The Film Team
Dorothy Fadiman
Producer, Director, Writer
Dorothy lives in Menlo Park, CA, with her husband James Fadiman. They have two daughters, Renee and Maria. Dorothy moved to California to pursue graduate work in communication studies at Stanford University. In 1974, while she was trying to write a book about the light of Spirit, she was approached by a filmmaker, Michael Wiese, who suggested they make a film together. That collaboration became RADIANCE, her first production. Since then she has produced more than 20 films. Her book PRODUCING with PASSION: Making Films that Change the World follows her career and offers specific suggestions for independent filmmakers to use in their work as they find their unique voices through filmmaking. Dorothy teaches, gives seminars, leads workshops, and trains interns in filmmaking.
Alex de Grassi
Acoustic Guitar musician and composer
Alex scored and performed the guitar music tracks for several films including WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL? CELEBRATION: I Am All of These, WORLD PEACE is a Local Issue and PEACE: A Conscious Choice.
Alex was born in Japan, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. His first instrument was trumpet, but he switched to guitar at the age of 13. Since then he has become widely acclaimed as a leading innovator and virtuoso of acoustic guitar, fusing a variety of guitar traditions into a highly orchestrated sound. The Wall Street Journal has called his playing "flawless" and Billboard hails his "intricate finger-picking technique with an uncanny gift for melodic invention." His early Windham Hill recordings or original music as well as his arrangements of folk, jazz, and world music have influenced a whole generation of young players. Alex has been commissioned by Acoustic Guitar Magazine to compose for steel-string and string orchestra, and by the New York Guitar Festival to score for their Silent Films/Live Guitars series. He has served as the Artist Advisor for the String Letter Music School in Marin, and he is currently working on a Fingerstyle Guitar Method book for publication in 2012.
Amy Hill
Media Producer and Public Health Consultant.
Amy was the Series Producer of five films: SEEDS of HOPE: Meeting the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, This series includes WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THEY NOW? and From RISK to ACTION, Women & HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Amy is a storyteller, documentary filmmaker, and public health consultant who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her ten-year involvement in coordinating community- based public health and community development projects in California and nationally led her in 1999 to co-found Silence Speaks, an international digital storytelling initiative offering a safe, supportive environment for telling and sharing stories that all too often remain unspoken. She continues to lead this and other global health and human rights-related projects at the Center for Digital Storytelling. Prior to coming on board as a full time staff member at the Center in 2005, she co-produced and edited Concentric Media's series of educational documentaries about HIV and AIDS in Ethiopia. Amy has a B.A. in British & American Literature from Scripps College and an M.A. in Education/Gender Studies from Stanford University. Amy's website is silencespeaks.org/who-we-are .
Anilise T. Hyllmon
Media Producer
Anilise served as the co-producer on the film MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale. She was involved in scripting, editing and then she spearheaded an outreach campaign during its release.
Anilise's award winning work in film has been recognized by the Telly Awards, the Columbus International Film Festival, the Houston International Film Festival, and the Health and Science Communication Association. She produced and directed Molly and Jeramy, and served as co-producer on, Moment by Moment the Healing Journey of Molly Hale. Her film What Are You Seeking? is in production.
She is founder and director of Orinda Moraga Productions, a non-profit documentary film company, focused on creating programs on health, healing and spirituality. She served two terms on the Board of BAWFM, Bay Area Women in Film and Media, as well as on the Board of Concentric Media.
Prior to her work in film, Hyllmon worked for more than a decade for several non-profit organizations, developing and producing special events, marketing materials and fundraising campaigns. Hyllmon studied dance, choreography, and film at The University of Oregon. She holds a BA in Health Education and Community Service from California State University, Chico, and an MA in English Literature from Mills College. She also holds a Master's in Divinity from the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism.
Aster Aweke
Vocalist and Composer
Aster provided the vocal music (both Acapella and accompanied) for the film series: SEEDS of HOPE: Meeting the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. She also directed and arranged the instrumental backgrounds.
A native of Gandor, Aweke was raised in the capital city of Addis Ababa. Aweke was determined, by the age of thirteen, to become a musician. By her late teens, she was singing with such bands as the Continental Band, Hotel D'Afrique Band, Shebele Band and the Ibex Band. Launching a solo career, Aweke was encouraged by musical entrepreneur, Ali Tango, who financed and released five cassettes and two singles of her music. By 1981 she relocated to the United States. Settling in Washington, D.C., she built a following in local Ethiopian restaurants, then toured Europe and the U.S. Aweke is now successful throughout the world. She is a voice for her people.
Beth Quist
Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer
Beth worked with Erika Luckett to score, arrange, direct and perform vocals in creating for the musical sound track of WOMAN by WOMAN: New Hope for the Villages of India.
Beth Quist is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer, who began playing piano at age 2. "I'm a Little Leopard Prowling Around in Sneakers" was her first musical composition at age 8. She has a 4-octave soprano voice, and plays piano, keyboards, santour (hammered dulcimer), dumbek, daff, guitar, flute, and various other toys that she can get her hands on. Her music combines influences from the Balkans, the Middle East, and India with her Western upbringing. Beth just completed contract negotiations for a new Cirque du Soleil show scheduled to open in April 2012. She was lead soprano and instrumentalist for the creation band in Cirque du Soleil's KA, and currently performs solo, with Sherefe, which specializes in Balkan and Middle Eastern music.
Beth Seltzer, MD, MPH
Beth served as the co-Producer for WHEN ABORTION WAS ILLEGAL: Untold Stories, an overview of the back-alleys days. In addition to this film, she also worked on scripting and editing the other two documentaries in the trilogy of films on abortion rights.
Beth Seltzer came to Concentric Media with an interest in documentary filmmaking as a means to combine art with education. She is now a board-certified preventive medicine physician whose work focuses on using media as a tool for health education and behavior change. Dr. Seltzer attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University and completed a preventive medicine residency at Stony Brook University, with an MPH degree from Columbia University. Most recently, she has worked extensively with the Discovery Health and Discovery Channel television networks, developing content for educational television shows directed at both physicians and general audiences. Her first book, 101 Careers in Public Health (Springer Publishing Company, 2010) was endorsed as "First rate advice!" by the American Public Health Association.
Barry Brukoff
Photographer
Barry was one of the principle photographers for the film RADIANCE: The Experience of Light. His photos include those of Stonehenge in England and unique perspectives on dramatic natural light in several European cathedrals.
Barry studied painting, sculpture and design at Chicago Art Institute. He moved to San Francisco in l970, pursuing multiple careers as photographer, painter and designer. He has now moved to the digital darkroom. He feels that using digital technology has given him the level of control and expertise, which now affords him the highest level of quality for his printmaking.
Many of his series, although literal images, reflect the eye of the abstract painter. In a review by Photo District News, "...these photos . have something special in them, something more beautiful and mysterious that is quite hard to define. Perhaps it is his sense of light, which is extraordinarily fine in both day and evening... so many of his photos feature both sun and shadow, always giving rise to the feeling that there is something wonderful half-hidden there in the dark ...."
His website is BrukoffDesign.com
Blake McHugh
Videographer
Blake was the videographer for several of Concentric Media's films including WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL?, FIX-IT SHOPS: An Endangered Species and the abortion rights trilogy From the Back Alleys to the Supreme Court & Beyond.
