Director Ryoya Terao
Ryoya has co-produced and/or directed documentaries focusing on human-interest subjects. For NHK and PBS, stories include Sled-Dog Dreams about a sled-dog team from an animal shelter in Durango, Colorado; Go Achilles! on disabled athletes from around the globe; Gun Runners on gun-violence through the eyes of former gang members in New York; and Klavierhaus on immigrant brothers who import and restore antique pianos. With respect to environmental concerns, he worked on a documentary about asbestos litigations and in the process, discovered a groundbreaking historic document that led to compensations for asbestos-related diseases in Japan. He also directed Bamboo Bicycle, a story on an innovative bike studio in Brooklyn operated by three young men, hand crafting bamboo bikes for eco-friendly New Yorkers and people in the developing world.
Ryoya has also interviewed renowned actors such as Robert DeNiro and Julie Andrews, artists and sports personalities such as the legendary PR announcer for the Yankees, Bob Shepard, as well as political and governmental figures, including Romeo Dallaire, the Force commander of the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda.
Director of Photography Mark Raker
Mark has been creating award-winning film and television programs, and national television spots since the 1980’s, including Peabody Award winner, A Letter to Elia (dir. by M. Scorsese and K. Jones), An Unreasonable Man (Netflix), Emmy Award winner Moment of Impact, Rose d’Or winner The Awful Truth (dir. M. Moore). His network clients include ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, IFC, TNT, ESPN, BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic TV, Bravo, Sesame Workshops, The Weather Channel, Sundance Channel, and GNT (Brazil). He has been featured in the magazine InCamera and has been a featured speaker for the Film Society of Lincoln Center; Kodak; B&H Photo/Video; SMPTE; Unique Photo; Litepanels; and Nanlite. Mark also teaches as Professor of Cinematography at the New York University School of Professional Studies (NYU Award for Teaching Excellence), Maine Media Workshops + College in Rockport, Maine, NYC College of Technology, Purchase College SUNY, and Hofstra University.
Writers Elisabeth Gareis, Peter Frumkin, and Ryoya Terao
Elisabeth is a professor of intercultural communication at Baruch College, CUNY. Her research focus is on intercultural friendship and its role in prejudice reduction (see Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication). Elisabeth’s work addresses the challenges of friendship formation related to voluntary migration (e.g., international students), involuntary migration (e.g., refugees), and hostility (e.g., Jewish social dis-integration in Nazi-Germany). Elisabeth has authored the book Intercultural Friendship: A Qualitative Study, the textbook series A Novel Approach, and numerous journal articles. She received the Baruch College Presidential Excellence Awards for Distinguished Service in 2018 and for Distinguished Teaching in 2021.
Peter has been producer, writer and director for thirty years with broadcasts on PBS, The BBC, The Discovery Channel, the History Channel and Courtroom Television. He has explored history and culture, science and engineering, health care and environmental policy and medical ethics. Peter’s work includes AboutFace (Dept. Veterans Affairs); Tobacco Roads (PBS), Caring For Your Parents (WGBH); Woody Guthrie: Ain’t Got No Home (PBS American Masters); and National Emmy nominated Typhoid Mary: The Most Dangerous Woman in America (PBS’s NOVA). He has taught at Emerson College and is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Producers Vinit Parmar and Elisabeth Gareis
Vinit is an associate professor in the Film Department of Brooklyn College, CUNY. He produces and directs documentary stories. Vinit’s award-winning films are Living River: The Ganges (iTunes 2015-2018), Quest for Energy (awards in film festivals, SnagFilms 2012-2019), Beyond The Grid (awards in film festival circuit 2018-2019), Twice a Refugee (film festival circuit 2017-2018), and We Stay Here (awards in film festivals, FilmHub 2022) have been screened in over 50 theaters around the world including United Nations TV channel.
Editors M. Trevino and Ryoya Terao
M. Trevino is an experienced media professional in New York City. He directs and edits documentaries and narratives on gender, ethnography, ritual, and memory. He is completing a documentary feature, Latina Owned. He has edited Oscar’s Comeback (Sundance 2022), No Human Involved (Nom. Best Doc, Queens World Film Festival 2017), and Doctors of the Dark Side (Amazon Prime 2011).
Lead Graphic Artist Josh A. Kapusinski
Josh is an assistant professor at the NYC College of Technology, CUNY, has won four Emmy Awards for art direction and motion design. For broadcast, Josh has animated/edited 850+ projects consisting of commercials, on-air promos, show opens, IDs, web/digital/interactive projects, and infographics. He has also directed 125+ video shoots; edited eight documentaries and 28 TV programs; shot 45 NCAA sports games and over 100 interviews.
Music Composer David B. Smith
David is a professor of sound and music technology and former dean at NYC College of Technology, CUNY. An award-winning composer and sound designer, he is considered one of the pioneers in live performance virtual orchestra. He has also been instrumental in the development of innovative technology-based curricula in a variety of disciplines. Dr. Smith is principle inventor of the Sinfonia® orchestral enhancement instrument, which has been used in hundreds of thousands of performances worldwide. He is particularly interested in interactive challenges facing the implementation of new technologies in the performing arts. Dr. Smith has composed over forty major works for a wide variety of musical ensembles, as well as for screen and immersive environments, and was a concert violinist for twenty years. His current projects involve the integration of music and blended reality.
Consultant Lisa Salko
Post-Production Sound Mixer Paul Special
Paul is a Grammy nominated/Emmy Awards winning audio engineer and studio designer whose expertise extends into virtually every aspect of professional audio. Whether he is engineering record and music projects, doing broadcast music mixing for national TV shows, recording and mixing audio for concert DVD’s or recording and mixing national television and radio spots, Special has had the opportunity to work with many mega-star music acts and big time corporate clients. An abbreviated list includes Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Paul Simon, Stone Temple Pilots, Incubus, Robert Palmer, Carrie Underwood, Nike, Volkswagen, Grey Advertising, Saatchi & Saatchi, ABC, CBS, NBC, Disney, USA Networks, Oxygen, CMT, MTV, VH-1, BET, ESPN, etc.
Paul’s work has earned him multiple RIAA Platinum and Gold Record awards, Billboard Magazine’s #1 and Top Ten chart awards, Mix Magazine’s TEC (Technical Excellence and Creativity) awards as well as NARAS Grammy award nominations.
Narrator (English, short documentary “13 Driver’s Licenses”) Pamela Karp
Narrator (German, short documentary “13 Führerscheine”) Tanja Rohr
Location Sound Recordists Vinit Parmar, Julie Neira Campovervde, Nikolaj Täuber, Thomas Meyer
Assistant Editors Jorge Peralta & Zakareia A. Masboob
