Filmmaker Bios
Lisa Gossels, Director/Producer/Editor
Lisa Gossels is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian whose films have garnered twenty awards and honors. Her first feature documentary, “The Children of Chabannes,” made with Dean Wetherell, won a 2001 Emmy Award, 10 film festival awards, had a limited theatrical release, aired on HBO Signature, local PBS stations and is now distributed by Docurama. “The Children of Chabannes” has been praised as “One of the most heartening Holocaust films ever made–splendid, informative and emotionally involving,” (Los Angeles Times) and called “A seamless memoir of courage and a tribute to the human spirit.” (New York Daily News) “My So-Called Enemy,” Lisa’s second film, has garnered a CINE Golden Eagle and five film festival awards since premiering at Silverdocs in 2010. She was honored as “Someone to Watch” at the 2011 Cleveland International Film Festival, a “Luminary” at the Boston Jewish Film Festival’s 2011 “Luminaries and Legends Gala” and, in 2012, with the Annual Miller Reel Jewish Woman Filmmaker Award. ”My So-Called Enemy” has been cited as “A provocative, balanced film that offers unexpected hope for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” (Washington City Paper) and “An insightful, moving, important film. Extraordinary.” (The Huffington Post) Lisa is currently traveling around the country with “My So-Called Enemy,” teaching at high schools and universities and engaging youth, secular and faith communities in dialogue. A member of the Selah Leadership Network, she became a documentarian because she believes in the power of film to effect social change. Her company Good Egg Productions, based in New York City, produces documentary, corporate and educational films. Lisa has served as a Juror for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, The Cleveland International Film Festival, The Ivy Film Festival and The Woodstock Festival. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.
Eden Wurmfeld, Producer
Eden Wurmfeld began her producing career in 1994 with her brother’s experimental feature “Fanci’s Persuasion.” She has since produced the award-winning indie hit “Kissing Jessica Stein,” acquired by Fox Searchlight to hit box office success. She went on to produce “Puccini For Beginners,” which premiered in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, followed by Adam Carolla’s feature film debut, “The Hammer,” which was distributed by The Weinstein Company. Wurmfeld also worked as producer with director Doug Liman on “Swingers,” “See Jane Run,” “The Killing Floor” and “Mr. And Mrs. Smith.” Eden’s first documentary effort, the critically acclaimed ITVS “Sunset Story,” aired nationally on PBS Independent Lens in 2005, won the jury award at the Tribeca Film Festival and the audience award at the LAFF. “No Impact Man” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and is currently in worldwide distribution. Her latest feature documentary, “Romeo, Romeo,” will have its world premiere at the 2012 Hamptons International Film Festival. Wurmfeld co-authored “The IFP/Los Angeles Independent Filmmaker’s Manual” (Focal Press), a “cookbook” on indie filmmaking, used in film studies courses across the country. In 2003, Wurmfeld received an alumni award from her Alma Mater, UCLA’s Film School, and was nominated for an Indie Spirit Producers Award. She was named in the Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch for 2002.” Eden is currently producing and directing promotional/fundraising pieces for non-profits and businesses.
Justin Schein, Director of Photography and Co-Producer
Justin Schein has been shooting and directing character-driven social issue documentaries for more than 20 years. He has shot on over 60 films for broadcasters such as HBO, PBS, The BBC and the Discovery channel. His film, “No Impact Man,” premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and continues to screen throughout the world. It documents a man and his family as they struggle to spend a year in the heart of New York City while having no net impact on the environment. Presently, Justin is shooting several documentary projects, including “Always in Season” which looks at the history and legacy of lynching in America. Justin served as co-director of photography on “One Nation Under Dog” a documentary that looks at American’s unique relationship with man’s best friend. It aired the summer of 2012 on HBO. Justin received his Masters in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University and went on to found Shadowbox Films in 1998. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, filmmaker Eden Wurmfeld and their sons Micah and Jesse.
David Mehlman, Editor
David was a supervising editor of the 2007 Oscar-winning short subject documentary, “Freeheld,” that also won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. He edited and sound designed the 2005 Academy Award winning animated short documentary, “The Moon and the Sun.” Recent television credits include editing 11 episodes of the critically acclaimed “IFC Media Project” documentary series; “Tribes of America,” a new cinema-verite series about subcultures directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (“Brothers Keeper,” “Paradise Lost,” “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster”); “Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood,” a portrait of the creator of Bugs Bunny for TCM; “The First 48,” A&E’s documentary series about homicide detectives; and MTV True Life: “I’m a Gun Owner” and “I’m a College Baller,” which he directed, produced and edited. David received a master’s degree in Documentary Film and Video Production from Stanford University. He co-founded Shadowbox Films with Justin Schein, in 1998, and lives in New Jersey with his wife and three sons.