Blake McHugh has been a contributing photographer/videographer for 60 Minutes, "60 Minutes II," "Dateline, Good Morning America and various Travel Channel and Discovery Channel documentaries. He has been principal videographer on all Not In Our Town projects, as well as being director of photography for The Fire Next Time, and the Working Group's Livelihood series and Intimate Strangers: Unseen Life On Earth, the PBS series on microbiology.
His camera work includes: And Then One Night: The Making of "Dead Man Walking", Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street, Bud Greenspan's Favorite Stories of Olympic Glory, Carpool to Nirvana, Great Quakes, Great Quakes: Turkey, Livelyhood: Planet Work: Finding Solutions in the World Wide Work World, Other Tragedy at Pearl Harbor, Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (10/31/06), Workday That Wouldn't Die, Year of the Generals.
Bridget Louie
On-Line Editor
Bridget was PBS affiliate KTEH-TV's online studio editor during the production of Concentric Media's abortion rights trilogy. She served as the final editor for broadcast versions of all three films on the history of abortion rights in the USA.
Bridget Louie began her career at KTEH, the San Jose public television affiliate. For several years, she produced award-winning promos before becoming an on-line editor. As Senior Video Editor, her credits included From Danger to Dignity: the Fight for Safe Abortion; The Fragile Promise of Choice; and Fear and Favor in the Newsroom. Bridget was also the Coordinating Producer/Editor of the series Real Science!, for which she won a regional Emmy award. Currently, she is the Associate Director of Creative Services at KQED in San Francisco, where she works as a promo producer and a project supervisor. Bridget is a member of the PBS Brand Masters committee.
Bruce O'Dell
Information Technology Consultant
Bruce was involved with all phases of production for the film STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote. He was a key interviewee, did extensive research, consulted on every stage of editing and was actively involved in scripting. He was also instrumental in outreach during its release.
Bruce O'Dell is an information technology consultant with more than 30 years of experience focusing on the design and security of large-scale computer systems for Fortune 100 clients in the retail and financial services industries. His technical assessment is that any method of counting votes in secret by computer is inherently insecure, and therefore is an advocate of citizen-run elections using hand-counted paper ballots. He is an advisor to the Election Defense Alliance. Bruce's contributions to the film have evolved over the many years it took to create STEALING AMERICA, from being an on-camera interview expert-subject to providing an enormous amount of effort advising the filmmakers on the technical issues of this complex subject, including fact checking, researching and contributing to the film's factual content. In appreciation of his volunteered efforts, he was given a credit of Co-Producer. He has received no financial compensation for his generous efforts.
Carla Henry
Attorney, Election Rights Activist and Jewelry Craftsperson
Carla was one of the Producers on STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote. Her scope of participation included extensive research, fact checking, scripting and helping to score the music.
Carla Henry graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law and has an undergraduate degree from California St University, Chico. She was admitted to The State Bar of California in 1983. She became interested in the election integrity movement after traveling to New Mexico in 2004 to serve as one of the 6000 swing state attorney precinct monitors for the Kerry-Bush presidential contest. Upon returning to the San Francisco Bay area, she searched for a creative project that would help effect the changes needed to ensure that every citizen's vote is counted as cast. She signed on with Concentric Media and has focused on research, fact verification and script development. In addition, she worked closely with Dorothy scoring the music.
Clemencia Macias
Filmmaker, Language translation and interpretation
Clemencia was involved with the editing of several different Concentric Media films. Her major role was not only one of the principle editors, but in helping to shape the vision for the film WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL?
Clemencia Macias has worked professionally in the language and media fields, and has spent the past 12 years managing a worldwide network of language professionals that provides interpreting services in 180 different languages and dialects. She is a published author on language issues and a language/film graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She assisted in the development of language awareness courses for U.S. government language schools as a researcher, writer, and editor, and worked as a senior editor for the publisher Hampton-Brown. As an interpreter resources manager, she oversees the recruitment efforts, testing, and hiring of interpreters for Language Line Services.
Cotton Coulson
Photographer and videographer
Cotton went with Dorothy to Ethiopia to film for the project SEEDS of HOPE: Meeting the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. He also filmed scenes for MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale.
Cotton Coulson lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark with his wife and business partner, Sisse Brimberg. Cotton started taking photographs for National Geographic magazine after graduating from New York University Film School in 1975. He was hired as a contract photographer in 1976 and won prizes including from the NPPA and White House Press Photographers Association. He became associate director of photography at U.S. News & World Report, then moved to the Baltimore Sun. In the mid-1990s Cotton joined the Internet revolution and moved to San Francisco, with his family, where he became the senior vice-president of CNET. Today they own a media company, KEENPRESS, which produces photography and HD video films for international publications and companies. Much of their work focuses on the environment, climate issues, and international travel stories. He and Sisse are frequent contributors to National Geographic Traveler magazine and have their photo archive with NG Image Collection.
Danny McGuire
Filmmaker, Producer
Danny McGuire was the head of production at PBS affiliate station KTEH-TV during the making of the abortion rights trilogy, From the BACK ALLEYS to the SUPREME COURT & BEYOND. He served as the Executive Producer for this series.
Danny McGuire has been a versatile and creative asset to Bay Area television for more than thirty years. With ten years of writing, directing and producing at commercial stations (KMPH-TV, KPIX-TV, KGO-TV) to twenty years of directing, producing and executive-producing for public television (KTEH and KQED), McGuire has been instrumental in creating and/or facilitating-for-others well over two-hundred original programs and series for broadcast distinction both locally and nationally. In a wide range of format styles and genres, he has received more than two dozen industry honors for projects of his own design, and another dozen for programs to which he served as Project Director or Executive Producer.
McGuire now provides consultation and freelance production services through his own business, Spirit Productions, which has served as an independent banner for freelance and personal projects since 1978.
Daniel Meyers
Filmmaker, Producer
Daniel was the principal videographer and a producer for the trilogy FROM the BACK ALLEYS to the SUPREME COURT & BEYOND. He was also an editor for these films. He was the sole cameraman for WOMAN by WOMAN; New Hope for the Villages of India.
Born in California in 1960, Daniel Meyers studied Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley and completed a BA in Urban Studies at San Francisco State University in 1986. In 1987, he started working on public television documentaries in California, and in New York in 1994. In 1996 he moved to Paris where he has been working on international documentaries for American, British and French television in over 60 countries around the world. His work as a director, cameraman, producer and editor has received many awards including a 2006 BAFTA nomination for IRAQ Reckoning (C4 Dispatches), Grand prize and best documentary, New Orleans Film Festival (The Allan Toussaint Touch, BBC4) and many US festival awards including a 1993 Academy Award nomination for best short documentary for When Abortion Was Illegal. In 2007 he designed and launched the documentary training program at the Frontline Club in London. In 2009 he started giving documentary classes at EICAR, the international film school in Paris as well as conducting private training workshops. He currently divides his time between filming documentaries, working on his own films and giving workshops.
Danielle Renfrew Behrens
Feature Film Producer
Danielle began with Concentric Media as an intern, and quickly became involved with shooting, scripting and editing the abortion rights trilogy: FROM the BACK ALLEYS to the SUPREME COURT & BEYOND.
