Welcome New IDA Board Members: February 2009
ADAM CHAPNICK is a new-model film distribution and marketing specialist known for flipping Hollywood convention on its ear by innovating grassroots, online and digital distribution strategies. He has overseen the theatrical, home video and grassroots distribution of dozens of independent films, from political documentaries to romantic comedies. He co-founded Cinema Libre Distribution, where, during his tenure as president, he distributed over 20 independent films, including Robert Greenwald's Uncovered: The War On Iraq and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Franny Armstrong's McLibel and Danny Schechter's WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception. Since 2005, Chapnick's company DocWorkers has helped filmmakers keep their rights and multiply their profits by employing outside-the-box DIY distribution techniques. Chapnick also hit a home run to win his Little League's championship game in 1982.
SENAIN KHESHGI is a Pakistani-American filmmaker who has produced, directed and written projects for numerous networks including CNN, ABC NEWS, PBS, Discovery, BBC and Channel 4 in the UK. Kheshgi co-produced her first feature documentary, The First Year, with Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), which aired on PBS in 2001 and was awarded the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. Kheshgi has a keen interest in exploring the intersection of faith and politics, as well as religious and cultural conflict, human rights and interfaith dialogue through film and media. She recently completed Project Kashmir, a feature documentary filmed by Ross Kauffman (Oscar-winner for Born Into Brothels) in which she and her Indian-American friend investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted religious and cultural divides. Project Kashmir premiered at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York in 2008 and is currently screening at festivals internationally. The film will air on PBS' Independent Lens in late 2009 or early 2010. Kheshgi was a Tribeca All Access Fellow in 2005 and a Sundance Institute Fellow in 2006, where she attended the Documentary Editing, Composer and Producing Labs; she is also a recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation's ReNew Media Film Fellowship. She was recently awarded a Asia 21 Fellowship from The Asia Society, which aims to help prepare young leaders for the challenges and responsibilities of global citizenship, and in spring 2008, she was selected as a Filmmaking Fellow for Jehane Noujaim's global Pangea Day. Kheshgi has served on the selection committee for the International Documentary Association's DocuWeek Documentary Showcase, and she frequently speaks on panels and conducts workshops on methods to incorporate social justice engagement and documentary filmmaking. In addition to having joined the IDA Board, she serves on the board of directors of Ciné, an independent arthouse cinema in her hometown of Athens, Georgia.
MARJAN SAFINIA is an award-winning Iranian documentary filmmaker and activist. Her first film, But You Speak Such Good English, is a witty and poignant short exploring the first-generation Iranian immigrant experience. Her feature debut, Seeds, documents ten brave teenagers from the world's most troubled conflict zones living side by side for one life-changing summer in Maine. Safinia's films have played at over 75 international festivals and conferences, including Opening Night at SilverDocs, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Barbican Centre in London and the Martin Luther King Dream Center in Atlanta. In addition, her films have aired in the US, UK, New Zealand, Jamaica and across the Arab world, and are used in classrooms from middle school through college. Safinia is a co-host of The D-Word, a worldwide online community of documentary professionals. In 2008, she was selected as a Filmmaking Fellow for Jehane Noujaim's global Pangea Day. She has lived in Tehran, London and New York and is currently based in Los Angeles. She serves as Outreach Chair of the South Robertson Neighborhoods Council, chartered by the City of Los Angeles to promote grassroots participation in government. She's still naive enough to believe that individual people really can make a difference in the world.
LAURIE ANN SCHAG is a native Californian of Mexican heritage who has worked in international film and TV production since 1991. Her expertise includes distribution, post-production and production of documentary films; cultural events; and marketing, branding and media consulting. In 2001 Schag made Great Day in Havana with photographer Casey Stoll, which documents the artists, politics, culture and daily life of contemporary Cuba; the film premiered in the 2001 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and received Best Documentary awards at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and the Bay Area Latino Film Festival. Currently, Schag is consulting with Netflix, and is responsible for delivery and creation of feature film elements for theatrical, TV and DVD, and the digital encoding of masters for Netflix's proprietary platform that streams on the Internet. She is also the media consultant for The William C. Velasquez Institute, one of the oldest Latino nonprofit organizations in the US, which is part of the National Latino Congreso, the largest gathering of Hispanic leaders in the US. In 2004 Schag was with Televisa Cine USA, responsible for the distribution, marketing and post-production of the hit film A Day without a Mexican. Prior to that, she was director of studio relations at Cinecanal, the Latin-American movie channel joint venture between studios Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures and the premium Brazilian movie channel Telecine. Schag began her career in entertainment in on-air promotions at HBO Hungary in Budapest. A graduate of Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., majoring in comparative literature, Schag is fluent in Spanish and speaks basic Portuguese and some Hungarian.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INCLUDED?
If you're a new member and would like to be included in a future column (or an "old" member who hasn't been featured yet), please send your bio (250 words max) to associate editor Tamara Krinsky at krinskydoc@ca.rr.com. You MUST include "Welcome New Members" and your name in the subject line of the e-mail. Bios should focus on your filmmaking background, interests, experiences, education, accomplishments, etc. If you're a student, tell us about where you're studying. If you're a film fan, tell us what you love about documentaries. Please also include the city, state and country in which you reside.