DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / DP

Atin Mehra was born and raised in Varanasi, India and currently resides with his family in Los Angeles, CA. In 1999 Atin picked up his first camera and began taking photographs. Atin's uncanny ability to connect with individuals from behind the lens eventually led him into filmmaking. His own personal struggles with abuse and discrimination in India drew him to stories of underrepresented and marginalized individuals and communities.

One of the first films he worked on was about female victims of dowry burnings -- a project he was forced to abandon when he started receiving death threats. In 2002, Atin directed and shot his first short film, MITTI KE JIVAN (THE CYCLE OF CLAY) about a potter from the Kumhar caste. Atin lived and worked in India until 2005, when he moved to the United States with his wife, Mae Thornton Mehra. In 2007 he started his own production company, Orange Kite Productions.  Atin and Mae are Co-directing another feature documentary film, HER SONG, which is currently in post-production. BEING MICHELLE is Atin’s directorial debut.

PRODUCER

Mae Thornton Mehra is an oral historian and filmmaker who earned her MA in Islamic Studies at Columbia University in New York City in 2008. Mae has collaborated with her husband and filmmaker, Atin Mehra on documentary film and other media projects at Orange Kite Productions since its inception in 2007. In 2020 Mae and Atin co-founded the nonprofit Thriving Roots Initiative to further their work of social impact documentary filmmaking.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / CONSULTING EDITOR

Doug Blush is an award-winning director, producer, editor, writer and cinematographer whose work includes over 100 feature and television projects, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as well as the American Cinema Editors (ACE). His work has been honored with multiple Oscars, Emmys, and Sundance and other major festival awards.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Rajiv Sanghvi is a serial entrepreneur and thought leader who believes societal changes can be effected through innovative thinking and creative execution. He has been a pioneer in the field of business analytics, renewable energy applications and healthcare ventures. Rajiv's core belief is that making small differences in people's everyday lives, can bring about large changes in societal norms.

CO-PRODUCER

Denise Hamilton has over 30 years experience as a writer and producer for NBC, ABC and PBS network specials and syndicated programs. In the area of documentary and broadcast journalism, she was writer and field producer for four internationally-shot documentaries, including “NGONE’S STORY: A Tale of Africa’s Orphans”, which aired on NBC affiliate stations; as well as the feature “Hollywood Musicals: Singing and Dancing” which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival and as a 4-part series for PBS. She was the coordinating producer on “For Peace Sake”, the 2-hour NBC-TV special which won four Emmy’s, as well as the “Motown 40: The Music is Forever” documentary special for ABC-TV, and has been a segment producer for Discovery Channel, Fox TV, E! Entertainment, and the Odyssey Channel. She most recently served as series producer of “Where Cultures Collide”, a 5-part web series for KCETLink. She has served on the selection committee for the International Documentary Association’s documentary awards, presently teaches documentary film production at the New York Film Academy, and is co-chairperson of the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers-West.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / B CAMERA

Alyson Larson is a freelance filmmaker from the Sunshine State currently residing in the Gator Nation’s swampy town, Gainesville. As a fan of purposeful gear and light packing for long journeys, she specializes in documentary and corporate work. Her longterm focus is to redefine the boundaries of women through film.

As an instructor at the University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications, she gets to empower the next generation to tell their stories and to shift the landscape of film as we know it.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Tanya Ward is an Engagement and Social Media marketing professional, with more than 15 years in grassroots and traditional marketing engagement, and 8+ years in social media content marketing. Within the advertising and marketing landscape she has supported brands such as: McDonald’s USA, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Verizon, Proctor & Gamble’s My Black Is Beautiful, Creme of Nature and Congo Square Theatre Company, and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, among others.

She is proud to be a Chicago-born, Englewood community-raised individual, who is passionate about mentoring under-served and at-risk youth. She is also a founding member of the Englewood Arts Collective, which was formed to help produce artists, events and interactions that reflect the Englewood community of Chicago in a positive way. Under the persona of FoxBrownFox, she serves the film/theatre/arts community as a connector, publicist, and media consultant.

EDITOR

Randy Redroad is a Los Angeles based writer/director/editor. His debut feature, THE DOE BOY, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the prestigious Sundance/NHK Award. The film went on to win 14 other festival awards and earned an IFP/Gotham nomination for outstanding directorial debut. 