Danielle is a Producer for Lauren Greenfield's feature documentary THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES. The film premiered at Sundance 2012 and was selected as the opening night documentary. Danielle has had four other features premiere at Sundance over the years, including Fox Searchlight's WAITRESS, Miramax's AMERICAN SON, and Sony Classics' NOVEMBER and GROOVE. She also produced Miramax's DALTRY CALHOUN with Quentin Tarantino, as well as the feature documentary DOUBLE DARE, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won the audience award at AFI and San Francisco International. Danielle's first short, DEAR DR. SPENCER, received an Emmy and IDA Award nomination.
Dixie Lopez
Production Assistant, Outreach Coordinator, Event Coordinator, Researcher
Dixie came to Concentric Media as our Outreach Coordinator, but has since added additional skills to support in the production of several films. As our Event Coordinator, she plans screenings and premiers for our new films. She assists our editors with research, fact finding, and information for timelines. For WORLD PEACE is a Local Issue, she was the Producer for the Anti-Nuclear Clips at the end of the re-edited, remastered version. With The ANNIE GILL Story, Dixie was a Field Producer. For Butterfly Town, USA she worked as a Production Assistant.
Dixie Lopez started her work in film with Immediate Future Productions where she became a Producer working with Ken Jenkins whose Kinetic Mandalas were used in Dorothy's film,
Dr. Tekalegne Agonafer
Medical Doctor, Country Director Malaria Consortium, Ethiopia.
Dr. Agonafer was the principal advisor to SEEDS of HOPE: Meeting the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Dr. Tekalegne Agonafer holds MD, MPH, Nursing Degrees. Currently he is the Country Director for the Malaria Consortium in Ethiopia. Previously he was the Medical Officer and Director at a zonal hospital in Ethiopia, and District Health Manager of Regional Health Services. For many years, he was Director of Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Association which is where our film team met him. When we first arrived in Ethiopia, he introduced us to the representatives (and heads) of most of the principle NGOs which focus on HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Ethiopia. He hosted screenings, introduced us to many of the interviewees in the SEEDS of HOPE Series, and worked with us to assure safe passage for our team in a range of situations which were potentially problematic. Dangers he helped us avoid, or navigate, included both our physcial safety and government intrusion in our project. We could never have survived five trips to Ethiopia without his support and protection. His other activities include being on the Boards for several HIV/AIDS networks and associations, plus involvement with the Ethiopian Public Health and Ethiopian Medical Doctors Association.
Ekta Bansal Bhargava
Editor, Journalist
Ekta was one of the principle editors on STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote. In addition, she built vignette clips from all of the films in our library. She also worked on scripting and editing RECLAIMING Their VOICE: The Native American Vote in New Mexico.
Ekta Bansal Bhargava is a journalist from India. She began her work with Concentric Media as the Outreach Coordinator. With Dorothy Fadiman's encouragement, she graduated to the position of editor. Bhargava is currently working on a project of her own exploring "women in the Bay Area," and with a non-profit organization which trains and supports community organizers.
She has received acknowledgement for her assistance on Frontline project India: The Cost of Yellowcake. The Indian government has been mining low-grade uranium on tribal lands for decades, but it plans to expand production so that nuclear power will eventually meet a quarter of India's energy needs. The risks of pursuing that policy made international headlines in 2006 when a uranium waste pipeline burst in the east of the country, creating a devastating spill. FRONTLINE/World reporter Sonia Narang travels to this remote area to find out how the mines are affecting the health and traditions of villagers, and forcing thousands off their lands.
Erika Luckett
Composer/Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter
Erika composed and recorded the music for each film in the abortion rights trilogy. She also created a musical score for STEALING AMERICA and (with Beth Quist) an original score for WOMAN by WOMAN: New Hope for the Villages of India.
Erika Luckett creates a powerful expression of world-inspired music. Her voice conveys lyrical depth, and her fiery, innovative guitar playing creates an orchestra of sound with only six strings. Growing up in a fluid current of culture, savoring the richness of the Amazon, the urban rhythms of Sao Paulo and the percolating warmth of the Caribbean gave Erika an early appreciation for the interconnectedness of people and cultures. Her music is sung in five different languages. She has collaborated closely with international environmental organizations as well as those striving to expand human consciousness and open the heart. From her performance at the 20th Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum to being honored as "One of the 100 Most Outstanding Women of the Year" (along with Oprah, Madonna and Queen Elizabeth) by both The Jewish Post and Modern Woman Today Magazine, Erika Luckett shows the power of music to transform and unite people across the globe, most recently as part of a duo with vocalist, Lisa Ferraro. One of their recent albums, On The Way of Love: Songs Inspired by Rumi was partially recorded in Istanbul and features exquisite performances by Turkish musicians.
Eve J. Eisenberg
Production Coordinator, English Professor
Throughout fundraising, production and outreach for several of our documentaries, Eve was the person who coordinated all phases of Concentric Media's workflow. She also served as Associate Producer for WOMAN by WOMAN: New Hope for the Villages of India.
Eve has a BA in Literature and a Certificate in Film & Video from Duke University, an MA in Teaching (MAT) from Manhattanville College, an MA in English from SUNY Binghamton, and is now a Ph.D. candidate writing her dissertation about African Anglophone literature in the English program at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she also teaches English; this semester, she is teaching a course called "This is the Way the World Ends: Analyzing Apocalypse Narratives." Eve grew up in New York, and, after going to boarding school in Connecticut and then university in North Carolina, she went West to be first an intern and later an employee at Concentric Media, where Dorothy Fadiman and Kristin Atwell taught her a "master class" on what it means to live the ethics of one's beliefs. Although she eventually left the world of documentary filmmaking, its lessons continue to inform her thinking and her work.
Frank Spencer
Professor of Economics and History
Executive Producer of WORLD PEACE is a Local Issue. The night the historic City Council meeting was filmed, he approached the filmmaker and said he would help for it to become a documentary.
Frank G. Spencer, a retired Illinois Institute of Technology economics and history professor, wrote poetry and became active in the peace movement after he retired. Mr. Spencer moved to Palo Alto, CA in 1967. He is a featured speaker addressing the Palo Alto City Council in the film WORLD PEACE is a Local Issue. He was active in the Palo Alto Unitarian Church. He died at 91, in a Flagstaff, Ariz., hospital.
Freddie Long
Dancer, Choreographer
Freddie was the lead dancer (with John Lefan) in CELEBRATION: I am All of These. The film follows the integration of the male and female aspects within one woman. As the story evolves, we see her emerge as a stronger, more integrated person.
Freddie Long has toured throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe and is a recipient of Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle and Hollywood Dramalogue awards. Her one-woman show, Under Elko, was presented at Footloose in San Francisco and at the Winnipeg and Vancouver Fringe Festivals. Long has collaborated and/or performed with such luminaries as The Blake Street Hawkeyes, Whoopi Goldberg, Randy Rutherford, John LeFan, Sara Shelton Mann, Alex DeGrassi, Contraband and the San Francisco Ballet. She was a founding member of San Francisco's Theatre Artaud and was featured in the Academy Award nominated independent film, When Abortion was Illegal: Untold Stories. She currently lives in Willits, CA where she directs and presents theater works for local audiences.
Gayle Ann Sabin
Filmmaker/production coordinator
Gayle served as the Producer of FIX-IT SHOPS: An Endangered Species, a call to try to fix small appliances rather than throw them away. It was the Audience Favorite at an Independent Festival soon after its release. Gayle has led workshops with Dorothy and been her colleague on many productions.