Toby Shimin, Editor
Toby Shimin began her film career as a sound editor, working on projects including ”Fire from the Mountain” and “Working Girls,” which won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. She switched to picture editing in 1988 with ”The Children’s Storefront,” nominated for an Academy Award. Since then, Toby has cut numerous films that have premiered at Sundance, including “A Leap of Faith,” “Martha and Ethel,” “Miss America,” ”Everything’s Cool” and “Out of the Past,” which won the Audience Award. In 2011, Buck won the Audience Award at Sundance and was short-listed for the 2012 Academy Awards. Toby has cut diverse projects for PBS, including “AIDS Warriors,” “Seabiscuit,” for which she received an Emmy nomination and the Emmy-nominated “Reporting America at War.” ”Three of Hearts: A Post-Modern Family,” premiered at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival. ”Two Square Miles” aired on Independent Lens (PBS) in 2006. ”A Sea Change” has won several festival awards including the 2010 NOAA Environmental Hero award. Toby has two projects currently in post-production. She received a BA in film at Hampshire College. A principal of Dovetail Films, which she co-founded with Dina Guttmann in 2001, Toby currently lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Nathan Larson, Composer
Nathan Larson is the former lead guitarist for art-punk band Shudder to Think. His substantial credits as a composer for film music include 20th Century Fox’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” Todd Solondz’s “Storytelling,” “Palindromes,” songs for Todd Haynes’ “Velvet Goldmine,” Joel Schumacher’s “Tigerland,” “Prozac Nation,” Lukas Moodyson’s “Lilja 4-Ever,” “Little Fish” with Cate Blanchett, Stephen Frears’s “Dirty Pretty Things,” Fox Searchlight’s “Choke” and “The Messenger” with Woody Harrelson. Larson has received the Gras Savoye Award for Best Music at Cannes 2005 for his work on “The Woodsman.” In 2009 the Ghent Film Festival awarded Nathan “Best Original Score” for the Swedish drama “A Rational Solution.” Recent projects include the critically acclaimed “Margin Call” with Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons. Nathan lives in New York City with his wife Nina Persson, and maintains parallel careers as a performer, producer, recording artist, and a novelist.
Advisory Board
Macky Alston: Award-winning documentarian (“Family Name,” “Questioning Faith,” “The Killer Within”); Director, Auburn Media, a division of the Center for Multifaith Education at the Auburn Theological Seminary; Board Member, Hartley Film Foundation.
Judith Helfand: Award-winning documentarian (“A Healthy Baby Girl,” “Blue Vinyl,” “Everything’s Cool”); President of Working Films; and Director of Strategic and Creative Development, Chicken & Egg Pictures.
Albert Maysles: Renowned documentary cinematographer and filmmaker (“Salesmen,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Grey Gardens,” etc.), President, Maysles Films.
Joline Mahklouf Rukab: Producer, “Encounter Point,” conflict resolution consultant.
Nancy Schwartz Sternoff: Founder and Principal, G&S Consultants; Board Member, Bikkurim.
Margot Stern Strom: Founder and Executive Director, Facing History and Ourselves.
Our Crew
| new jersey crew | ||
| additional cinematography | Cynthia Wade | |
| field producer | Heidi Reinberg | |
| sound | Judy Karp | |
| Gabriel Miller | ||
| Irin Strauss | ||
|
middle east crew |
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| field producers | Frank Gampel | |
| Ilan Kirmayer | ||
| Elia Sides | ||
| sound | Ishay Elharar | |
| Moti Hefetz | ||
| Amir Liany | ||
| Dror Mantzura | ||
| Amos Zipori | ||
| production assistant/ driver | Ze’ev Goldstein | |
|
middle east 2nd unit |
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| field producers | Irit Gal | |
| Heian Jubea | ||
| Elia Sides | ||
| camera | Labeeb Jizmawee | |
| Asher Ben-Yair | ||
| Eyal Zahavi | ||
| sound | Ashraf El-Mashni | |
| Ashi Milo | ||
| Yossi Shafir | ||
| production assistant | Ofer Netzer | |
| research | Saswan Qauad | |
|
chicago crew |
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| sound | Tod Lending | |
|
post-production |
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post-production supervisor |
Stuart Macphee | |
| contributing editors | Ann Collins | |
| Darius Marder | ||
| story consultant | Tricia Regan | |
| additional editing/work-in-progress | Mary Myers | |
| assistant editors | Conor Flynn | |
| Zebidiah Millett | ||
| Ian Carmody | ||
| Seth Moherman | ||
| Matthew Tilley | ||
| graphic design | Oshin Baroyan | |
| technical support | Paul Allman | |
| Ben Bowman | ||
| supervising sound editorand rerecording mixer | Lewis Goldstein | |
| dialogue editor | Cate Montana | |
| sound editors | Tom Ryan | |
| Alex Soto | ||
| online editor and colorist | Rick Broat | |
| assistant online editors | Kerwin Barker | |
| Leana Siochi | ||
| Bahron Thomas | ||
| online supervisor | Keith Shapiro | |
| online facility | Frame:Runner NYC | |
|
translation |
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| Miriam Asnes | Tova Reznicek | |
| Rezan Makhlouf | Joline Makhlouf Rukab | |
|
transcription |
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| Lauren Biagini | Whitney Wilson | |
| Whitney Taylor | Melinda Ziyadat | |
| Anna Auster | Bobby Kondrat | |
| Maha Awad | Kristin Loeb | |
| Beca Beeman | Allison Sachs | |
| Anna Maria Dorigo | Anna Sternoff | |
| Lindsay Goward | Anna Tarantola | |
| still photographers | Heidi Gutman | |
| Justin Schein | ||
| web designer | Lance Warren | |
| print artwork | Peter Lukic | |
| eden wurmfeld assistants | Tobey List | |
| Kristie Lutz | ||
| archival footage | ITN Source/Reuters | |
| production insurance | D.R. Reiff & Associates | |
| Clal Insurance | ||
| e&o insurance | C&S Insurance | |
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legal |
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| Steven Beer | Robert I. Freedman | |
| Mary Miles | Innes Smolansky | |
|
fiscal sponsor |
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| New York Foundation for the Arts | ||