American Filmmaker

Vera Brunner-Sung is a filmmaker who uses experimental, documentary, and narrative techniques to explore the relationship between place and identity. Vera's documentary short film, Character, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

The child of immigrants from Korea and Switzerland, Vera grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Early on, her intercultural, mixed-race experience created a fluid sense of belonging that informs her work. After undergraduate work in public policy and visual art at Brown University, she moved to California to study film with Thom Andersen, Rebecca Baron, James Benning, and Betzy Bromberg at CalArts.

Vera’s films, videos, and photographs have been presented at festivals, museums, and galleries in the U.S. and abroad, including Sundance, the Torino Film Festival, CPH:DOX, Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, San Francisco International Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Images Festival. Her first feature, Bella Vista, had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2014, and went on to win her the George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker Award at the 15th San Diego Asian Film Festival. She is a 2015 Fellow with the Center for Asian American Media and a 2020 Sundance FilmTwo Fellow.

In addition to making films, Vera is a writer and educator. Her essays, reviews, and reports have appeared in print and online publications including Sight & Sound, Cinema Scope, and Millennium Film Journal. Her chapter on the representation of site-specific art in contemporary documentary film appears in Documenting the Visual Arts (ed. Roger Hallas, Routledge, 2019). She has taught at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Montana, and is currently an assistant professor at The Ohio State University.

This episode was recorded in partnership with the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

Peter Hutchison is a critically acclaimed filmmaker, NY Times Bestselling author, educator and activist. Based in Brooklyn, his experience in film and TV production – as a documentary director, producer, writer and NYU Faculty member - spans nearly two decades. He produced & directed Requiem for the American Dream: Noam Chomsky and the Principles of Concentration of Wealth and Power – an exploration of wealth inequity in American, grounded in an intimate, long- form interview with Noam Chomsky (Netflix). A NY Times Critics Pick and #1 top-selling doc on iTunes, the book version of the film debuted at #6 on the NY Times Bestseller list (Seven Stories Press). Peter is working on a triad of films exploring hate in America, including the feature Healing From Hate: Battle for the Soul of a Nation, which examines the root causes of hate group activity through the bold work of "Life After Hate" – an organization founded by former Skinheads and neo-Nazis now engaged in de- radicalizing violent extremists, and transforming attitudes of intolerance on the front lines. The companion pieces Angry White Men: American Masculinity in the Age of Trump, based upon the groundbreaking work of sociologist Michael Kimmel (Grasshopper Films); and Auschwitz: Journey into Reconciliation, which follows ex neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Tony McAleer on a personal journey of atonement through the Polish death camps (currently in post), complete the trilogy. He is also currently producing/directing a film that examines the consequences of long-term, unfettered corporate activity in West Virginia.

Peter’s numerous documentaries include What Would Jesus Buy? (Sundance Channel) with producing partner Morgan Spurlock; the award-winning SPLIT: A Divided America (IFC Choice Indie) and follow-up SPLIT: A Deeper Divide (Documentary Channel); and Awake Zion, the Jerusalem IFF closing night event (Film Buff).  He holds an M.S. in Counseling Psychology.

Tony McAleer is an international speaker, change maker, and father of two. As co-founder of the nonprofit organization Life After Hate, he has made it his mission to help people leave hate groups. The Cure for Hate is his first book. He lives in Vancouver.

The original soundtrack for Tuscaloosa was created by the composers, Joshua Mosley and Matt Hutchinson.   The soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records.

Joshua Mosley is an award-winning composer and producer for film, television, video games, and recording artists.  His work can be heard on projects for studios such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Skydance, Marvel, Paramount Pictures, Tencent, Amazon, DreamWorks, Universal, Overbrook Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Mattel, Activision, FUNimation, National Geographic, and Microsoft. Recently, Mosley scored the sequel Bernie the Dolphin 2 for Lionsgate. 

