Rachel Boynton, Producer/Director
Rachel produced and directed the feature-length documentary Our Brand Is Crisis, filming for three years on two continents. Winner of the International Documentary Association’s Best Feature Documentary Award and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, it was named the #3 movie of 2006 by New York Magazine, and appeared on several other “Best of 2006” lists, including those of the New York Times and the LA Weekly. The film aired internationally on the BBC, HBO Latin America, ARTE, VPRO, and the CBC among others and was televised in the United States on The Sundance Channel. Our Brand Is Crisis also screened at multiple festivals worldwide including SXSW, the 34th New Directors/ New Film Series presented by New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, where Rachel was the winner of the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award. Currently George Clooney’s company, Smokehouse, plans to remake Our Brand Is Crisis as a fiction feature. Rachel’s other credits include associate producer for the feature documentary Well-Founded Fear, producer/ director/ cinematographer for Pageant Perfect, and associate producer of People Like Us: Social Class in America. She has managed shoots across America, worked on films in Cuba and France, and directed casting for reality-based commercials.
Jonathan Furmanski, Director of Photography
Jonathan Furmanski has been shooting for film and television for 15 years. He has photographed independent films, including Minimum Wage, directed by Brian O’Malley, and You Belong to Me, directed by Sam Zalutsky, as well as dozens of commercials and short-form projects for clients such as PBS, Vogue Magazine, VH-1, and CNN. Since 2001 he has concentrated on non-fiction filmmaking, shooting the documentary features loudQUIETloud, I Am An Animal, Arctic Son, and others. He recently completed photography on the Adult Swim live-action comedy show Delocated, and has shot various projects for the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and radical.media.
Seth Bomse, Editor
Seth Bomse is a freelance film editor in New York City. He has edited feature films for HBO, including Earth Made of Glass and One Nation Under Dog. His work for Frontline and The American Experience has been awarded top honors, including most recently a George Polk award for Law & Disorder, an investigation of the New Orleans Police Department. He lives with his wife and two children in Brooklyn.
Nathan Larson, Composer
Nathan Larson is a musician, singer, songwriter, and author widely known for his film compositions. He has composed scores for Margin Call, Silent House, Choke, The Messenger and Boys Don’t Cry among numerous others. Nathan is formerly the lead guitarist for the 1990s band, Shudder to Think, as well as the original bassist for the hardcore punk band, Swiz. Nathan was also the creative force behind the group, Mind Science of the Mind, and founder of the band, Hot One. In May 2011, Nathan’s debut novel, The Dewey Decimal System, was published by Akashic Books.
Steven Shainberg, Executive Producer
Steven Shainberg directed Secretary, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature. Hit Me, Steven’s first feature, was released by Castle Hill. It screened at numerous festivals worldwide including the Toronto International Film Festival. His most recent film, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey, Jr., was released in theatres in by Picturehouse (Time Warner). His production company, VOX3, has produced numerous award-winning features, and his newest company, Tango Pictures, has multiple films in various stages of development. Steven was also an Executive Producer on Rachel Boynton’s first film, Our Brand Is Crisis.
Brad Pitt, Executive Producer
Brad Pitt is an internationally acclaimed actor and producer. Winner of the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival, and Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, his films include World War Z, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Ocean’s Thirteen, Burn After Reading and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He starred in Terrance Malick’s Tree of Life, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. He owns Plan B Entertainment, which produced the 2007 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Departed, among numerous other films.
Dede Gardner, Executive Producer
Dede Garner is an award winning producer and President of Plan B Entertainment. In 2012 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Tree of Life. Her recent films include World War Z, Eat Pray Love, The Time Traveler’s Wife, A Mighty Heart and Running with Scissors. Plan B is currently in development on a number of projects with such filmmakers as David Fincher (THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON), Bennett Miller (CAPOTE), Greg Mottola (ADVENTURELAND), David Gordon Green (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), TaikaWaititi (BOY) and Phil Morrison (JUNEBUG). Prior to her work at Plan B, Gardner served as executive vice president of production at Paramount Pictures. Among the films she was involved with during her seven-year tenure at the studio are Election, Orange County, Zoolander and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. She began her career as a location scout in New York City before taking a position at Innovative Artists and, subsequently, in the literary department at the William Morris Agency.
