Principals | mysite

Five Little Girls Principals

Better World Films was created by Dr. Len Lempel and Eric Breitenbach for the purpose of producing a documentary on civil rights giant and founder of

Bethune-Cookman University, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.

Len Lempel

Producer/Writer

Len received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Science from Syracuse University. He was a professor of history at Bethune-Cookman University from 1980 to 1996, and at Daytona State College from 1996 until he retired in 2015. Len also was a participant in the National Endowment to the Humanities Summer Institute, “African American Civil Rights Struggles in the Twentieth Century,” Harvard University, June 26-July 22, 2006, directed by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Len has published extensively on the history of Daytona Beach and vicinity, focusing his research on Daytona’s African American community. His most recent publication is “The Long Struggle for Quality Education for African Americans in East Florida,” Journal of Florida Studies (Volume 1, Issue 7, December 2018)

Len is a founder and director (with professor Eric Breitenbach) of Better World Films, LLC, and has helped produce two recent documentaries: Hoppin’ Rattlesnakes: Oral Histories of Beach Racing in Volusia County 1903-1958 (2014) and breaking Barriers: Oral Histories of Jackie Robinson’s Spring Training in Daytona Beach (2016).

Eric Breitenbach

Producer/Director

A Senior Professor at The Southeast Center for Photographic Studies at Daytona State College, he has had over 20 solo exhibitions of his still photographs throughout the United States and is represented in such permanent collections as the Duke University Center For Documentary Studies, The Carpenter Center at Harvard University, and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has directed films for National Geographic Television, The Sundance Channel, national and regional PBS, and a variety of museums and non-profit organizations.

He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Media Arts Awards, a Corporation For Public Broadcasting grant, and three Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Individual Artist Fellowships. He has served on the advisory boards of several non-profits and on the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council.

His most recent feature documentary, Hoppin’ Rattlesnakes, details the history of auto racing on the beaches of Volusia County, Florida, and was co-produced and written by his Better World colleague Dr.Len Lempel .