Matt Hutchinson is an award-winning film and television composer based in Los Angeles. His TV and film credits include the documentary The Sagebrush Sea, NBC’s The Mysteries of Laura, and the Emmy-nominated main title sequence for The Grid. His music can be heard in the horror feature Ma starring Octavia Spencer, ABC’s The Fix, Best Worst Weekend, Shameless, and in trailers and promos for Ray Donovan. Matt writes and records music with his studio band, DORMARION, collaborating with vocalist Kevin Martin of Candlebox and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Dave Krusen of Pearl Jam.  He also co-wrote and produced the single You’ll Be King with American Idol favorite Pia Toscano, featured in the Netflix docu-series, Westside.

Lakeshore Records is a four-time Grammy-nominated independent record label, a division of the Cutting Edge Music Group. Lakeshore Records has released popular and classic soundtracks to such films and tv shows as Drive, Stranger Things, Moonlight, Lady Bird, The Walking Dead, Star Trek: Discovery, Little Miss Sunshine, The Hurt Locker, Napoleon Dynamite and many, many more.  

Lakeshore Records has released score albums from composers such as Jonny Greenwood, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Danny Elfman, Clint Mansell, Cliff Martinez, James Horner, Thomas Newman, John Powell, Mark Isham, Graeme Revell, Rolfe Kent, Gustavo Santaolalla, Philip Glass, Dario Marianelli, Mark Mothersbaugh, Christophe Beck, Christopher Young, Rachel Portman, and Marco Beltrami.

As a film and video game composer, Sam Hulick, saw a huge need for a better way to share demo reels. Frustrated with the process, Sam coded a little hack to notify him when people opened the demo reels he sent. Eventually composer buddies of his were asking for the same hack. A couple years (and many lines of code) later, ReelCrafter was born.

After a long career as an art director in the advertising agency world, Sara Pocius, now leads ReelCrafter's marketing, strategy and visual design.

Greg King started King Soundworks when he was 21. His hope was to create a place that would be home to the most creative sound people he could find, and feels lucky to say he’s reached that goal. Greg has been the sound designer and/or re-recording mixer on over 70 films including The Founder, Hancock, Friday Night Lights and The Insider, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound. His television credits include Cosmos: Possible Worlds, Jane the Virgin, The Long Road Home, Parenthood, among numerous others.

Jonathan Greasley Jon Greasley is an award-nominated, Los Angeles-based sound designer, re-recording mixer, and musician. His obsession with sound spans back to the early ‘90s, recording and manipulating audio on a Tascam four-track, and evolving soon after to DAWs on homemade PCs. His band, Apartment 26, toured and recorded across the United States and Europe, working with Grammy-winning producers and engineers, and garnering a platinum disc for the Mission Impossible II soundtrack. Expanding his passion for both music and post-production, Jon now works exclusively for King Soundworks as a sound designer and re-recording mixer for TV and film. His work includes HULU’s The Path, Fox’s The Orville, National Geographic’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds and The Long Road Home, SyFy’s Nightflyers (the previous two of which were nominated for an MPSE Golden Reel for Achievement in Sound Effects Editing), YouTube’s Impulse, a special musical episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and the forthcoming Netflix mission to Mars drama Away.

Jon maintains his passion for music by songwriting, playing guitar, bass, drums, keys, and programming.

Ashley Melzer is a producer, filmmaker and writer based in Durham, NC. She grew up in North Florida, the youngest daughter of a small town dentist and nurse. Growing up, Ashley was a wannabe beatnik who loved music, wrote bad poetry and annoyed her older brothers. Her brothers grew up to become dentists. Ashley either missed or threw away the family memo and has instead chased creative pursuits.

She received her Bachelors in Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California and then a Masters in Folklore from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her writing and photography has been featured in Indy Week, Paste Magazine, eMusic, and the Southern Foodways Alliance to name a few. She's worked with Hopscotch, Moogfest, Thornapple Films, The Southern Oral History Program and more. She currently works on Multimedia Production and Special Projects for the Southern Cultures Journal. She is director and producer of Zara, a one person show about an anxious, asthmatic Muslim kid’s search for meaning and the chance encounters that impacted him. Ashley is the founder of Mettlesome, a creative, project based collective, for which she performs, directs, writes and teaches comedy. When not being creative, Ashley is usually hanging out with her husband Jack and their rescue dog Iceman.

