Community College before finishing his studies at the University of Southern California.

Experience

1. Board Member

   Documentary Producers Alliance

   Jul 2023 — Present

   Established in 2016, the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA) is a diverse coalition of more than 480 international members, ranging from emerging to Academy Award-winning documentary producers. The DPA sets standards for inclusive, sustainable and equitable business practices based on research, collective experience and input from strategic partners, amplifying the voice of documentary producers worldwide, while educating the industry about producers’ essential role from development through financing, production and distribution.