The daughters of late congresswoman Bella Abzug allege the documentarian behind a film about the feminist icon is a fraud who duped her and a slew of famous family friends—including Hillary Clinton, Barbra Streisand, Nancy Pelosi, and others—into participating in a project she now disavows as having done “irreparable harm” to her mom’s legacy.
In a series of court filings filed by Abzug’s estate and published first by The Daily Beast, Isobel Jo “Liz” Abzug and Eve Abzug claim filmmaker Jeff L. Lieberman, the writer/director/producer behind the lauded 2023 doc Bella!, made numerous promises to obtain exclusive interviews, rare archival footage, and one-of-a-kind personal keepsakes, then ghosted her without following through on any of them.
Lieberman also iced the family out of their share of, among other things, lucrative television licensing fees, a six-figure prize bestowed by the Library of Congress, neglected to invite them to premieres, award shows, and related events, and has refused to list Liz as an executive producer on the film, as agreed, according to a complaint made public on Wednesday.
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“I believe very strongly Mr. Lieberman is a con man,” Liz Abzug wrote in an affidavit submitted in New York State Supreme Court. “He said all the right things to ingratiate himself to me and my family to get access to our private family mementos and historical documents and film in my possession and at Columbia University.”
Once Lieberman got what he wanted, he allegedly disappeared without a word. After several years of ducking her, Liz’s affidavit says Lieberman “continues to engage in fraudulent conduct with a ‘catch me if you can attitude.’”
According to Liz, her mom, who died in 1998, “would be horrified by just how duplicitous Mr. Lieberman truly is and his complete disregard of her priorities and principles.”
In an abbreviated companion affidavit, Eve wrote, “As my sister Liz explains in her affidavit, Mr. Lieberman has disrespected my sister, me and my family.”
Abzug, known as “Battling Bella,” was elected to Congress in 1971, and served until 1977, representing sections of Manhattan and the Bronx. A staunch opponent of the Vietnam War, Abzug earned a reputation as a fierce advocate for liberal causes. In 1973, she introduced the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which for the first time allowed women to apply for credit cards in their own names. The following year, Abzug sponsored the Equality Act, the first-ever LGBTQ rights legislation to exist at the federal level.
Tom Shanahan, who is representing Liz, Eve, and the Abzug estate, told The Daily Beast, “My clients are so upset about this situation, right now they do not want to speak about it publicly outside of our filings.”
Marc H. Simon, an attorney for Lieberman, told The Daily Beast that “it is not our firm’s policy to comment on active litigation, however this specific filing is so misguided and is so clearly a tactic for the personal gain of a revisionist, that it requires a brief response.”
Simon added: “We don’t consider the plaintiffs’ claims meritorious, and we look forward to addressing the allegations in court, where we expect to prevail. This is a sad distraction from the legacy of Congresswoman Bella Abzug, which the film so strongly celebrates.”
The knock-down, drag-out dispute can be traced back to early to mid-2017, when Lieberman contacted Liz and “proposed a collaboration” to produce a documentary film about her mother, Liz’s affidavit states. It says Liz was “very skeptical about the qualifications of Lieberman as he was and is an unknown filmmaker.” However, she agreed to participate after being assured she would be “meaningfully consulted on all aspects of the film, have input into editing and all other major decisions and be credited as the Executive Producer.”
“I insisted on input and control to ensure my mother's legacy was protected,” the affidavit states.
Lieberman, who produced and directed the critically acclaimed 2015 documentary The Amazing Nina Simone, offered Liz an executive producer’s fee equal to five percent of the “total amount committed to the film by any network, distributor, or corporate sponsor,” and the nonprofit Bella Abzug Leadership Institute (BALI) would be entitled to five percent of “net revenue earned from the exhibition, sale, and/or licensing” of the film, according to the affidavit.
On Aug. 1, 2017, Liz signed a development agreement with Lieberman, and gave him access to “personal, family mementos, photos, films, articles, and other property” relevant to the project, the affidavit states. She also set up interviews for Lieberman with famous pols and celebrities including Barbara Streisand, Lily Tomlin, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Hillary Clinton, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, former Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue, and various others. Liz and her siblings also sat for interviews with Lieberman for inclusion in Bella!, the affidavit says.
Once the bulk of the interviews were completed, and Lieberman got access to the Abzug family archives, things started to change, according to Liz. Suddenly, Lieberman ceased all contact with her, and became totally unreachable, she claims. Lieberman avoided Liz “for years,” her affidavit states, adding that she tried and tried to get in touch with him, without success.