Gayle Ann Sabin is currently a Property Manager, coordinating contractors instead of film crews. From 2004 through 2008 she served as the Production Coordinator for Transvideo Studios. She was the Associate Producer of Ulalume, which won the 2002 Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival.
She was also the Producer of FIX-IT SHOPS: An Endangered Species, at Concentric Media . an ImageFest Audience Favorite. FIX-IT SHOPS documents a small neighborhood repair store, emphasizing the ecological value of repairing small appliances, instead of throwing them away if they stop working properly. She was actively involved with IMAGE, Independent Media Artist's Group from 1994 . 1997. She served as the Chairman of IMAGE in 1997, the IMAGEFest Film Festival Director 1996 and participated on the Steering Committee 1994-1995.
Henock Hailu
Filmmaker/Videographer
Henock was the Field Producer, principal cinematographer, translator and transcriber for all five films in the series SEEDS of HOPE: Meeting the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. He also acted as the community liaison for our film team.
After studying at Addis Ababa University in the field of civil engineering for five years, he followed his inner call to make films. Luckily, he was able to participate as Field Producer, cinematographer, translator and transcriber with Oscar-nominated film producer and director, Dorothy Fadiman. Walking through the open door with this experience, he was able to make a feature film, inaugurated at one of the well-known Festivals- "Alem Cinema" as a cinematographer and editor. He has worked on more than three dozen music videos, serving as Director, Videographer, and Editor. He has also worked on international documentary films, which are now being broadcast in Europe. He plans to continue making professional films in the near future.
James Fadiman
James Fadiman, PhD, a former director of IONS, teaches at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California, which he cofounded in 1974. His latest book is The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys (Park Street Press, 2011), He is a management consultant, workshop leader, sits on corporate boards and has written textbooks, novels, poems and a play. He has been involved in psychedelic research . spiritual, psychotherapeutic and scientific . since the 1960's.
James Q. Jacobs
Academic instructor, anthropologist, archaeologist
Jim served as a patient researcher and indomitable fact checker for the film STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote. He watched cut after cut of the film in progress to ensure that all factual information was accurate and well integrated.
James Q. Jacobs works as an academic instructor, anthropologist, and archaeologist. He is currently focused on ancient monument research. Skilled in statistics training, he began to apply these skills in the 2004 elections. His election integrity research focused primarily on the Presidential election process in Ohio. James' precinct-level analysis of the 2004 Cuyahoga County results, quantifying voting irregularities and revealing evidence of election fraud was important in understanding the events of the 2004 election. His work, which helped in the creation of Stealing America: Vote by Vote is published online at: http://jqjacobs.net/politics/
Johanna Gereke
Outreach Coordinator/Producer
Johanna was the outreach coordinator for a number of films ranging from RECLAIMING THEIR VOICE: The Native American Vote in New Mexico to SEEDS of HOPE: Meeting the Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Johanna has a passion for strengthening human rights and believes that documentary films are a powerful instrument to reach people emotionally and intellectually. She has a BA in Psychology and Political Science from the University College Utrecht and UC Berkeley and a Masters in International Relations from the Free University Berlin. Johanna's past experiences include working as media and press associate at Amnesty International in Vienna, creating a traveling photography exhibition documenting the lives of migrant women in Germany and working as advisor for the International Organization of Migration at the United Nations in New York. While with Concentric Media (2009-2012), Johanna also produced and moderated local talk shows discussing the impact of HIV/AIDS on children in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlighting excerpts from CHOICE: Then and Now in a discussion on the risks to contemporary reproductive rights in the United States. Johanna currently studies towards a Ph.D. in Sociology at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.
John LeFan
Writer, actor
John was the lead dancer (with Freddie Long) in CELEBRATION: I am All of These. The film follows the integration of the male and female aspects within one woman. As the story evolves, we see her emerge as a stronger, more integrated person.
John LeFan, a writer and actor living in San Francisco, Mangrove, pioneering the dance form Contact Improvisation. He was the founding President of Theatre Artaud. LeFan and his son, Kris, were on the board of directors for the Awassa Children's Project, an Ethiopian children's theater collective that raises AIDS awareness through a touring show. Recent work includes choreography for Vice Palace for ThrillPeddlars Theatre and a book of poetry, Tickle, Gurgle, Tock.
John V. Schmerber
Cherry farmer
John was the Executive Producer of the film PEACE: A Conscious Choice. That film became a piece of history when a case went to the Supreme Court allowing it to travel to foreign film festivals as educational media, without the burden of extra taxes or fees.
Although always a farmer at heart, after twelve years of farming in Eastern Washington during the mid-seventies to mid-eighties, John got a Masters Degree in clinical psychology from EWSU. He ran a student assistance program, primarily related to alcohol and other drug abuse, for about six years in Tri-Cities, WA, until his son graduated from High School. He returned to semi-retired cherry farming in the Columbia Gorge 16 years ago. His son, Christian, is a farm manager in Eastern WA and his daughter, Amy, is a construction manager in the Seattle area. He is happily married to his second wife, Kathryn, who is a retired middle-school teacher.
John Victor Fante
Videographer/Producer/Editor
John was the principal cinematographer and editor for RADIANCE: The Experience of Light.
John V. Fante has worked in the film business for more than three decades on feature films, commercials, music videos & documentaries. He has worked as a cinematographer, producer and editor on projects in over 40 countries. He has brought his unique visual sense, efficient working style, ingenuity and love for the visual narrative equally to the low-budget, non-profit documentary as well as the mega-budget Hollywood feature film.
His photography career began during the turbulent 1960's while getting a degree in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Working part-time on the campus newspaper as a staff photographer and business manager, his photographs appeared not only in the Daily Californian, but in The Berkeley Barb, Rolling Stone magazine, Bantam Books and Life magazine. In 1969, John shot his first film, a short documentary, at the now-infamous rock concert at Altamont. After college, he continued to work in film in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Katie Larkin
Editor/Producer
Katie was a principal editor and an Associate Producer on STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote. She brought skills and experience to that project from Robert De Niro's Tribecca Productions where she had interned before coming to Concentric Media.
Katie Larkin received her B.A. from McGill University in Canada. Following an internship at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions in New York City, Katie went on to produce and direct her own independent short about the heroin problem in the medieval town of Perugia, Italy. She has spent time working for various companies including Lightworks - KPI and Embassy Row Factual. She is currently Head of Production at Joyride Creative where she has produced graphics packages for clients including History Channel, Lifetime, ESPN, HBO. Prior to her time at Joyride, Katie also spent two years at design studio, Superfad, a motion graphics company in New York, where she produced both broadcast and commercial projects for clients including Grey, Digitas, and HBO. Some of her favorite projects include HBO's Boardwalk Empire promo campaign as well as pieces for exhibits at the New Museum.
Katie Peterson
City Planner/Community Activist
Katie envisioned, scripted and was one of the editors of MOTHERHOOD by CHOICE, Not Chance. As the film evolved, she went on to become one of its Producers. She is now focused on promoting understanding about local, healthy food.
Katie Peterson holds a B.S. in Anthropology and a Minor in Writing from Illinois State University. In 2005, she completed a master's degree in Urban Planning, Regional Planning, Social and Community Development from University of Southern California. She now works as a land use planner with the City of Los Angeles. Katie has a longstanding interest in local food systems work. She has been involved with American Planning Association and the local Planners Network and has worked to promote understanding amongst planners of the importance of a local, healthy food system and its links with land use planning, including organizing a California APA conference panel featuring CSU staff. Previously, she worked for a non-profit documentary film production company and still holds a strong interest in filmmaking.
