Fred Zara

At age 15, Trenton, New Jersey native, Fred Zara, was the drummer for the punk rock band, Prisoners of War, playing venues in the North East, including Manhattan’s famed CBGB. By the late 1990s, Fred began shifting his focus from music to film production. He has since been involved in dozens of documentary and narrative films, both in front and behind the camera. As writer and director his films have screened at film festivals across the US. His 2009 feature-length documentary, Average Community, which chronicled his early days in Trenton, won awards at festivals in Philadelphia, Orlando, and NYC. In March of 2016, Fred’s narrative feature film, Read Me, premiered in New York City at the Queens World Film Festival and won the festival’s award for Best Actor in a feature film. Fred’s third award-winning feature film, The Suicide of James Rider, premiered at the New York City Independent Film Festival and was released in 2020 by BayView Entertainment.