Director/Producer/Cinematographer, Melody Gilbert
Melody Gilbert has been making feature-length independent documentaries for 15 years. Her film topics range from children who can’t feel pain (www.alifewithoutpain.com) to people who want to become an amputee (www.whole-documentary.com) to the former vice president of the United States (www.mondalefilm.org). All of her films have screened at prestigious film festivals (SXSW, Thessaloniki, Hot Docs), been picked up for international distribution for broadcast TV (PBS, Sundance Channel, RTL, TVF, YLE, etc.) and VOD (iTunes and Netflix). Most recently, she has been the producer of The Starfish Throwers (2014), Women Outward Bound (2015) and executive producer for American Heart (2015/PBS). The Documentary Channel has called Melody “one of the most fearless filmmakers in contemporary documentary cinema.” Her new film, SILICONE SOUL, will be Melody's 7th feature-length film as a director/producer/cinematographer. Trailers for all of Melody’s films here: www.frozenfeetfilms.com.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, JOY A. TOMCHIN
Joy. A. Tomchin is a producer and executive producer, known for The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017), AWOL (2016), How to Survive a Plague (2012). She lives in NY and is currently executive producing a new project with documentary filmmaker David France.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, TIM GRADY
Tim Grady has been involved in the film and entertainment business for over 45 years. From 1986 -2011, he was the producing partner of the Tour de France organization in Paris. During this period, Grady produced over 150 hours of programming on European cycling and he owned the exclusive home video rights to the Tour de France for North America, United Kingdom and Ireland. He also published Cycle Sport Magazine in partnership with IPC Magazines and Time Warner. Early in his career, Grady worked with film professor Al Milgrom to curate and organize a prestigious film exhibition program at the University of Minnesota. Grady then founded and directed the first Minneapolis-St. Paul Film Festival in 1982, which is still one of the best international film festivals in the country. In 2011, Grady founded Adopt Films, which distributes award-winning international films in the U.S. His company releases 4-6 films per year and recognized as an astute player in the foreign language market. In 2012, Adopt’s film OMAR was nominated for an Academy Award.
Producer, Dumitrita Pacicovschi
Dumi is a film festival programmer and producer who has worked on several documentaries, including “The Summer Help” (www.thesummerhelp.com) as associate producer, and Women Outward Bound (www.womenoutwardbound.com ) as production assistant. She is also the producer of “Minka,” a documentary directed by Igor Myakotin. Dumitrita worked as a programming assistant for the 16th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (2014), as an assistant for the Balkan Survey section of the 54th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (2013) and assistant to the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival curator (2017). She pre-screens films for Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Minneapolis St.Paul International Film Festival, AFI Docs and Cheap Cuts Documentary Festival and has pre-screened in the past for Chicago International Film Festival. She graduated with a MSc in Film Studies from the University of Edinburgh and currently heads the industry side at Moldox and organizes the advanced documentary workshop and pitch at the festival.
EDITOR, MILES PAINTER
Miles Painter has a background in post-production and film editing, with a strong passion for documentary. He worked as an assistant editor on the popular Netflix doc-series "Making a Murderer” and as an editor on the documentary "Circle the Wagen.” Previously he was an executive assistant in L.A. developing films at Mattel, Inc., and he has held various roles on several fiction narrative feature films. He recently earned a MSJ from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and has long-term goal of creating social justice stories and documentary filmmaking.
Cinematographer, Igor Myakotin
Igor Myakotin is a documentary filmmaker from the Russian Far East who searches for cinematic authenticity and character-driven stories. Igor's recent short documentary "Swan Song" received an award for Outstanding Documentary Filmmaking at the 38th FINE CUTS at The New School in New York City. Igor did his undergraduate studies at the American University in Bulgaria where he studied documentary filmmaking under Melody Gilbert's mentorship. He went on to study at The New School in NYC where he received a Diploma in Documentary Studies. More of Igor's work here: www.igormyakotin.com
Consulting Producer, Dr. Danielle Knafo
Danielle Knafo, is a professor at LIU and NYU and a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and author. Her most recent book, The Age Of Perversion: Desire and Technology in Psychoanalysis and Culture, takes on the doll phenomenon in our times.