Keith Parish
Producer/Videographer
Keith shot and edited SHATTERING the MYTH of AGING: Senior Games Celebrate Healthy Lifestyles, Competition and Community, a film that reminds us all that we don't need to lose strength and coordination as we age. We see in this film a man who improves with age.
Keith Parish has been involved with video production since the age of 13. His passion for visual media continues on a professional level and has led him to local and national recognition. Keith is a producer at Pittsburgh's local PBS station, WQED Multimedia. His background in both marketing and video allows him to understand not only the technical and visual aspects of production but also the purpose and message behind the work he produces. Keith owns and operates Parish Digital, a creative, award-winning, full-service production company. The website is parishdigital.com/
Keith Schikore
Editor
Keith Schikore is a Bay Area Filmmaker and Photographer. He additionally helps run a non-profit program that teaches filmmaking to people with developmental disabilities and provides work opportunities to the students within the film industry.
He works with Concentric Media doing many post-production tasks such as video editing, color correction, and post-production sound mixing. He believes that filmmaking can provide moving stories to viewers, as well as a collaborative working environment for people from all walks of life. Keith's website is www.KeithSchikore.com
Ken Jenkins
A social justice activist/visionary film producer
Ken (with Dean Cutler) created and produced the kinetic mandalas, which are the showstoppers in RADIANCE: The Experience of Light. They also created the flowing glowing imagery, which opens and closes the film.
Pioneering 9/11 activist and video producer Ken Jenkins has a degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and has done extensive postgraduate study in psychology. He has worked as a video professional for over 35 years, including 7 years at Hewlett- Packard in their state-of-the-art broadcast video facility HPTV.
Ken started presenting his PowerPoint and video productions on 9/11 truth in 2002. He has since spoken at six international 9/11 conferences and on many radio programs. He has produced dozens of 9/11 DVDs - nine with leading 9/11 Truth author David Ray Griffin, including 9/11.The Myth and the Reality. More recently he co-produced, directed and edited architect Richard Gage's 9/11: Blueprint for Truth and SF Press Conference DVDs for AE911Truth.
Ken is also a founder of 911TV.org, which has documented speakers from many 9/11 conferences and events. By revealing the "false flag" nature of the 9/11 attacks, it is Ken's intention to not only help end the current bogus "war on terror" but to also help open the way to ending war as a political option on this planet.
Kristin Atwell
Producer/Writer
Kristin began with Concentric Media as an intern working on From DANGER to DIGNITY, then a videographer and editor on FRAGILE PROMISE. She went on to produce two more films with Concentric Media: FIX-SHOPS and WOMAN by WOMAN: New Hope for the Villages of India.
Kristin came to Concentric Media as an intern on "FROM DANGER to DIGNITY" and after many projects with Dorothy, produced and edited "WOMAN by WOMAN". Since then Kristin has won awards as a filmmaker for her documentary short, Quartzite's Fall; and recently wrote and co-directed the full length TV documentary, Theodore Roosevelt Dam: Arizona's Living Legacy. Kristin is also the in-house producer for Quantum Leap Productions, which provides custom communications for businesses and corporations. Currently they provide documentary-style news coverage of the construction of the largest utility-sized PV solar array in the country. www.qlpnow.com
Laura Wigod
Assistant Editor
Laura Wigod was the assistant editor for The ANNIE GILL Story.
Laurence Rosenthal
Composer
Laurence Rosenthal created the film score for STEALING AMERICA. His previous Hollywood film scores include Becket, The Man of La Mancha, A Raisin in the Sun, The Miracle Worker, and Clash of the Titans.
Laurence Rosenthal began his career as a composer in the U.S. Air Force Documentary Film Squadron. Following his tour of duty, he transitioned to composing for Broadway Theater, where Leonard Bernstein, the New York Philharmonic, and other orchestras premiered his symphonic compositions. He began composing for motion pictures in the 1950s, and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Becket and The Man of La Mancha and has won seven Emmys over the course of his career. In 2006, he was awarded the ASCAP Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lise Braden
Filmmaker/Library Scientist/Community Activist Lisa was one of two Principal Editors (along with Nila Bogue) in crafting the film WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL? She was actively involved not only in editing, but also structuring and scripting the film over several years.
Lise Braden (formerly Rubenstein) graduated from Stanford University, where she studied filmmaking under the legendary Ron Alexander. One of the highlights of those years was seeing her own ballet documentary, SILVER FEET, broadcast on the early A&E network (when it was still ARTS & entertainment), then again, 10 years later, on national PBS with an update on the lives of the 3 main subjects. In the late 1990s she changed gear, and became a producer at The Learning Company, where she created all the video for the CD-ROM, Totally MAD, a complete anthology of MAD Magazine. She next joined the SF ground-zero dot.com revolution as editor of the French-based astrology website Astrocenter.com. She went on to earn a Masters of Library and Information Science. She is now working for the San Francisco Public Library as manager of a branch in a blighted neighborhood of San Francisco. She sees her mission as keeping the Library relevant in the age of the Internet. This brings her full circle back to her filmmaking roots. Projects in the works include making the SFPL a creative center and venue for disadvantaged teens to develop literacy skills through video. Another project dear to her heart is highlighting, in the San Francisco Public Library catalog and through public screenings, the work of local independent filmmakers.
Maribea Berry
Office Manager, Board President 2004
Maribea progressed from part-time intern to managing the Concentric business office in Menlo Park. In addition, she led the ticket sales team for the Moment By Moment premiere in 2003, and led the publicity outreach and volunteer staffing for Dorothy Fadiman's 20th Anniversary Film Festival in 2004.
Maribea Berry has worked in the technology industry for 20 years, enhanced by a five year journey of discovery in film/TV production. She is currently working as a Program Manager for Avaya, leading global product teams to bring collaboration devices to market. She was a former Readiness Manager at Citrix Systems where she played a significant role on NetScaler, WANScaler and Receiver product teams, responsible for new product introduction and facilitating global teams to develop hands-on virtual learning courses. Maribea spent her early career working for data networking companies, most notably ten years at Cisco Systems where she held roles within Support, Technical Marketing, and Product Management in access and broadband product areas.
Maribea earned a BS in Engineering from Michigan State University. Her technical accreditation include CCIE from Cisco Systems, and CCA/CCI from Citrix Systems.
Marlo McKenzie
Editor
Marlo McKenzie is a producer, storyteller and media maker originally from the Detroit area. She has studied language in France, worked in theater in Germany and was a Co-Founder and Producer at a video production company in Australia that trains underserved youth.
Her creative work has been projected onto Coit Tower in San Francisco, exhibited and screened in Australia as well as the US. Marlo holds a M.F.A from the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, Australia and a B.A. in telecommunication and digital media arts from Michigan State University. She believes in leveraging the power of media to create a shift in thought and action that will positively transform the world.
Her website is MarloMckenzie.com
Matthew Luotto
Videographer/Editor/Producer
Matt has been actively involved in all phases of production for eleven Concentric Media documentaries. These include the SEEDS of HOPE Series, MOMENT by MOMENT and STEALING AMERICA.
