AMERICAN TEEN
Nanette Burstein’s NYU thesis film turned into her first feature-length documentary, On the Ropes, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, along with the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and the International
THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY
Daniel Junge's first feature-length film, CHIEFS, on the Wyoming Indian High School basketball team, won best documentary at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast nationally on PBS. Since that time, he has directed a number of films, including the regional Emmy-winner BIG BLUE BEAR, the PBS-broadcast READING YOUR RIGHTS, and the 6-part series COMMON GOOD, which received four regional Emmys. "Most recently, Junge's award-winning feature documentary IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA, on Africa's first elected female president, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and has aired on over 50 broadcasters worldwide, including PBS.
Junge was raised in Wyoming and received his BA from Colorado College (’92); he attended film school at New York University. He has worked in the Los Angeles, New York, and London film/television industries as an assistant director, assistant editor, researcher, and production assistant. Junge has taught as a guest professor at Colorado College, and speaks regularly to classes at the University of Colorado. He is creative director for Just Media, a non-profit production company dedicated to social justice, the environment, and education; he makes his home in Denver, Colorado with his wife, Erin and two large dogs.
David Stang ~ brother of “Sister Dorothy”
David served as a Catholic Priest and Missionary in Tanzania and Kenya Africa, 1964-74, working with the Wakuria and Wasimbiti People where he was involved in numerous agriculture and development projects. Proficient in Kikuria and Kisimbiti Languages. He served as nursing home administrator in Colorado from 1975 to 2002, in Pueblo, Lamar, Salida, Bent County, Canyon City, Monte Vista, and Denver Colorado helping to save a number of these homes from financial and management troubles. For his work he was named Colorado Health Care Association Administrator of the Year in 1995 and 1997.
David became a spokesperson for his sister Dorothy Stang after her murder on February 12th 2005. He has traveled nine times to Brazil to advocate for justice in the State of Para where over 700 farmers have been murdered with no justice. Schools in Xinguara, Xingu, Sao Paulo and Hortolandia Brazil have been named after Dorothy where David and the Sisters of Notre Dame in Brazil have been present at their openings.
Henry Ansbacher ~ Producer
Henry Ansbacher founded Just Media, a Colorado-based non-profit production company dedicated to innovative media projects on issues of social justice, the environment, and education. As Just Media’s executive director, Ansbacher has produced all of director Daniel Junge's films, including CHIEFS, IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA, and THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY, as well as over 40 short films for various non-profit rganizations. His work with non-profits led to his conception and production of Common Good, a six part series for Comcast Cable about social entrepreneurs, which won 4 Regional Emmys in 2005.
Ansbacher served as executive producer on the theatrically-released OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND and the soon-to-be released WESLEY WILLIS’S JOYRIDES, in addition to directing the documentary WITNESS: FROM A DEEP PLACE, which screened in festivals in the US and Europe.
SATURDAY SHORT FILMS
Joe Killian ~ THE ART OF INSPIRATION
Joe Killian is seventeen years old and a rising senior at William J. Palmer High School. He began
Lowell Frank ~ DEACON’S MONDAYS
Lowell Frank, born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, son of a conservative, Nazarene pastor,
Matt Webb, Matt Barber and Aaron Schuh ~ WEATHERED
Over the past ten years Matt Webb has been a student, teacher, writer, director, producer, actor, missionary, husband, and father. Matt has written, directed, produced, and toured the U.S. with an original theatrical musical revue, written film reviews and study guides, taught theatre at Huntington University, directed more than 15 staged productions in the U.S. and Haiti, and has produced alongside other up-and-coming filmmakers in Los Angeles. Matt recently finished his masters degree in
Matt Barber is an Eagle Rock,CA-based film and television editor whose credits include the TV series Chuck and The O.C., the short film The Oates’ Valor (which was selected to compete at both the Sundance and Cannes Film festivals), and the recent Celebutantes webisodes directed by McG. Barber has also written and directed various music videos and short films. A graduate of San Jose State University, Barber’s student film, The Rule, received the 2000 Doc Arrends directing award and became a Top Five rated film on Ifilm.com.