Photo Credit:Jason P. Schumacher
Composer, Charlie McCarron
Charlie McCarron is a film and video game composer in Minneapolis. For four years, he produced the podcast Composer Quest, interviewing over 150 composers and challenging his listeners to unique "quests" like writing music based on fortune cookies. He co-produces MNKINO Film Score Fest, where filmmakers and composers are paired to create new short films that are screened with a live orchestra performing the scores. Find more about his work here: www.charliemccarron.com
Animator, gILES tIMMS
Giles Timms is an animator, filmmaker and illustrator. As an animator, Giles has worked with Walter Robot on several projects including animated music videos for Kady Z and Barnaby Saints, animated scenes for the documentary 'Lucky' and on the award winning animated music video, 'Grapevine Fires' by Death Cab for Cutie. As a filmmaker, Giles' animated films have won several film festival awards and honors and have also been featured on Boing Boing, Motionographer, Cartoon Brew and Juxtapoz. His work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, the Los Angeles Film Festival and on PBS and HBO. Follow his work here: www.gilestimms.com
Animator, Beth Peloff - Green jeans media
Beth Peloff developed and produced the arts magazine show, "Access to Art," and also shot and edited individual segments for the show during its three-year, 19 episode run. Her 10 plus years of production experience includes documenting Metro Blooms "Blooms Day" for 4 years and producing, shooting and editing a 30-minute documentary of the 2010 Monarch Festival. Over the past 10 years she has made several videos for Pangea World Theater, documenting the process of collaborative theater projects.
Animator, John Akre - Green Jeans Media
John Akre teaches animation in the Digital Media Arts Department of Hamline University. He documented the twenty-year history of the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program, producing 119 magazine programs. He has created videos for numerous non-profit organizations, including the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization and the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota. John also created a documentary about the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden that was aired on Twin Cities Public Television. He is also an award-winning animator who has produced 2 feature-length and over 40 short animations over the last 10 years. In 2013, Akre was nominated by Pollen as one of the Twin Cities "Under the Radar" Leaders and Community Connectors. See his animation work at www.johnakre.com
Channel Z is a full service creative media company specializing in editorial and post production with world headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thanks to these folks from Z who rocked the Silicone Soul post!
Digital Deliverables
Jordan Johnson
Post-Production Producers
Charlie Gerszewski
Kelly Nelson
Post-Production Associate Producer
Kaily Rice
Executive Post Producer
Ace Allgood
Color Correction, Online & Visual Effects
Chris Chiabotti
End Credits
Cory Bauer
Additional Editor, Magdalena Hernández
Magdalena is a Colombian editor and filmmaker with a deep passion for storytelling. Graduated from DePaul University in 2017 with a MS in Cinema Post-Production and recently hired by Cutters Studios as an Assistant Editor in their Chicago headquarters. Check out her work here: www.magdalenah.net
Additional Editor, Brian Kantor
Brian is a video editor with a master's degree in science and technology studies. He currently works as a researcher for NOVA, the science documentary series produced by WGBH and broadcast by PBS.
editing consultant, Michael X. Flores
Michael X. Flores attended USC, where he received a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema-Television Production. After graduating from USC, Michael edited Nick Broomfield’s documentary Sarah Palin: You Betcha! (2011), which premiered at TIFF in 2011. He has since edited several films including Tommy O'Haver's Netflix Original biopic The Most Hated Woman in America (2017), which premiered at SXSW, and Jason Kohn’s Love Means Zero (2017), which premiered at TIFF in 2017. More about Michael's work here: www.michaelxflores.com
Sound Mix, Jesse Marks
Jesse is a sound engineer with a career in sound production for video. He composes original music compositions, creates realistic sound design for film. Jesse co-founded The Touch of Sound, a platform that presents authentic sound recordings from all over the world. Find Jesse's work here: www.jessemarksmusic.com
Graphics, Ani Devdariani
Ani enjoys designing posters and postcards and did that for Melody's previous documentary, The Summer Help. Ani is a graduate of the American University in Bulgaria and is currently living in Batumi, Georgia (the country).