Matthew Luotto has spent the last ten years producing documentaries on a wide variety of topics involving issues of human rights and social justice. He has worked as director, producer, cinematographer, and editor on a wide range of projects including, voting irregularities, a non-profit ceramics collaborative in Managua, a contemporary artist's retrospective in Paris, and the healing journey of a woman recovering from a severe spinal cord injury. He traveled to Addis Ababa to co-produce, shoot and edit a five-part series on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. Luotto has worked as the post-production and technical director for the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, California, were he taught selected workshops in the art of digital media and storytelling. Luotto is also a passionate hiker. He recently completed the "Triple Crown", backpacking 2,164 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail, 2,100 miles on the Appalachian Trail, and 3,100 miles along the Continental Divide Trail, in the Rocky Mountains. He kept a video journal of all the people and places encountered in the wilderness, and in his trek through small town America. At this point, Luotto is beginning the long journey of attempting to marry his passion for wilderness adventure to the art of storytelling and filmmaking. He is (at most of this very moment) scribbling down his many stories of passion and Cervantes'esk'road-trip-adventures, into a book about the Continental Divide Trail, and thru-hiking in general. Once that dusty road be well trod, Luotto intends to embark upon a trilogy of hiking films. His approach has been to reduce the technical aspect of filmmaking, while increasing the communication drama inherent in human interaction. All his footage is hand held, and his characters are the product of either chance encounters with total strangers, or fateful (and purposeful) partnerships, depending upon one's point of view. This is reality TV meets the bizarrely rippled lens of "Lucky Joe" (Luotto's trail name).
Michael Carrier
Director of photography / Editor /Producer
Michael was one of the videographers and editors in making the film MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale. Other films on which he worked include the PBS documentary "Pete McCloskey: Leading from the Front".
Michael graduated from San Jose State with a focus on Communications Law and Broadcast Journalism. He spent two Years as Anchor/Reporter for News Programs broadcast in nine San Francisco Bay Area Counties. He has produced media for non-profit companies in Silicon Valley including the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Silicon Valley, Americans for Cures Foundation, The Lifemark Group, The Hakone Foundation in Saratoga, and Pets in Need in Redwood City. He also did videography on the PBS documentary Pete McCloskey - Leading from the Front. His documentary work has been seen on programs worldwide including San Francisco War Protest Footage from early in Iraq Conflict for Caipirinha Productions Cultures of Resistance.
Michael Wiese
Producer/Publisher
Michael, founder of Michael Wiese Productions, was the Producer of Dorothy's first film RADIANCE: The Experience of Light and 30 years later, the publisher of her first book PRODUCING with PASSION: Making Films that Change the World.
Michael Wiese, founder and publisher of Michael Wiese Productions (www.mwp.com) and Divine Arts (www.divineartsmedia), is an American director, producer, author, and publisher with 38 years of experience in film, television, pay TV and home video who presently lives in Cornwall, England. He was former vice president of Vestron Video where he developed, produced and/or acquired over 200 programs, which earned over $100 million in wholesale revenues. He launched video lines for National Geographic, The Smithsonian, NOVA, Audubon and PBS Home Video. He was a consultant to Republic Pictures, Hanna-Barbera, and National Geographic. Michael's producing and/or directing credits include, The Beach Boys: An American Band, Hardware Wars, Dolphin Adventures, The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas (Tibet), The Shaman & Ayahuasca (Peru), and Talking with Spirits (Bali).
Mika Ferris
Filmmaker/Videographer/Producer
Mika worked with us as an editor and/or videographer on many films including The FRAGILE PROMISE of CHOICE, WOMAN by WOMAN, The POWER of CHOICE and films in the series SEEDS of HOPE.
Mika has worked in Film and Video for over 15 years. He has produced documentaries covering a wide array of topics from the history of a New Orleans alternative school to a painter who continues to paint after the loss of his sight. Mika received his Bachelor's Degree in film studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara and then a Master of Fine Arts in Radio, Television and Film from the University of North Texas. Currently Mika is working in New Orleans as a Senior Video Producer for Ochsner Health System.
Check out the link below to view Mika's documentary The Free School:
Mitchell Block
Producer/Distributor
Mitchell Block saw one of Dorothy's first films, WHEN ABORTION WAS ILLEGAL and encouraged her to submit it for the OSCAR. He was right; it was nominated for an Academy Award! More recently, Mitchell was the Executive Producer of STEALING AMERICA.
Mitchell is president of Direct Cinema Limited in Santa Monica. He produced the 2011 Academy Award nominated documentary film Poster Girl. Block conceived, co-created & is an executive-producer of the 2008 PBS Emmy Award-winning 10-hour documentary series Carrier the companion documentary feature. Mel Gibson's Icon Productions financed the films. He was a consultant on nonfiction projects for HBO/Cinemax from 1998-2005. He's been teaching independent film producing at USC's School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. He was an executive-producer on HBO's 2001 Academy Award-winning film Big Mama. No Lies, produced & directed by Block, was selected in 2008 for the National Register of Historical Films, films selected from 1973 include: American Graffiti, Badlands, Mean Streets and The Sting. It won an Emmy in 1975. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-LA, and a life member of the UFVA & IDA.
Nila Bogue
Filmmaker/Editor/Producer
Nila edited a number of films for Concentric Media including: Why Do These Kids Love School?; When Abortion Was Illegal; From Danger to Dignity; and The Fragile Promise of Choice.
Nila Bogue received an MA in Anthropology and Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California in 1987. While a student, Bogue won a national FOCUS Award for Best Documentary Editing (Addressless). After graduating, she worked as assistant editor on The Great San Francisco Earthquake. She edited a number of films for Concentric Media including: Why Do These Kids Love School?; When Abortion Was Illegal; From Danger to Dignity; and The Fragile Promise of Choice. Bogue was also an associate producer for Allie Light and Irving Saraf's Rachel's Daughters: Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer. She produced and directed her own film, The Choice of a Lifetime: Returning from the Brink of Suicide, which premiered on KQED and is distributed through New Day Films.
Owen Tomlins
Filmmaker/Editor
Owen grew up in upstate New York, the son of a Teacher and Poet, and a Fashion Designer. His love of film developed early, and by age 15 was showing his films at film festivals. Owen studied story structure and mythology in depth, and wrote and produced several short films.
In 2000, he began teaching filmmaking to high school students at the Randolph School and Children's Media Project, where he taught for the next 12 years. He directed his first documentary FORMS IN TIME in 2003, about the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Owen met Dorothy Fadiman and Concentric Media on location at Vassar College in NY while filming an upcoming documentary in the fall of 2011. He has since moved to California to continue his work with Concentric Media.
Peter Carnochan
Psychoanalyst
Peter was Dorothy's partner throughout the production of WHY DO THESE KID LOVE SCHOOL? In addition to shooting and editing, Peter helped Dorothy create a narrative arc to the story that propelled it to become a Prime Time PBS Special.
Peter Carnochan is a graduate of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, where he is a personal and supervising analyst and a member of the faculty. His book, Looking for Ground: Countertransference and the Problem of Value in Psychoanalysis, was published in 2001 by the Analytic Press. He has written numerous papers on analytic theory and technique. His article on infinity, Containers Without Lids was published in 2006 by Psychoanalytic Dialogues. He has a private practice in San Francisco working with children and adults.
