The Project: filmmakers
Emre Ozdemir (2011)
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Ellen Knechel (2013)
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Raúl Paz Pastrana (2013)
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“Apple Forecast: Immigration Reform” — December 2013 (5 minutes)
“Farm Labor” — May 2013 (3.5 minutes)
Francisco Bello (consulting editor), an ACADEMY AWARD® and three time EMMY Nominee, and award winning director, writer, producer and editor, lives in New York City. He studied at the Cooper Union School of Art, and has worked in the post-production of films by Kevin Smith, Michael Moore, and George Butler, among others. His films include Best Kept Secret, Our Nixon, Salim Baba, War Don Don, El Éspiritu de la Salsa and Code of the West. He is currently co-directing a new film, Dreaming Against the World, due for release in 2014.
Ellen Knechel (editor) is an event videographer and freelance documentary filmmaker in New York City where she has worked as an associate producer, researcher, and editor. Recent documentary projects include Riding on Air, Lordville, Money Movie, and Niños de la Memoria. She holds a BA in English from Haverford College and an MFA in film and Media Arts from Temple University. Her thesis film, Excavation, follows her grandmother as she packs up her long time home on a farm in the Midwest and prepares to move to assisted living.
Oscar Molina (editor & cinematographer) is a Colombian filmmaker whose work explores the passage of time in everyday life as well as the representation of people from developing countries. He is currently developing a documentary about remittance houses built by Latin American immigrants in the U.S.: Mi Casa/ My Home explores issues of attachment to the native place and acculturation to the U.S. life style.
Emre Ozdemir (cinematographer) was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, where he currently resides. He received a BFA in Film / Digital Video from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. His thesis film, Urva, a short documentary about a remote village in Turkey, won Best Student Film at the New Jersey Film Festival and Director’s Choice Award at the Black Maria Film Festival. Urva has screened at New Filmmakers, NY and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. His current project, Wind, Sand and Stars, a factual film told in a tale form, is in pre-production.
Raúl Paz Pastrana (cinematographer & editor), originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, is based in New York City. He is currently directing and producing a feature documentary film for the Al Jazeera Media Network. Raul’s previous work includes Rezonomics, exploring the lives of tribal Lakotas struggling to make a living in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. OME: Tales From A Vanishing Homeland examines an Ecuadoran Amazon indigenous group's struggle to protect their land. He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Filmmaker Award and has a MFA in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Elisabeth Perez Luna (audio and interview consultant) is an award winning journalist and has produced and developed national independent and weekly radio news-magazines, museum audio installations and video projects for the past 30 years or so. She is currently the Executive Producer of Audio Content at WHYY in Philadelphia and contributes regularly to NPR newsmagazine programs.
Kathryn Smith Pyle (director & producer) is a Sundance Institute Fellow (2011 Documentary Edit and Story Lab; 2009 Creative Producers Lab) whose former career as a grantmaker in the U.S. and Latin America was dedicated to grassroots economic and cultural development. She was a producer for Niños de la Memoria and is currently a producer on Almost Sunrise, about Iraq veterans with PTS. She writes about social issue documentaries for The Foundation Center, is a photographer and has a doctorate in social policy from the University of Pennsylvania.
“Farm Labor” — May 2013 (3.5 minutes)
Francisco Bello (consulting editor), an ACADEMY AWARD® and three time EMMY Nominee, and award winning director, writer, producer and editor, lives in New York City. He studied at the Cooper Union School of Art, and has worked in the post-production of films by Kevin Smith, Michael Moore, and George Butler, among others. His films include Best Kept Secret, Our Nixon, Salim Baba, War Don Don, El Éspiritu de la Salsa and Code of the West. He is currently co-directing a new film, Dreaming Against the World, due for release in 2014.
Ellen Knechel (editor) is an event videographer and freelance documentary filmmaker in New York City where she has worked as an associate producer, researcher, and editor. Recent documentary projects include Riding on Air, Lordville, Money Movie, and Niños de la Memoria. She holds a BA in English from Haverford College and an MFA in film and Media Arts from Temple University. Her thesis film, Excavation, follows her grandmother as she packs up her long time home on a farm in the Midwest and prepares to move to assisted living.
Oscar Molina (editor & cinematographer) is a Colombian filmmaker whose work explores the passage of time in everyday life as well as the representation of people from developing countries. He is currently developing a documentary about remittance houses built by Latin American immigrants in the U.S.: Mi Casa/ My Home explores issues of attachment to the native place and acculturation to the U.S. life style.
Emre Ozdemir (cinematographer) was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, where he currently resides. He received a BFA in Film / Digital Video from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. His thesis film, Urva, a short documentary about a remote village in Turkey, won Best Student Film at the New Jersey Film Festival and Director’s Choice Award at the Black Maria Film Festival. Urva has screened at New Filmmakers, NY and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. His current project, Wind, Sand and Stars, a factual film told in a tale form, is in pre-production.
Raúl Paz Pastrana (cinematographer & editor), originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, is based in New York City. He is currently directing and producing a feature documentary film for the Al Jazeera Media Network. Raul’s previous work includes Rezonomics, exploring the lives of tribal Lakotas struggling to make a living in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. OME: Tales From A Vanishing Homeland examines an Ecuadoran Amazon indigenous group's struggle to protect their land. He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Filmmaker Award and has a MFA in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Elisabeth Perez Luna (audio and interview consultant) is an award winning journalist and has produced and developed national independent and weekly radio news-magazines, museum audio installations and video projects for the past 30 years or so. She is currently the Executive Producer of Audio Content at WHYY in Philadelphia and contributes regularly to NPR newsmagazine programs.
Kathryn Smith Pyle (director & producer) is a Sundance Institute Fellow (2011 Documentary Edit and Story Lab; 2009 Creative Producers Lab) whose former career as a grantmaker in the U.S. and Latin America was dedicated to grassroots economic and cultural development. She was a producer for Niños de la Memoria and is currently a producer on Almost Sunrise, about Iraq veterans with PTS. She writes about social issue documentaries for The Foundation Center, is a photographer and has a doctorate in social policy from the University of Pennsylvania.