Marc Landas (Director)
Marc Landas is a filmmaker and writer based in New York. He has written and directed three short films, the latest of which is currently in post-production. He is also the author of The Fallen: A True Story of American POWs and Japanese Wartime Atrocities (John Wiley & Sons; 2004). He has worked as an online and print journalist for over fifteen years, contributing to an eclectic collection of news sources ranging from Fox News to the Los Angeles Times. He has directed a number of short films.
Contact Details:
Marc Landas
marc.landas@conversationswiththeliving.org
Leigh E. Carlson (Producer)
Over the past ten years, Leigh E. Carlson has worked in broadcast media as a graphic designer, animator, and story producer for the ABC and PBS affiliates in Cincinnati, and has produced commercial projects, television series, independent feature films, local media broadcast projects, new media and documentary pieces for both independent production companies and networks such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and History Channel. She recently co-produced the feature film “The Grover Complex”, is currently producing a part live-action part animated family film, “The Paper Castle”, and is the Media Director for Getting Out By Going In (GOGI) a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and empowerment of at-risk and incarcerated men, women and children. Leigh received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Electronic Media from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, California.
Contact Details:
Leigh E. Carlson
leigh.carlson@conversationswiththeliving.org
Gregory Cassagnol (Producer)
Gregory Cassagnol made his foray into the arts in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s while a student at New York University. He began writing for a then fledgling Source Magazine, Spin Magazine, www. 360hiphop.com, and www.joellortiz.com as a record reviewer, news reporter, and columnist before turning to film as a medium of expression. What began as a hobby, first doing short films with his NYU counterparts, quickly turned into a stint as an independent news producer and assistant to BET correspondent David Dent. Gregory then shifted towards documentary filmmaking eventually landing a deal with Win Media/Ventura Distribution for his 2003 Hip Hop Odyssey Film Festival Best Feature Documentary Hip Hop 101: The Game. Gregory has also served as a researcher and proof writer for the Natives’ Guide to New York by Richard Laermer, Broadway Books, 1997 and Get On With It by Richard Laermer, Broadway Books, 1997.
Contact Details:
Gregory Cassagnol
gregory.cassagnol@conversationswiththeliving.org
Trina DeMattei (Line Producer)
Trina DeMattei originally hails from Northern California where she spent twenty years in the theatre as an actor, director and stage manager. She attended The Los Angeles Film School graduating in August 2008 with an emphasis on Producing. She has produced/coordinated 3 independent features and over a dozen short films. Her current credits include the new JJ Abram’s TV Pilot, “Alcatraz” and a upcoming independent feature shooting in Ghana March 2011. AFter shooting in Port-au-Prince with “Conversations” in October of 2009, she fell in love with Haiti and its people. She is looking forward to the time when the “Conversations” crew can return.
Contact Details:
Trina DeMattei
trina.demattei@conversationswiththeliving.org
Bernard MoorJankowski (Director of Photography)
Bernard Moor-Jankowski is a Director of Photography whose credits include working with The New York African Museum of Art, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Court TV, TLC, Outdoor Life Network, Fuse TV, MTV, and VH1. During the last 4 years he worked on a self-funded human rights documentary in Mauritius, Africa (http://www.chagosfilm.com/) As a field producer and cameraman, he has international experience in reality and documentary production and has worked in many different countries and environments from the Sahara Desert to the rain forests of Colombia and most recently in Mali, Africa for the New York African Museum of Art.