Alexander Glustrom

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.[4]

Glustrom's feature documentary directorial debut Big Charity premiered at 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."[6]

Glustrom's second feature documentary film Mossville: When Great Trees Fall was released in 2019[1] 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] Mossville: When Great Trees Fall was licensed by the PBS series Reel South for national broadcast[11] and by Sundance Now for streaming.[12] It is also available for streaming on Amazon Prime. 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."[1] In The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck described the film as "a powerful portrait of the human cost of environmental devastation."[13]