We were lucky to catch up with Jeremy Lentz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jeremy, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I come from a lineage of survivors. Both my grandparents were Holocaust survivors and instilled in me a strong sense of self. I wrote my grandmother’s Holocaust narrative which taught me a great deal about being resilient in the face of adversity. The trait of resilience has definitely been passed down.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
“We are not yet Utopia, but we are trying to be,” said Teaneck’s first Black mayor, Bernard Brooks (1982-1990) at an interfaith service at Congregation Beth Am, on Thanksgiving weekend more than three decades ago.
Jeremy Lentz has been working hard to achieve that goal since he became Executive Director of the Teaneck International Film Festival 16 years ago. He was stepping into the shoes of Ellen Rand, who held the post for the first four years. At a meeting with those who were there from the beginning, he said that he wanted to bring people together, focusing on issues that affect all of us, and encouraging discussion, caring, and involvement in bringing about change. And so, at a table in Louie’s Charcoal Pit, (then the go-to casual restaurant on Cedar Lane for most in Teaneck), the forever theme was adopted: Activism: Making Change. And, under Jeremy’s direction, the TIFF has been dubbed by a nationally recognized newspaper as the “film festival with a social conscience,” and is now considered one of the most prominent social justice film festivals in the nation.
Jeremy has been recognized for his many contributions as an activist. He has been honored by The United States Senate, the New Jersey Senate and General Assembly with a Joint Legislative Resolution, the Bergen County Board of Commissioners, the Bergen County Executive, the Bergen County Sheriff, and the Bergen County African American Advisory Committee for Black History Month; and has received The Links of Bergen County first Community Award, the YWCA of Northern New Jersey Racial Justice Award, The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County Jack Rubinstein Ethical Recognition Award, The Matthew Feldman Award for Community Relations, The Martin Luther King Birthday Committee Lee Reid Award, and the Teaneck Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year award. In 2020, he was named a Fifth Congressional District Hometown Hero by US Congressman Josh Gottheimer. Most recently in November 2024, Lentz was named to the LGBT Out 100 Power List by NJ Insider as one of most politically influential out men in New Jersey politics.
When he isn’t leading, and meeting with the TIFF team and doing other volunteer work as a Teaneck activist (including working to honor the LGBTQ+ community, the One Town One Vote campaign that resulted in moving Town Council elections to November, and speaking at the Pride Service at Temple Emeth, where he is a member), he may be found at work, as Director of Lentz & Lentz SAT prep and newly appointed Director of Special Projects at The Puffin Foundation. He is a lover of theater and co-produced the recent Broadway production of Ohio State Murders with Audra McDonald, as well as other shows – among them: Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, American Buffalo, Sunset Boulevard, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and the current West-end production of Fly More Than You Fall. He released his first studio film The Fabulous Four with Bleecker Street Films starring Bette Midler, Sheryl Lee-Ralph, Susan Sarandon and Megan Mullally. He is very proud to be an associate producer on the film. He also serves on the Young Patrons Committee at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Young Leaders Committee at The Joyce Dance Theatre and formerly served on the Host Committee for The Fire Island Dance Festival.
If one were to sum up Jeremy in a few words, they would have to be those that he introduced to the film festival: caring, involved, activist. He is determined to help make Teaneck the Utopia that Mayor Brooks wanted, and to make the world a better place.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Tenacity, humility, perseverance.
Never give up on your dreams. If a door is closed, that just means its closed for now…it doesn’t mean it is locked.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
They supported and loved me when I came out as gay.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://TeaneckFilmFestival.org
- Instagram: jnlentz , Teaneckfilmfestival
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.lentz.18
Image Credits
head shot – image credit to Aaron Cobbett
Teaneck International Film Festival shots and Miss Jolie Shot: Photo credit to Ray Turkin Photography and Barbara Balkin
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