Brian Kaufman

Brian Kaufman is Executive Video Producer at the Detroit Free Press, where he bridges the gap between traditional video journalism and documentary film. Kaufman's work spans a broad range, from news-driven shorts to feature films on social and environmental issues. Most recently, Kaufman directed and edited The Wall, a feature film about President Trump's proposed border wall that was part of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has awarded Kaufman three Emmy awards and nominated him in the craft category of Nature and Wildlife Cinematography. In 2017, Kaufman received two national Edward R. Murrow awards and he was formerly named Detroit's Young Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists. Kaufman's career began with a Visual Journalism degree at Brooks Institute of Photography in California and a job at the Naples Daily News in Florida, where he helped launch the first newspaper-based television newscast in the country. Since joining the Detroit Free Press, Kaufman has been instrumental in facilitating the education of video journalism to other newspaper photographers and reporters, including a USA Today Network initiative that dramatically increased video traffic in newsrooms nationwide. Kaufman teaches video storytelling annually at the Maine Media Workshops and has coached workshops for the National Press Photographers Association. His free time is best spent ... outdoors.