Directors & Producers - Ellen Martinez & Steph Ching
Ellen Martinez and Steph Ching are a directing and producing team. They directed the film, "After Spring" a feature documentary about the Syrian refugee crisis. The film was Executive Produced by Jon Stewart and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016. It was broadcast on STARZ and is the recipient of the Frontline Award for Documentary Journalism. The award winning film screened at over 100 film festivals worldwide, including a screening at the U.S. Capitol. Their work has been supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and they were both honored as Directors on the inaugural DOC NYC "40 Under 40" list.
Executive Producer - Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. He hosted "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015. The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, and during his tenure, it won 22 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Grammy Awards and also was nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He wrote and directed the feature film, "Rosewater" starring Gael García Bernal and the feature film "Irresistible" starring Steve Carell and Rose Byrne.
Executive Producer - Chris McShane
Chris McShane is the head of Production and Development at Busboy Productions, a production company that was launched by Jon Stewart in the mid 1990's. Chris was an Executive Producer on "Rosewater" and executive in charge of production on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" and "The Colbert Report."
Co-Producer - Jenn Durrett
Jenn Durrett is a filmmaker and activist exploring ways to use film and filmmaking in positive, socially proactive ways. After attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she received a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation from Trinity College Dublin. She also worked in the editorial department on the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Square.”
Cinematographer - Jason Graham Howell
Jason Howell is a documentary and fiction-film cinematographer based in New Jersey and New York. Recently, he was cinematographer on the documentary, “An Act of Love,” about Pastor Frank Schaefer who was defrocked for marrying his son to his same gender partner. Jason is on the Board of Trustees at the Ocean City, NJ Art Center and is a New Jersey volunteer Naturalist.
Cinematographer - Frank Weiss
Frank began his career as a photographer and filmmaker in 2005 in Kandahar, Afghanistan while serving in the United States Air Force. Deeply affected by the impersonal views of the Middle East popularized by news media, Frank felt inspired to capture photographs highlighting the human aspect of the conflict.
Editor - Paul Lovelace
Paul Lovelace is an Austin, Texas based director, producer and editor. Paul edited and co-produced "Iris", directed by the late Albert Maysles, about fashion icon Iris Apfel which was released worldwide in 2015. In 2016 Paul edited "After Spring", a feature length documentary about the Syrian refugee crisis that was Executive Produced by Jon Stewart. Most recently Paul co-directed, produced and edited "The Kansas Experiment", a digital series for PBS. In 2017, Paul co-directed, produced and edited "Hot Grease" a documentary for the Discovery Channel about biodiesel.
Composer - Katy Jarzebowski
Katy is a film, concert and multimedia composer. In 2014 she was chosen as a composer fellow for the Sundance Institute’s Music and Sound Design Lab at Skywalker Sound. Katy has composed original music for the independent feature film, “Aram Aram” which premiered at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival. She was named one of ASCAP’s “Top Composers to Watch” in 2014.
Associate Producer/Sound - Brian Kang
Brian’s exposure to documentary filmmaking began in 2009 when he was on an earthquake relief mission in the Sichuan Province of China. Brian is currently pursuing a law degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.