Aaron shot his first film, Blind Justice, prior to finishing college. After spending a semester in Los Angeles to study film, he graduated with a B.A. in Photography from Bethel College in
THE BIG QUESTION
“A genuine iconoclastic talent worth applauding.” (Variety, April 10, 1997).
These words in response to Vince DiPersio’s second feature film, THE PRICE OF KISSING just begin to tell the tale. Three Academy Award nominations, three Emmys, prizes from film festivals around the world, the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Journalism, Vince brings a level of passion and excitement to every project he embarks on.
Over the course of his career Vince has done award-winning documentaries for HBO, CBS, Turner Television, Frontline, ABC, Showtime, worked on TV projects, and directed numerous major TV commercials. Five years ago he started his own independent documentary company, Sputnik Pictures and so far they’ve produced three films on their own, the last of which is Vince’s own People of Earth. A recent film, Semper fi – One Marine’s Journey premiered on Showtime in June and won several festival awards. Vince is currently directing a reality pilot for Fox TV, and a 12 part webisode for Disney/ABC. In addition, Vince is putting together his next independent feature, Howl, about a wild twenty-four hours in the lives of beat lions, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady.
THE THIRD WAVE
Alison Thompson was born in the outskirts of Sydney in the Australian bush. Raised a preacher's daughter, she has lived and shot in over 30 countries. A former medic and mathematics teacher, Alison moved to New York and enrolled at NYU film school. Three weeks out of film school she directed and executive produced her first Feature Comedy called High Times’ Potluck which won nine film festival awards Including ‘Best Directorial Debut’ and ‘Best Screenplay’ written by ‘Summer of Sam’ writer Victor Collichio. High Times’ Potluck was released theatrically in the U.S.A and Canada in 2003.
On September 11, 2001 Alison, rollerbladed 8 miles to the World Trade Center with her medical kit and became a first responder rescue worker. For nine months, she stayed on and worked as a volunteer at Ground Zero where her 'Potluck' film Investor and many of her friends were among those killed in the WTC attacks. That experience changed her life as a volunteer and also the direction of her filmmaking, with a focus now on stories with more meaningful messages to the world. She is the creator and founder of the first Tsunami Early-warning Center in Sri Lanka called CTEC. The Tsunami Center is still the only one in Sri Lanka today. The Third Wave is her second feature film.
Alison (second from left) and Oscar (second from right)
on location, shoulder to shoulder.
Oscar Gubernati ~ Producer
Oscar Gubernati was born and raised in Palermo, Italy and moved to Los Angeles in 1990 to attend film studies at UCLA. After his graduation he became the Executive Vice President of Stone Canyon Entertainment, a production company based at MGM studios in Los Angeles. He has worked as an independent feature producer including: Tecknolust; Golf Punks; I Woke up Early the Day I Died; Woundings; South of Heaven West of Hell; and Welcome to Hollywood.
In 2002 Oscar moved to NYC to establish Ozone Pictures Inc., a production company specializing in Film Financing and International Co-productions. He also served as Co-Executive Director of IHAF, International Humanitarian Artist Foundation, a charitable organization whom awarded artists for their humanitarian efforts. He is the founder of Football Without Boundaries, an organization with the focus of promoting Peace through Sports. In 2005 Oscar successfully negotiated and organized a football/soccer match between two ethnicities who have been at civil war for 40 years, the Sinhalese Vs. the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. THE THIRD WAVE is his first documentary.
Cedar Daniels was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, and graduated high school from Colorado Academy in 1992. He moved to New York City in 1998, where he started a career in graphic design and then quickly transitioned into Flash animation and design while working for Urban Box Office, a Company that produced the online animated series Bullet Proof Diva. In 2005, Cedar received his Masters of Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design. He freelanced for the next several years mainly focusing on motion graphic design for television and then changed his focus to editing. Cedar co-produced, edited, designed and animated the title and card graphics and scored music for the feature length documentary The Third Wave. Currently, he is a creative director for a new start-up company Digital Broadcasting Group.
