Alan Zweig is a Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

maker known for often using film to explore his own life.

In his 2000 film Vinyl

Vinyl (2000 film)

Vinyl is a 2000 documentary film by Toronto filmmaker/record collector Alan Zweig. In the film, Zweig seeks not to talk to people who collect vinyl records to discuss music, but rather to discuss what drives someone to collect records in the first place...

, Zweig explores what drives people to become record collector

Record collecting

Record collecting is the hobby of collecting music. Although the main focus is on vinyl records, all formats of recorded music are collected.-History:Record collecting has been around probably nearly as long as recorded sound...

s. Zweig spends a large portion of the film exploring his own life in regards to record collecting, feeling it has prevented him from fulfilling his dreams of a family.

I, Curmudgeon

I, Curmudgeon

I, Curmudgeon is a 2004 documentary film by Alan Zweig about curmudgeons, himself included.Self-declared curmudgeons interviewed in the film also include Harvey Pekar, Fran Lebowitz, Mark Eitzel, Cintra Wilson, Bruce La Bruce, Andy Rooney and Scott Thompson.The film was shot with a camcorder, with...

is a 2004 film about self-declared curmudgeon

Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon may refer to:*I, Curmudgeon, a 2004 documentary film by Alan Zweig*The Comics Curmudgeon, blog analyzing newspaper comics*Dyskolos, sometimes translated The Curmudgeon, and ancient Greek comic play by Menander...

s, himself included, which received a Silver Hugo at the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival

Chicago International Film Festival

The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....

. The film was shot on a camcorder

Camcorder

A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...

, with Zweig using a mirror to record his own experiences.

Lovable is a 2007 film about our preoccupation with finding romantic perfection. In 2009, Zweig moved from autobiographical subject matter to explore the struggle of ex-convicts to lead normal lives in A Hard Name

A Hard Name

A Hard Name is a 2009 documentary film by Alan Zweig that explores the lives of ex-convicts.In the film, Zweig interviews seven ex-convicts about their times in prison and their lives on the outside. The men talk about insights they have gained about their lives, including how childhood abuse led...

, which received the Genie Award

Genie Award

Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...

 for best documentary.

Honours

Zweig's films have often premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. In 2011, Hot Docs devoted its Focus On screening series to Zweig's work.