Producer/Director

Christopher Upham has written 4 novels, 2 plays, a dozen stories and 3 screenplays about Vietnam. Upham is sought after for his expert story consulting by writers John O’Keefe (SHIMMER, Bronte), Lynn Hershman-Leeson (CONCEIVING ADA, TECHNOLUST) and Lewis Green (NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS). On staff at the prestigious Squaw Valley Screenwriting program, he also taught Documentary Structure and Visual Storytelling. Current fiction Feature projects include: Good Morning Afghanistan with Waseem Mahmood, Secret Soldier- a woman masquerades as a soldier in Vietnam, wine country comedy FOR THE LOVE OF ALICE, CAIRO PSALM, with Lebanese director Hisham Bizri and Cooperstown with Sundance acclaimed director William Farley.

Executive Producer

Sarah Ryan Black is a producer and principal at Grand Illusions and Operating Partner at Multicultural Entertainment. At A&M Films Sarah developed and helped produce The Breakfast Club, One Crazy Summer, Birdy and Better Off Dead. As VP, Development, Wildwood Films she worked on Robert Redford’s The Milagro Beanfield War. As Senior VP at Norman Lear’s ACT III Productions she developed Fried Green Tomatoes and Breaking In. As VP for Segue Productions, she developed Ransom and Restoration. Sarah has produced television movies for CBS and BBC. Sarah spent five years as Senior VP of Cruise/Wagner Productions in charge of Development.

Script Consultant

Thomas Schlesinger was Caroline Link’s story consultant on the scripts for her films, Nowhere in Africa, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and Beyond Silence, nominated for an Academy Award in 1998. He also collaborated with German film director Doris Dörrie on the screenplay for her film, Nobody Loves Me, which won the German Film Prize in 1996, and The Fisherman and his Wife, which is now showing in Europe. As a story consultant, his clients have included Robert Watts (who produced Star Wars), Carroll Ballard (who directed Never Cry Wolf), Marc Sotkin (Executive Producer of The Golden Girls), Buzz Hirsch (Executive Producer of Silkwood), Zoetrope Studios, Miramax, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures, Constantin, X-Filme, and numerous European studios and broadcasters.

Director of Photography

S. Smith Patrick is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer based in San Francisco, California. Her internationally acclaimed, award-winning first film, The Children of Ibdaa: To Create Something Out of Nothing (2002) documents a West Bank refugee camp children's dance troupe expressing the history, struggle, and aspirations of the Palestinian people. As cinematographer, her documentary films in post production also include: Singing the Milky Way, about a world renowned, bush-raised Australian aboriginal artist and Seeing Siem Reap, about Cambodian street children using a photography and dance workshop to lift them out of poverty.

Editor

Traci Loth is a San Francisco-based editor with over a decade of experience in documentary and commercial work, both for television and film. She cut the award-winning documentary Row Hard, No Excuses—about two Americans rowing the world's toughest race across the Atlantic. Most recently, she edited for the Aerial America series on Smithsonian Channel. Her many corporate clients include Sony, Yahoo!, and Apple Computer.

Composer

Luciano Chessa is a sought after contemporary Italian composer of mostly stage, chamber and vocal works that have been performed in Europe and elsewhere; he is also active as a musicologist and pianist. Mr. Chessa studied at the Conservatorio G.B. Martini, the Universita di Bologna and holds a PhD from the University of California, Davis.

Sound Designer

JAMES LEBRECHT has supervised or edited sound on many feature films and documentaries including: DAUGHTER FROM DANANG, BATTLEFIELD EARTH, THE SKULLS, THE SINGING DETECTIVE AND THE COCKETTES. In addition, James designed and produced over 100 professional theatre productions and co-authored the book SOUND AND MUSIC FOR THE THEATRE: THE ART AND TECHNIQUE OF DESIGN.