STAFF
Leslie Thomas
Executive Producer
Leslie Thomas is a human rights advocate, feature narrative and documentary director, multi-media artist, and architect. Leslie is also the founder of ART WORKS Projects and an Emmy-award winning art director. She has designed and led-impact campaigns on grave human rights and social justice issues across multiple continents reaching both very large grassroots audiences and specifically targeted viewers with the goal of making change. Recent films include The Prosecutors and Thursday’s Child.
COLLABORATORS
Aldonza Contreras Castro
Aldonza Contreras Castro has worked mainly in the field of sound for cinema and theater, as a sound engineer, editor, foley artist, and sound designer. She has also explored the field of production and direction focusing mostly on documentaries. Aldonza recently obtained an MA in Visual and Media Anthropology at the Free University, Berlin and was part of the Berlinale Talents in 2016.
Juan Arredondo
Juan Arredondo is a documentary photographer who has chronicled human rights and conflict stories in Colombia, Venezuela and Central America. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times, National Geographic, ESPN among others. His work on the demobilization and reintegration of former fighters into the Colombian society was awarded a World Press Photo award in 2018. He is 2019 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Christy Denes
Christy Denes is an editor with over 15 years' experience cutting documentary and unscripted programming for clients including PBS, Amazon, Starz, the History Channel, CNN, Lifetime, Discovery, Oxygen, and independent producers. Her strengths are story and substance, and creating a seamless arc from the often chaotic and unpredictable footage that comes back from the field or archives.
Wenting Deng Fisher
Wenting Deng Fisher is a cinematographer and director currently based in Los Angeles. Growing up in Northern China and studying in the US has shaped Wenting with sensitive traveler’s eyes. She is always ready to capture the precious moments with her lens or her mind’s eye for inspirations. She has worked in camera departments in different countries including China, US and Croatia on short films, music videos, commercials, reality TV shows, feature films and documentaries.
J. Matthew Jacob
J. Matthew Jacob is a commercial editor, producer and technical director with over 20 years experience in production and post production. His client list includes Apple, Google, NBA, Reebok, My Morning Jacket, Cadillac, Lincoln as well as directors Leslie Thomas, Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist and Ethan Hawke. He can move seamlessly between high energy fast paced cuts and slower, thought provoking and emotional storytelling. A tech geek and film polymath, he is often the first contact for creatives when researching cameras, software, techniques and workflows.
Maren Wickwire
Maren Wickwire is a documentarian and visual anthropologist. She is the founder of Manifest Media, a nomadic film production company, and has wide-ranging experience in directing, producing and filming documentaries. Her work has been screened around the globe and focuses on migration studies, mobility and transnationalism, post-conflict and peace-building efforts with a particular interest in the everyday experiences of women and marginalized communities. Her most recent films can be seen here Where We Belong and Together Apart
Joel Karakezi
Joël Karekezi is a Rwandese screenwriter, film director and film producer. His feature film Imbabazi: The Pardon won the Nile Grand Prize 2014 at Luxor African Film Festival, and Best Director at International Images Film Festival For Woman 2014 and was shown at the Göteborg International Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and elsewhere. The Mercy of the Jungle script won the 2012 CFI Award for the Most Promising Audiovisual Project at Durban FilmMart. His second feature film, The Mercy of the Jungle, won the Silver Hugo Award in new director’s competition at Chicago International film festival 2018 and the GOLDEN STALLION grand prize at FESPACO 2019.
Roya Sadat
Roya Sadat is an Afghan film producer and director. She was the first woman director in the history of Afghan cinema in the post-Taliban era, and ventured into making feature films and documentaries on the theme of injustice and restrictions imposed on women.
Bassam Khabieh
Bassam Khabieh is a Syrian freelance photojournalist who for five years chronicled the siege of his home city of Douma. His photographs have been featured in some of the world’s most prestigious publications. Bassam was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for photographic reporting requiring exceptional courage and enterprise. A forthcoming monograph looks deeply at his work on the impact of war on children.
Susana Seijas
Susana Seijas is a London-based journalist. She has reported and produced for the BBC, CBS News, the PBS NewsHour, and many others. For the past ten years she has been a freelance consultant for the Committee to Protect Journalists focusing on the press freedom crisis in Mexico. Bilingual in English and Spanish, Susana speaks fluent Russian and conversational French and Portuguese and is a graduate of Leeds University and of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.