Randy was the first Indigenous participant to be invited to the Sundance Filmmaker’s Lab and is a founding member of the award-winning StyleHorse Collective, a group of indigenous artists working with tribal organizations to create inspiring and educational film and video projects. 

Randy was editor on the feature documentary THE INFILTRATORS (2019 Sundance Film Festival – winner Audience Award and Innovator Award), about a group of undocumented youth infiltrating a for-profit detention center.  Other work as editor includes the Showtime documentary FIRST CIRCLE, about the foster care system and the recently completed LIES CLOSED THIS SCHOOL, about a legendary education activist in Detroit. 

Randy is a Concordia Studios Artist in Residence.

CO-EDITOR

Jaki Covington was born and raised in Boise, Idaho. She has two beautiful children with her husband Randy Redroad and lives in Long Beach, Ca.

Jaki began her film career over 13 years ago, working on multiple projects with mentor, legendary indie producer, Heather Rae.  With Heather, she moved from documentaries to features and back again learning the intricacies of filmmaking. She helped shoot and produce the Showtime documentary “First Circle”, an intimate look at the foster care system in Idaho.

Jaki’s passion is for projects that matter. She has worked for the likes of Wyclef Jean, and Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas on their philanthropic passion projects as well as collaborated with Dr. Jessica Zucker’s groundbreaking media campaign @ihadamiscarriage.

In 2012, she traveled to South Africa as director of photography/editor on “Life Change” a docu-series about cultural exchange among young people.  In 2018, Jaki was on the editorial staff for the feature documentary Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. She edited "Paulette" a short documentary about the first female Native American candidate for governor in Idaho for Heather Rae.

Most recently she edited alongside Mohammed El Manasterly (The Square)  for director Eli Roth (Hostel) on the feature documentary "Fin" that reveals the devastating effects of the shark fin trade.  

CO-EDITOR

Kevin Klauber, ACE (b.1986) is most known for editing two Oscar®-winning feature documentaries: ICARUS and 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, for which he won an American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Award. Kevin's editorial debut, PEARL JAM TWENTY, came under the direction of Academy Award®-winner Cameron Crowe. Since then, he's contributed editorially on numerous feature documentaries and documentary series, including the 2016 Oscar®-nominated documentary WINTER ON FIRE (Netflix), ECHO IN THE CANYON, COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK (HBO), CROSSFIRE HURRICANE (HBO), BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING (BRKLY / Tremolo Productions), HARMONTOWN (BRKLY / STARBURNS), CHICKEN PEOPLE (MOTTO Pictures / CMT), THE RUNNER-UP (Lightbox Entertainment / Esquire), and UGLY DELICIOUS (Tremolo Productions / Netflix). He studied film at the USC School of Cinematic Arts with an emphasis on editing and directing. In 2012, Kevin was nominated by the WGA EAST for the feature documentary he co-wrote and edited BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING. He has been nominated twice for the Golden Reel Award in sound editing by the MOTION PICTURES SOUND EDITING ASSOCIATION. In 2012, he was selected to attend Werner Herzog's ROGUE FILM SCHOOL.

COMPOSER / SOUND DESIGNER

Fabien Bourdier lives and works between Paris and his recording studio in Tours, France. He teaches sound design at École Supérieure d’Art et de Design Tours Angers Le Mans. Fabien studied filmmaking in Angoulême and developed an interest in field recording and sound editing during his travels across the Mediterranean, Europe and India. He studied tabla under Iswar Lal Mishra, professor at Banaras Hindu University from 2000-2005. Fabien has composed the music and sound for documentaries, fiction films and television programs which have been disseminated in many international film festivals including Real Cinema, Sundance and Rotterdam Festival. In 2009 he won the “Electronic Art Award” for music and sound creation at the international competition organized by IMEB Bourges for a series of films he created which were broadcast in numerous international video art festivals including Oslo Screen Festival, Istanbul Kurie Festival and Geneva Mos Espa.

SOUND RECORDIST

Alura Law is a student at Daytona State College pursuing a degree in Music Production Technology. A Floridian born and raised, she loves the beach, national parks and new adventures! Alura’s longterm goal is to be a sound engineer in the music and film industry. Her goal is to bring the clarity, creativity and beauty around us alive.