Mark Birnbaum & Jim Schermbeck

Mark Birnbaum, a native Texan, is a veteran producer, director, writer and cameraman. Birnbaum is the director/producer of the critically acclaimed documentary Larry v. Lockney, which chronicles Texas farmer Larry Tannahill’s fight against mandatory drug testing in his son’s school. The film made its broadcast premiere on the PBS program P.O.V. In addition to The Big Buy, Birnbaum is currently working on Wood Pushers, a documentary that follows the championship run of a collegiate chess team. He has also made films about salsa dancing, competitive sailing, Vatican II, female Ecuadorian garbage sorters, race, Nicaraguan politics, and many other issues.

Jim Schermbeck is relatively new to filmmaking. A native Texan and veteran environmental organizer, Schermbeck worked with two community groups to find and classify Superfund toxic waste sites. After moving to Lubbock, his longtime interest and passion for filmmaking led him to Mark Birnbaum, and together they made the critically acclaimed documentary Larry v. Lockney. Schermbeck, who has a wife and a six year old daughter, has spent the last three years working on the self-financed project The Big Buy along with Birnbaum.

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