Charene Zalis, a brilliant documentary filmmaker and intrepid journalist who spent decades making films and television programs about human rights issues and people standing up to hate, passed away after a long illness at home on September 29 with her loving husband Peter Waldman, and daughters Jenna, Mikela and Kira by her side. Charene was a valued member of the Not In Our Town community, using her advanced media skills to shed light on the traumatic consequences of bigotry and to engage with survivors and community members who emerged from violence to share their remarkable stories of resilience and action. Her PBS/Not In Our Town films, including Light in the Darkness, Waking in Oak Creek, and most recently Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life continue to spark dialogue and create change in town halls and schools across the country.
Charene began her career at NBC, where she won an Emmy Award for a documentary about Muhammad Ali and produced for the Olympic Games and NBC News programs and specials. She then moved to the independent international media firm Globalvision, where she reported and produced features about human rights issues including the War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, China, and both Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations for the weekly PBS series Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television. She also contributed substantially to the company’s award-winning documentary films Sowing Seeds, Reaping Peace: The World of Seeds of Peace and, for PBS Frontline, The Arming of Saudi Arabia.
Beyond her professional journalism career, however, Charene’s most important and cherished roles were as a daughter, sister, wife, mother of three, grandmother, and friend to many, all of whom will miss her dearly. May her memory be a blessing to them and all of us.
Rory O'Connor, Globalvision Founder
Remembering a Dear Colleague
Not In Our Town lost a beloved and irreplaceable member of the Not in Our Town team on September 29. Charene Zalis was a reporter/producer for NIOT for nearly 20 years. She contributed to many of our public television and community engagement films including Light in the Darkness, Waking in Oak Creek, and most recently Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life. As a producer, Charene deftly pushed to secure meaningful and important interviews on all the films she worked on while reporting from all over the US. She was on the scene, for example, in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, just after nine people were killed by a white supremacist as they prayed at Mother Emanuel church. She interviewed students and campus leaders pushing back on racist messaging at Ole Miss football games. She helped build relationships at the Sikh temple of Wisconsin after six people were killed in August 2012. Our film about the attack’s aftermath, Waking in Oak Creek, showed the power of community relationships while also helping many learn about the Sikh faith. Over 3500 screenings of the film later spread across the country.
Then, in 2018, 11 people from three congregations were killed at theTree Of life synagogue in Pittsburgh. As Charene and I noted at the time, it was no surprise when this horrendous event took place — we had been tracking the alarming rise of antisemitism for several years. Days after the shooting, Charene was in Pittsburgh and secured vital interviews, including Rabbi Jeffrey Myers from Tree Of Life, and she reported the emotional impact of being there as the whole city — and much of the rest of the country — was still mourning.
Charene also had a powerful personal network that she connected to our work, especially in the Bay Area and Manhattan. She often found herself in places where she would “just happen to run into" luminaries like Jelani Cobb, Dean of Columbia Journalism School, or important publishers and editors like Tina Brown of The New Yorker — and then suddenly these mainstream media leaders would learn about our films and uplift them in powerful spaces. Meanwhile, back in the editing room working on the next film, she was always tough — a kind of a taskmaster — but in a very caring way. Charene was meticulous about journalism and finding the best people, visuals and other material to tell complicated, nuanced stories.
As a media maker, Charene mattered. But ultimately, she mattered the most as a wife, mother of three, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend and colleague to many, all of whom will miss her dearly. We are all grateful to her husband Peter for his loving support, Jenna, Mikela, Kira and Jon, as well as the dear friends and family members who remained by her side.
I loved talking to her about the issues of our time and the challenges of our lives — and I loved laughing with her. Our last film together, Repairing the World, was a hard one for both of us. I feel so fortunate to have worked with her and learned from her over these many years. I know that she would've contributed greatly to our newest film Minnesota Neighbors, and how she would have loved digging into the story. I will miss her forever and am grateful for all that she brought to our films and our lives. Rest in peace and power Charene Zalis. And be content to know that you have done such good in the world!
Patrice O'Neill, Not In Our Town, Friend of Charene