Lisa
Leeman, Director
An award-winning director, writer, producer,
and editor, Lisa Leeman's credits include
the feature documentaries “OUT OF FAITH,” (currently
screening in film festivals worldwide) and WHO NEEDS SLEEP, which
Leeman co-directed and edited with renowned cinematographer /
director Haskell Wexler (Sundance Film Festival, 2006). Lisa’s
first film, METAMORPHOSIS: Man Into Woman, won the Filmmakers’ Trophy
upon its premiere at Sundance (1990), and earned the highest
audience rating of any POV broadcast. Leeman's BREAKING UP aired
on ARTE, Europe's acclaimed arts and culture network, and she
received an Emmy nomination in 1997
for FENDER PHILOSOPHERS (PBS). She has received the once-in-a-lifetime
American Film Institute’s Independent Filmmaker Grant,
the Western States Media Arts Fellowship, and the ITVS/PMN Station-Independent
Partnership Program Grant, as well as numerous other awards for
her films. Lisa has served as a judge at the Sundance Film Festival,
as president of the International Documentary Association, and
is on the faculty of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University
of Southern California.
Jordana
Glick-Franzheim, Producer
Producer and International film development consultant, Jordana
Glick-Franzheim is currently associate producing the feature film MANAGEMENT,
starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn for Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.
In 2006-2007, she associate produced the feature films THE MARC PEASE EXPERIENCE,
directed by Todd Louiso and starring Ben Stiller
and Jason Schwarzman, for Paramount Vantage, and FREEDOM WRITERS, written and
directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank, for Paramount Pictures.
Additional credits include developing and producing the critically acclaimed
German language feature film DIAMONDS, with Neue Deutsche Film of Munich; and
the documentary SHOOTING IN THE LINE OF FIRE for Columbia Pictures International.
She is currently developing the feature films MODERN ENGLISH by Cristina Colissimo,
SAINT EX by Eric Jendresen, and ALL GOOD CHILDREN by Gita Romano.
Cristina
Colissimo, Writer/Producer
Writer, producer, creative consultant, and former story editor for Carrie Fisher,
Cristina Colissimo is currently in development with her first feature screenplay
MODERN ENGLISH, a remake of the 1938 classic Academy Award nominated comedy
MERRILY WE LIVE, with producers Nan Morales and Jordana Glick-Franzheim.
Additional credits include the NBC television special, HURRICANE AT THE ZOO,
hosted by Betty White and Jim Fowler, which Cristina developed, co-wrote and
co-produced; as well as the documentary series, VINEYARD LIFESTYLES, a travel,
lifestyle, wine series, with Master of Wine Jancis Robinson and co-produced
with Eden Productions/UK. Additional feature screenplay credits include THE
AMBASSADORS and AIRSHOW.
Miriam
Cutler, Producer/Composer
A Grammy nominated producer, Miriam Cutler has been composing, producing, and
performing music for over 25 years. Since the late 1980’s, she has focused
on independent films and television projects, as well as two circuses. Her
documentary film credits include the 2007 Emmy Award winning film, GHOSTS OF
ABU GHRAIB directed by Rory Kennedy; the BAFTA nominated film, LOST IN LA MANCHA
directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe; the 2006 Sundance Film Festival nominated,
THIN, directed by Lauren Greenfield; the 2001 Sundance Film Festival Audience
Award
winning film SCOUT’S HONOR directed by Tom Shepard; the 2003 Emmy nominated
TV mini-series documentary PANDEMIC: FACING AIDS directed by Rory Kennedy;
and the 1997 Sundance Film Festival award winning film, LICENSED TO KILL, directed
by Arthur Dong. Additionally, Miriam has served as a lab advisor for the Sundance
Institute Documentary Composers Lab, as well as on documentary juries for the
Sundance Film Festival, Independent Spirit Awards, International Documentary
Association Awards, and the American Film Institute's Film Festival Awards.
Kate
Amend, Editor
An award winning editor, Kate Amend most recently cut the controversial documentary
JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS directed by Jonathan Demme. In December 2005,
she received the International Documentary Association’s (IDA) inaugural
award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing for her work which includes two
Academy Award-winning documentary features: INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS: Stories
of the Kindertransport and THE LONG WAY HOME. She also received the 2001 American
Cinema Editors’ Eddie award for INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS, and edited
the 2001 Oscar-nominated documentary short ON TIPTOE: Gentle Steps to Freedom.
Her film, BEAH: A BLACK WOMAN SPEAKS, directed by LisaGay Hamilton and produced
by Jonathan Demme, received the Grand Jury award at the 2003 AFI Film Festival,
aired on HBO in February 2004, and received a 2005 Peabody Award. COWBOY DEL
AMOR received both the Audience and Jury Awards at the 2005 South by Southwest
Festival and was broadcast on Showtime in April 2006. Other credits include
STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME (2007); THIN (2006), and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME
STREET (Sundance 2006) ; PEACE BY PEACE: WOMEN ON THE FRONTLINES (PBS, 2004);
PANDEMIC: FACING AIDS (HBO, 2003); BATAAN RESCUE and THE GREAT TRANSATLANTIC
CABLE (PBS’ American Experience); TOBACCO BLUES (P.O.V, 1998); and SOME
NUDITY REQUIRED (Sundance Film Festival 1998). Amend was an advisor at the
Sundance Institute Editing Lab in June 2004 and 2006, and a speaker at The
Edit Room panel at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. She was a juror at the
2006 Sundance Film Festival for the International Documentary Competition.
She is on the faculty of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University
of Southern California. and is a member of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, American Cinema Editors, and the IDA.