Ashley Melzer is the producer of “You Gave Me A Song: The Life and Music of Alice Gerard.”

Filmmaker and cinematographer Lucas Millard has found his niche shooting narrative and documentary features, collecting myriad awards for his work along the way. With a master of fine arts in film production from the University of Texas, he has over a decade worth of experience in the industry working as director of photography, camera operator, & gaffer. His notable works include The Happy Poet (2010), Kiki (2016) and Well Groomed (2019).  His current work includes Baato (Mountain film 2020), an observational film about a roadless Himalayan valley and the challenges and opportunities provided by the construction of a transcontinental highway. Lucas teaches at Ramapo College and is a programmer for his local film society.  He lives in Beacon, NY with his wife, daughter and 2 chickens.

Kenny Dalsheimer is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and media educator based in Durham, North Carolina. He founded The Groove Productions in 1996 when he began producing documentaries and community video.  His films, Go Fast, Turn Left: Voices from Orange Country Speedway (1997) and Shine On: Richard Trice and the Bull City Blues (2000), screened across North Carolina as part of the NC Humanities Council’s Road Scholars program. He co-directed and shot Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project (2007) which screened at festivals around the world and aired across the southeast on PBS.  His disability rights film, A New Kind of Listening (2009), received national recognition in 2010 from TASH as recipient of the Positive Images in Media Award.  A Weaverly Path: The Tapestry Life of Silvia Heyden (2011) and Bending Sticks: The Sculpture of Patrick Dougherty (2012), offer immersive portraits of internationally recognized NC artists. His most recent film, Peace in Our Pockets (2016) celebrates the peacebuilding work of Kenyan activists in the lead up to Kenya's 2013 elections. Kenny received his M.A. in Anthropology from Duke University in 1985 and taught at Carolina Friends School between 1986–1996.

You Gave Me A Song: The Life and Music of Alice Gerard is airing on PBS stations.  Ashley Melzer is the producer of the film and Kelly Creedon is the film's editor.

John Samuel Hanson has been scoring for film campaigns since 2007. His work has been the sound of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Pirates of the Caribbean, Stranger Things, Jurassic World, Lord of the Rings, Mission Impossible, and Hunger Games.

Kyle Biane has been mixing music for movie trailers since 2009. With a career that started in the recording studios of Los Angeles, he has worked on numerous styles of projects including records, games & feature films. Kyle's specialties range from large scale recording to mixing/production & writing/sound design.

Recently, Kyle and John released an album of trailer music, "Light Cycle."  They released it under the band name, Confidential MX.   It's available on vinyl, Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere music streams.

Emily Cohen Ibañez is a Colombian-American filmmaker who tells stories about the complex relationship between the United States and Latin America. The National Science Foundation, Fulbright Colombia, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation amongst others have supported her research, writing, and films.  Her documentary "Bodies at War/MINA" (2015) premiered at El Festival de Cine de Bogotá where it was nominated for a UNICEF award. She was a cinematographer for "Bronx Obama" (2014) directed by Ryan Murdock, which won Best of Fest at AFI Docs. Her short film "Iraq Veterans Against the War Perform Operation First Casualty" (2007) premiered at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.  She earned her doctorate in Anthropology (2011) at New York University and was a Wenner-Gren Fellow in Ethnographic Film at UC Santa Cruz from 2016-2017, working on her film, "Virtual War," currently in post-production. She was a two-time finalist for the Sundance New Frontier Lab with "Virtual War." She is a Mentor for the Latino Film Institute Youth Cinema Project and a member of the Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

Ashley Solis is the main subject and a co-writer of "Fruits of Labor."  A short version of the feature film was featured in The Guardian.