In 2022, Liz says she learned Bella! had won the Ken Burns Prize for Film, an award given out annually by the Library of Congress for “exemplary documentary films that tell compelling stories about American history.” The winner receives $200,000 in cash, of which Liz says in her affidavit that she nor BALI ever saw a penny.
“Being recognized by Ken Burns is an incredible honor,” Lieberman said at the time. “I’ve long admired his work and count him among the artists who have shaped my filmmaking. He’s as inspiring to me as Congresswoman Bella Abzug, whose trailblazing fights for social justice are a crucial and under-told part of our history. With this grant, we are one step closer to completing the film—ensuring Bella’s vision for equality and democracy are not forsaken.”
The following year, Liz says she discovered Lieberman had inked a $300,000-plus licensing deal with PBS to air Bella! on the series American Masters.
“I did not learn this from Mr. Lieberman, but rather from a friend who called me to tell me the documentary was scheduled to be shown on PBS,” the affidavit states. “It is my understanding Mr. Lieberman had been in contact with PBS for months negotiating with PBS. But for my friend reaching out to me, I would not have known about the PBS deal and the intention of PBS to air the documentary.”
Once Liz stepped in and revealed “Mr. Lieberman’s conduct,” according to the affidavit, PBS decided not to show Bella! on the network. In a March 18, 2024 letter from PBS to Liz, which is part of the tranche of documents filed Wednesday in court, PBS made a new bid to get the film on its air, offering her an onscreen executive producer credit and $16,162.50, or, the promised five percent “of the $323,250 that THIRTEEN paid to the filmmaker during production of the Film.”
“My Mother would be horrified by just how duplicitous Mr. Lieberman truly is and his complete disregard of her priorities and principles,” says Liz’s affidavit. “In what PBS described as an unprecedented action, the network agreed to alter the documentary and include me in the credits as an Executive Producer, which Mr. Lieberman has up and until now, refused to do. I rejected this offer and want all the open issues between Mr. Lieberman and me resolved before I agree to anything with PBS or anyone else.”
Last summer, in an event timed to coincide with the theatrical premiere of Bella!, New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a proclamation, allegedly at the behest of Lieberman, declaring Friday, Aug. 18, 2023 to be “Bella Abzug Day.” In her affidavit, Liz says Lieberman did this, in her mom’s name, “without my prior knowledge and consent.”
“He used the improperly obtained proclamation for commercial gain to unjustly enrich himself as part of promotional materials for the opening premiere for the documentary,” the affidavit states.
This Sunday, the 2024 Writers Guild Awards will be held in New York and Los Angeles, for which Lieberman and Bella! are nominated for best documentary screenplay. Liberman, according to Liz, “entered it without my knowledge and consent.”
“Pursuant to the Development Agreement, I am supposed to be consulted in advance and invited to this event,” the affidavit says. “Neither has happened.”
Liz claims her legal rights have been stymied by a shell game of sorts Lieberman has played, transferring the project from his initial LLC, which the complaint claims was a front, to a “shell company” she argues she never agreed to sign with.
“I did not sign a written consent for my interview with him,” Liz’s affidavit states. “I object to him using any portion of my interview in the documentary. I did not sign a written consent to permit him to utilize my private, non-public family photos, films, and other mementos. I object to him using any of the Abzug family property to enrich himself and he does not have permission or consent to do so.”
The continued use of the footage “cannot be compensated for in dollars,” the affidavit goes on. “Mr. Lieberman is causing me, my family and mother's legacy irreparable harm. I implore the Court to restrain him for continuing to do so… This type of damage cannot be quantified in dollars and has and continues to cause irreparable harm to me, my sister, and my mother’s legacy.”
In a brief interview last year with The New York Times, which first revealed the existing tensions between Lieberman and the Abzug family over Bella!, Lieberman insisted that he had abided fully with the terms of the contract.
“Oftentimes, I think people who are not familiar with filmmaking and the filmmaking world and not familiar with executive producer credits that are often given to people who contribute funding or resources to a film,” Lieberman told the paper. “That’s all I can say about that.”
In the same article, Bella! co-producer Jamila Fairley claimed that Liz was in fact the one who ended the relationship, telling Lieberman and his colleagues that “she would not engage with us any further in connection with the film.”
“We have honored Ms. Abzug’s request,” Fairley said. (Liz at the time pushed back unequivocally, insisting she asked that her name be removed from the project amid a belief that Lieberman had violated their contract. “He’s the one who stopped communicating with me,” she told the Times. “I did not quit the project.”)
Liz is now asking the court to force Lieberman to fork over at least $3 million in damages, plus a temporary restraining order prohibiting him from “any further actions… to profit from the Bella! Documentary until the important and critical issues raised in this action are resolved.”
