Wendy Calhoun

Writer and Director, Left Behind

Prime time drama writer/producer, Wendy Calhoun’s credits include Co-Executive Producing and Writing for Fox’s hit series EMPIRE, awarded 2015 Program of the Year by the Television Critics Association. In addition, she’s written and produced for ABC’S NASHVILLE, FX’s JUSTIFIED, ABC’s REVENGE, and NBC’s LIFE. Calhoun served as the Narrative Consultant for Electronic Arts’ BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE video game. She has written, produced, and/or directed over 40 hours of non-fiction programs for PBS, Animal Planet, VH1, TLC, The Travel Channel, The Discovery Channel, and FBC with credits including Discovery's MONSTER HOUSE and Fox’s HELL’S KITCHEN. Calhoun received a 2010 Peabody Award and WGA Best New Series Nomination for JUSTIFIED, which was named as one of the WGA’s Best 100 Written Series. She received her second WGA Best New Series Nomination in 2012 for NASHVILLE. She actively participates with diversity and gender equality in entertainment initiatives including Google’s Computer Science for Diversity in Media events, and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. A native of Dallas, Texas, Calhoun studied film and television at Tisch School of the Arts as one of the university’s first Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars.

 
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Jamie Wong

Writer/Director, "The Letter" 

Jamie is a producer, writer and entrepreneur. Jamie was a producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where she helped the show win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series two years in a row and an institutional Peabody Award.  She also researched and produced for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11,  PBS  Frontline's  The Persuaders, American Experience's Kinsey, ABC News and Sundance Channel digital and is currently writing a nonfiction book on Silicon Valley.  She is the founder and CEO of Vayable.com, a digital platform that creates experiential local stories from around the world. She holds a Master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. 

 

V Bozeman 

Erica, Left Behind

V Bozeman is a soul singing sensation, vocal producer and actress, best known for her recurring role as “Veronika” in the FOX primetime musical drama television series Empire. The Los Angeles native is currently signed to super producer Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group and collaborated with the music industry icon on their forthcoming album titled “Opera Noir” featuring the hit single “Smile.” The sultry singer recently teamed up with 6-time Grammy nominated recording artist Tyrese for a visually stunning, musical adventure in the form of a short film titled “The Black Book” featuring their successful single “You Can’t Break Me.” The sultry songstress just recently released a new single and steamy video entitled GO that's climbing up the charts. V Bozeman’s captivating voice, charming smile and humble personality have made her worldwide fan favorite and one of today’s most talented RnB stars.

 
andrew-shulkind

Andrew Shulkind

Director of Photography, Left Behind

After graduation from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts, Andrew’s career began as a camera operator for such luminaries as Janusz Kaminski, Don Burgess and Emanuel Lubeszki. Since then, Andrew has been profiled in American Cinematographer, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and his work has been screened at festivals including the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and many others. Andrew was recently recognized as one of the industry’s top emerging cinematographers by the International Cinematographers Guild, and in 2014 was the first individual awarded the Studio Prime Award – a distinction reserved for manufacturers leading technological innovation in the world of film.

As a director of virtual reality cinematography at Headcase, Andrew develops, builds and operates their proprietary, revolutionary 360-degree virtual reality camera systems.

 

Michelle Rubinstein

Producer, Left Behind

With more than eighteen years of experience in the television industry, Michelle has worked on numerous TV shows and pilots including Fantasy Island, North Shore, Raines, Suspect, and Jericho.  She was a Producer on Lifetime’s highest rated show,  Army Wives, and most recently was the Transmedia Producer on Fox's Empire. When she is not in production, she is busy developing one-hour dramas and several independent features.

 

Nonny de la Peña

Writer/Director, "Trapped"

Nonny de la Peña was selected by Wired Magazine as a #MakeTechHuman Agent of Change and has been called “The Godmother of Virtual Reality” by Engadget and The Guardian. Additionally, Fast Company named her “One of the People Who Made the World More Creative” for her pioneering work in immersive storytelling. As CEO of Emblematic Group, she uses cutting edge technologies to tell important stories—both fictional and news-based—that create intense, empathic engagement on the part of viewers. 