Dan Cogan, Executive Producer
Dan Cogan is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Impact Partners, a fund and advisory service for investors and philanthropists who seek to promote social change through film. Since its inception, IP has been involved in the financing of more than 25 films, including: The Cove, which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; Freeheld, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film; The Garden, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009; and The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, which won the 2007 Emmy for Best Documentary Special. Mr. Cogan has spoken on documentary film finance at film festivals and conferences around the world, including the The Sundance Film Festival, The Toronto Film Festival, The Silverdocs Film Festival, the IFP’s Independent Film Week, and Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum. Mr. Cogan received his B.A. from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude, and attended the Film Division at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts.
Diana Barrett, Executive Producer
Diana Barrett is President of The Fledgling Fund, a New York based private foundation that supports films and other creative media, primarily through finishing funds and community engagement programs. She is also a Founding Member of Impact Partners. She co-financed the 2004 Academy Award-winning documentary Born Into Brothels and served as Executive Producer for Rory Kennedy’s HBO documentary, The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. She supported the 2007 Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning film Freeheld in addition to A Walk To Beautiful and The Greatest Silence: Rape In The Congo. Diana was on the Faculty at Harvard University for many years, where she taught at the School of Public Health and the Harvard Business School. Her special areas of interests were Public-Private Partnerships around complex global issues such as HIV/AIDS and poverty reduction. She received her M.B.A. and Doctoral Degrees from Harvard Business School.
Jim & Susan Swartz, Executive Producers
Jim Swartz has been active in venture capital for four decades. He has served as a Director for over fifty successful companies and has been closely involved as lead investor with the emergence of numerous industry pioneering firms including Avici Systems, BroadBand Technologies, FastForward/Inktomi, FVC.com, Illustra/Informix, Medical Care America, Netopia, PictureTel, Polycom, Remedy Corporation, Riverbed Technology and Ungermann-Bass. Jim is former Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association and a former President of the New York Venture Capital Forum. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a concentration in Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics (he mostly remembers something about playing football) and holds an M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
American landscape painter, Susan Swartz, has been painting for more than 40 years. During the summer of 2011, Swartz was recognized with a solo exhibition Susan Swartz: Seasons of the Soul at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. In addition to private and corporate collections around the world, Swartz’s works are in the permanent collections of the Springville Museum of Art in Springville, Utah; the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland; the George Eccles 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum in Park City, Utah; and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum in Ishpeming, Michigan.
Jim and Susan Swartz reside in Park City, Utah. They are Founding Members of Impact Partners, a financing and advisory firm advancing independent films that address pressing social needs including Academy Award Winners Born Into Brothels (2005) and The Cove (2010), and numerous Academy Award Nominees.
Christina Weiss Lurie, Executive Producer
Christina Weiss Lurie’s multi-faceted career spans the worlds of sports, entertainment and philanthropy. She is a Co-Owner of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, one of the most respected franchises in professional sports; Co-Founder of two independent film companies, Vox3 Films and Tango Pictures; and President of Eagles Youth Partnership, a leading charitable foundation. She has produced a diversified slate of independent films and television projects including America Brown, Game 6 and Feel, and executive produced Broken English and Never Forever. Most recently she executive produced Adam, starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne, and Rage, a Sally Potter film. In 2006 Christina and her husband Jeffrey established the Lurie Family Foundation to primarily support autism and cancer research. The Foundation also helps fund documentaries addressing global issues through Screen Pass Pictures.
Jeffrey Lurie, Executive Producer
Jeffrey Lurie is the chairman and CEO of the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles. In 2007, Jeffrey and his wife, Christina Weiss Lurie, formed Screen Pass Pictures, a documentary film company addressing global issues. In 2010, they executive produced the film Sergio, as well as Inside Job, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Jeffrey also founded Chestnut Hill Productions and has produced many fiction feature films.
Rick Rosenthal, Executive Producer
Richard L. “Rick” Rosenthal, Jr. is an award winning American film and television director, known for directing episodes of many popular TV series (including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville), as well as the films Halloween II and Halloween: Resurrection. He is also a producer, actor, and writer. Rosenthal helped launch Sean Penn’s career when he cast the then-unknown actor in the title role of the 1983 film Bad Boys. In recent years, Rosenthal has turned to the independent film world, continuing to direct (Nearing Grace), but also producing as well, giving opportunities to first time directors. The first production under the Whitewater Films banner was the Sundance Film Festival hit Mean Creek, winner of two Independent Spirit Awards as well as a Humanitas Prize. The film was invited to the Directors Fortnight at Cannes and launched the filmmaking career of writer-director Jacob Estes. Mean Creek was followed by writer-director Scott Prendergast’s first feature, Kabluey, starring Lisa Kudrow. Rosenthal is a graduate of The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall), Harvard College 1971 cum laude and the American Film Institute.