Peter Coyote
Narrator/Actor/Writer
Peter has narrated two of Dorothy's films STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote and RECLAIMING Their VOICE: The Native American Vote in New Mexico. In addition, Peter has narrated more than 120 documentaries.
Peter Coyote is an Emmy award-winning narrator of over 120 documentaries, including ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room. An accomplished actor, Coyote has appeared in more than 90 films, including major roles in E.T. and Erin Brockovich. From 1975 to 1983, Coyote was a member and then Chair of the California Arts Council. He is also a distinguished writer and the author of a memoir, Sleeping Where I Fall. He is also a songwriter, guitarist and singer.
Peter Girard
Film score music composer/Producer
Peter composed and produced the music track for the film MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale. He also created music for Unreal Pictures, a cutting edge computer animation company.
Peter Girard studied composition at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. He has composed soundtracks for feature films such as Eden's Curve (2003) , Breathing Room (2005), The Watermelon (2007), and Dorothy Fadiman's MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale. His score for the Brad Mays production of The Bacchae (1997) was nominated by the LA Weekly for best music. He has written works for modern dance company MILK (Samantha Giron), collaborated with DJ Bloodroot and other electronic musicians such as MAYAM, and produced solo electronic music as "Bobo and Sally". He also created music for Unreal Pictures, a cutting edge computer animation company. His acclaimed CD with vocalist Cindy Lubar Bishop, Code One: fourteen parts is available at CDBaby.com
His scoring music can be heard at http://www.myspace.com/music4picture and his more recent works can be heard at http://soundcloud.com/petergirard
Phyllis Cole
Writer/Counselor/Computer maven/lay Mycologist
Phyllis was at the first feedback screening for Dorothy's first film: RADIANCE: The Experience of Light in 1977. She has had some role in almost every project since then. She was the Assistant Producer for When Abortion Was Illegal.
In 1963, with an undergrad math degree (Middlebury College, VT) and a Harvard master's in teaching secondary school mathematics, Phyllis entered a 25-year career in the computer industry, starting at the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences Stanford University. Mainly she worked in the new field of computer-assisted instruction (CAI), using computers to present personalized instruction based on the interests, background, and performance of the person using the materials. From 1963-1971 as a Research Associate her responsibilities included: Director of a CAI project to teach computer programming to inner-city high school students. Writer-in-chief for the math portion of the CAI Brentwood project, to teach elementary school math. Contributor to numerous mathematics textbooks. Teacher of mathematics for gifted elementary school students (two years); subjects included such items as number bases and elementary logic.
A variety of shorter jobs followed: From 1972-74 she was a Research Analyst at SRI; when the grant ended to analyze government-sponsored CAI projects, I found a job at SRI with 2 physicists, Targ and Puthoff. They were doing psychic experiments: She conducted experiments and was also a subject. Her identification of the target in a "remote viewing" experiment led to a verbatim publication of the experimental results in Targ and Puthoff's book. From 1973-75 she consulted to Dimension Films project about children learning to program computers. From SRI she was recruited as Director of Curriculum by American Medial Systems to work on a project so EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) . often fire and police personnel . while on "down time" at the station could receive and/or review EMT training (1974-76). 1976-1978: Editor of a bi-monthly magazine, People's Computers, aimed at teachers and others who use computers for educational and recreational purposes.
In 1978, Jef Raskin, one of the writers for People's Computers, started talking about a new company he was involved in. At the First Computer Faire he introduced me to one of its co-founders, Steve Jobs, who immediately wanted to hire her. A whole new part of my life began. Apple Computer: 1978-1979: She was hired as a Senior Writer . although at the time, Apple had no software for word processing! 1979-1981: As Manager of Publications, responsibilities included writing/producing Apple user-product manuals; hiring/training writers, etc; during this time, the department grew from 4 to 24 individuals. 1981-1983: Senior Member of Technical Staff; designed and developed CAI to teach non-computer users to use an office computer.
In 1983, totally burned out (the company had grown from 50 to 5000 people in 5 years) she retired. She decided she needed to get into a new field, but needed clarification as to how my interests could be turned into a job. From 1983-87 she attended the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now in Mountain View, CA); my dissertation was "Attention: A Trans-disciplinary Framework."
After graduating she found she still had no clear idea of how to turn her interests into a job. Besides, she was already involved in various kinds of volunteer work. Over the years, these have included: Early 1970s: volunteer counselor at The Bridge a drop-in counseling center at Stanford University; activities included counseling, working with a psychiatrist to train counselors, and co-leading an encounter group. KARA: volunteer counselor for the bereaved and dying. Co-founder (late 1970s) of the Peninsula School Computer project; set up and ran a software-distribution company to raise money to purchase computers, develop software, and train teachers and students. SuperStill Technology Inc: documentation, training, customer service. Co-arbiter (once) with a Rabbi in binding divorce arbitration. Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz has offered lots of fun, wild mushrooms and variety of jobs over the years. Alzheimer's Association: lead groups for care-givers of the with dementia; on the Board of Directors. Counseled PhD students on dissertation design, development, execution. North American Mycological Association: put on a 450 person sold-out conference at Asilomar State Park (1998); served a term as President of the organization (2000-2003).
Ric Louchard
Composer/Piano teacher/Recording artist
Ric played and arranged the music for the first half of the film WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL?, documenting interviews and scenes with people who make up the Peninsula School community. This film went on to become a prime time PBS Special.
Ric Louchard has made five recordings of classical and ragtime piano solos for children on the Music for Little People label and is an active composer. He teaches piano privately on the peninsula, focusing on making arrangements of pieces his students are excited about playing. His philosophy is to find music his students will play over and over on their own, and use that music to teach them theory and technique. He is also the director of the Traveling Music School, Inc., which provides music classes and lessons on a sliding scale as an after school program for students in the Redwood City public schools.
Rick Keller
Photojournalist
Rick was the videographer and Director of Photography who covered a constellation of key interviews and events in Ohio during the making of STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote.
He is currently a Video Producer/Analyst for Ohio State Highway Patrol, producing videos for both internal/ external audiences. He analyzes video and audio for law enforcement. Previously, he was a photojournalist with ABC6/Fox28 in Columbus, Ohio. Consequently, Keller has been witness to some of the most remarkable events in our political landscape, including meeting various presidential candidates and other political figures such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
Robert Carrillo Cohen
Film Producer/Spiritual teacher
Rob brought both his filmmaking experience and natural intuition into the making of STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote. His many roles in this project, in addition to being one of the Assistant Producers, included shooting and scripting.
He is a film producer whose work includes the Emmy nominated HBO documentary Hacking Democracy. He is the director of the grassroots group Campaign for Election Protection. An early pioneer in game theory on the Internet, he created CoreWave, the first complete playable version of Herman Hesse's Nobel Prize winning novel The Glass Bead Game. His work as a producer is based on a life long interest in bridging the worlds of science and spirituality.
Robert Pacelli
Filmmaker/Videographer/ Community Activist
Bob has been actively involved as videographer, editor and advisor in the making of various Concentric Films including PEACE: A Conscious Choice, WORLD PEACE is a Local Issue and CELEBRATION: I Am All of These.
Pacelli's video work has been featured at museums throughout the world, including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Laguna Gloria Museum at Austin, Texas and more. Awards include Barcelona International Film Festival (First Prize, 1983), the Cine Eagle (USA), Lilles International Film Festival (France), the Hiroshima Film Festival, San Francisco Chronicle and Art Weekly.
He worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, Switzerland to promote UNHCR's work and publicize the plight of the refugees worldwide with the use of the television media.
Shenaz Zack
Editor/Producer/Google + Team Leader
Shenaz began with Concentric Media as an Assistant Editor on the Ethiopia Project. Soon after becoming an Editor, she moved into production work, and took on full responsibility as the Producer for the film: From RISK to ACTION: Women and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Shenaz now works at Google, on the Google Plus team. She has led the YouTube Partner Program that enables partners to generate revenue from videos and access YouTube's specialized partner features and tools. She is also responsible for key areas of YouTube's CMS and Content ID system.
Shenaz has broad and unique combination of experience in the media industry. Prior to joining YouTube, she worked with Concentric Media, where she co-produced a documentary about AIDS in Ethiopia. She was also on the Board of Directors of KKUP 91.5fm, which is one of the only listener supported radio stations in the United States. Earlier in her career at BMG (India) she was a Marketing Executive, responsible for promoting albums from artists like Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera and Aqua.
Sisse Brimberg
Photojournalist
Sisse documented several of our film projects using still photographs as the stories were unfolding. One was MOMENT by MOMENT and the other SEEDS of HOPE, about HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Sisse Brimberg has been a regular photographer for National Geographic since 1976, when a Danish grant allowed her to study photojournalism at the Society. Since 1976, Brimberg has traveled the world for the organization. Her particular passion is for historical/cultural stories that require a great deal of research and even more imagination. She has published more than 30 stories ranging from Japan's paper industry to Northern Europe's Viking culture. Today she and her husband, Cotton Coulson, own a media company, KEENPRESS, which produces photography and HD video film for international publications and companies. Much of their work focuses on the environment, climate issues, and international travel stories.
Steve Longstreth
Sound Recordist/Sound Mixer/Independent Media Producer
Steve was the Sound Recordist throughout a full year of shooting scenes and interviews for the Peninsula School segments of the film WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL?, which went on to become a PBS Prime Time Special.
Steve's career in sound recording and production includes: "The American Experience" (sound) (6 episodes, 1990-2009) (location sound) (1 episode, 1999) (sound recordist) (1 episode, 1992)
The Kennedys (2009) TV episode (sound)
Hoover Dam (1999) TV episode (location sound) (as Stephen Longstreth)
The Donner Party (1992) TV episode (sound recordist)
The Kennedys: Part 2 - The Sons, 1961-80 (1992) TV episode (sound)
The Kennedys (Part 1): the Father, 1900-61 (1992) TV episode (sound) Raging Grannies (2009) (V) (boom operator) "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" (sound recordist) (1 episode, 2009)
Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses?: Nerds, Jerks & Oddballs (2009) TV episode (sound recordist) The Forever Home: Going Green (2009) (V) (boom operator)
"Adventures with Kanga Roddy" (1998) TV series (sound) (unknown episodes) Crumb (1994) (assistant sound recordist)
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989) (additional sound) The Day After Trinity (1981) (sound) (as Steven Longstreth)
Steve Michelson
Filmmaker/Producer
Steve helped Dorothy and her team envision the story arc of the film MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale. He was deeply involved in pre-production, and was one of the principle videographers once shooting began.
Steve Michelson is the Executive Producer for Specialty Studios and the Video Project, one of the nations oldest environmental educational distributors. He has been the Executive Producer on many award-winning films including Climb Against the Odds (1998), Oil on Ice (2004), Crude Impact (2006), Burning the Future (2008) River of Renewal (2009) and Power Paths (2009). A new film in production during 2012 is Epidemic?, a study of the rise in autism and related disorders. In 2001 he opened the Studio at Lobitos Creek Ranch that specializes in providing services for documentary producers.
He has served as a Governor with the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). Steve was the co-founder of One Pass Inc., San Francisco's largest production service from 1975-1990. Steve is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he attended The Annenberg School of Communications and the Wharton School of Business.
Steven Mangold
Photographer/Communications strategist
Steve created riveting sequences of his own photographic images from nature for Dorothy's first film RADIANCE: The Experience of Light. His stunning close-ups of flowers dissolving into one another are among the most memorable moments of that film.
Steve Mangold worked as a commercial and nature photographer from 1975 to 1990. He was a pioneer in developing multi-projector slide shows of photographs choreographed to music. He worked for Foothill College, The Pt. Reyes Bird Observatory, Nature Expeditions International and UC Santa Cruz Extension. He founded Project Hogar, a charity which raised funds to develop orphanages for girls in Oaxaca, Mexico, and to underwrite the Niøo a Niøo village health initiative, which the UN called one of the two most effective community health programs in the world in 1992. He helped build Second Harvest Food Bank's brand as a super-agency. He then became President of PRx Communication Strategists, a San Jose public relations and advertising agency representing Apple, Applied Materials, Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System and numerous nonprofit organizations. He served a term as Chairman of the International Public Relations Network, a group of 40+ agencies around the globe with billings exceeding $50 million.
Victoria Nichols
Writer/A Living Support System for everything she loves
Victoria was actively involved both artistically (as a photographer) and in all phases of production with many Concentric films including WHY DO THESE KIDS LOVE SCHOOL?, PEACE: A Conscious Choice and CELEBRATION.
Victoria (in her own words) feels that "the really important stuff I've been doing these past 20 or so years has had to do with grandchildren and their generation." In addition to that role, she is the co-author with Susan Thompson of Silk Stalkings: When Women Write of Murder, a survey of series characters created by women authors in crime and mystery fiction which boasts 9 editions published between 1997 and 2001 in English and held by 785 libraries worldwide.
Wernher Krutein
Photographer/Videographer
Werner's photographic images and videography provide a fresh elegant presence in several of Concentric Media's films including CELEBRATION: I Am All of These and RADIANCE: The Experience of Light.
Wernher Krutein has, since childhood, formulated a reverence for a world he describes as "simply beautiful, enormously complex, and lovingly profound." Early on his dream was, and is, no less than the capturing of representative images portraying the vast variety of space and time. In the subsequent years he engaged in capturing every single moment of magical reality he possibly can.
He has taken well over three million photographs all over the globe, and for the last fifteen years, devoted his life to the cataloging and archiving of the best of these images, and those of a diverse and spectacularly talented group of photographers. He has also filmed countless hours of beautiful footage from around the world, and his time-lapse cinematography has brought him into a fascinating world of "Painting With Time (tm)". In the late 70's he invented a visual cataloging system titled FLUID LOGIC (tm), and started an archive to include all possible sources of images. This cataloging system is perhaps the most comprehensive yet simplistic slide filing system ever devised. This research into the "ultimate" search and retrieval system, transformed into a visual resource library called PHOTOVAULT.
Xuan Vu
Editor/Documentary filmmaker
Xuan was the principal editor from 2007-2009 on two Concentric Media films.STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote and RECLAIMING THEIR VOICE: The Native American Vote in New Mexico.
Xuan Vu is a documentary filmmaker whose core motivation is to give a voice to those who otherwise would not be heard. Xuan holds a graduate degree from Boston University in Documentary Filmmaking and is currently working as an assistant editor at Atlas Media Corp in New York City. Contact Info: XuanTVu@gmail.com 781.698.9372