A Yale Poynter Media Fellow and a former correspondent for Newsweek, de la Peña has more than 20 years of award-winning experience in print, film and TV. De la Peña is widely credited with helping create the genre of immersive journalism and her virtual reality work has been featured by the BBC, Mashable, Vice, Wired and many others.  Showcases around the globe include the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals, The World Economic Forum in Davos, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and Games For Change. 

 

Alex Rivera

Writer/Director, "Prey"

Alex Rivera is a filmmaker who, for the past fifteen years, has been telling new, urgent, and visually adventurous Latino stories.  

His first feature film, Sleep Dealer, a science-fiction feature set on the U.S./Mexico border, won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, was screened at the Museum of Modern Art, and had a commercial release in the U.S, France, Japan, and other countries.  Alex is a Sundance Fellow, Rockefeller Fellow, was The Rothschild Lecturer at Harvard University, and was named one of Variety Magazine’s “10 Directors to Watch.”  In 2015 Alex was awarded major support from the Surdna Foundation and the Ford Foundation for his film-in-progress, ‘The Infiltrators,’ and he received an Art & Technology Lab Grant from LACMA for an upcoming virtual reality project in collaboration with Nonny de la Peña.  Other recent collaborations have included work with Manu Chao, La Santa Cecilia and Aloe Blacc.

 

Ava DuVernay

Executive Producer

Ava DuVernay is a writer, producer, director and distributor of independent film. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, her most recent film SELMA chronicles the historic 1965 voting rights campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

‎DuVernay previously wrote, produced and directed the dramatic feature, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, which earned her the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Best Director Award. In 2010, she wrote, financed, produced and directed her first narrative feature, I WILL FOLLOW. The family drama was hailed by critic Roger Ebert as "one of the best films I've seen about the loss of a loved one."

DuVernay made her directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed 2008 hip hop documentary, THIS IS THE LIFE. She has since directed several network documentaries, including VENUS VS for ESPN. In 2013, she directed a sweeps episode of ABC's top-rated SCANDAL, as well as acclaimed fashion and beauty films for Fashion Fair and Prada.

Prior to filmmaking, DuVernay worked as a marketer and publicist for 14 years. Her award-winning firm provided strategy and execution for more than 120 film and television campaigns for acclaimed directors such as Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann and Bill Condon.

A graduate of UCLA, DuVernay is the founder of ARRAY, a community-based distribution collective dedicated to the amplification of films by people of color and women filmmakers. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She sits on the board of both Film Independent and the Sundance Institute. DuVernay is based in Los Angeles.

 

Lucy Walker

VR Creative Consultant 

Lucy is an Emmy-winning British film director who has shortlisted five times and nominated twice for an Academy Award and is renowned for creating riveting character-driven nonfiction that delivers emotionally and narratively. The Hollywood Reporter has called her “the new Errol Morris” and Variety has singled out her unique ability to connect with audiences.Lucy’s films include feature documentaries The Crash Reel (2013), Waste Land (2010), Countdown to Zero (2010), Blindsight (2006), Devil’s Playground (2002) and short films notably The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2011) and The Lion’s Mouth Opens (2014) as well as television including twenty episodes of Nickelodeon Blue’s Clues. Her films have also been nominated for seven Emmys, an Independent Spirit Award, a DGA Award and a Gotham Award and have won over one hundred other film awards. For her advertising work she has been recognized with awards including three Cannes Lions, two Clios, two One Clios and two Association of Independent Commercial Producers wins.

As a virtual reality director Lucy is also represented as a Creator at Vrse where she has directed more VR content than any other director on the planet. She is currently directing several pieces for VR, including a new BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB / CUBA music feature documentary with Wim Wenders as EP.  The first one to premiere is "A History of Cuban Dance" at Sundance, SXSW, & (in rough cut form still) on the VRSE app. She directed these branded films that are viral hits: a smile-detecting app for blind people for Listerine, and girls taking on emojis for #likeagirl, as well as virtual reality experiences for AirBnB, AT&T and Toms shoes, Vaseline and Vice.

She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,[3] The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the International Documentary Association, and the Directors Guild of America.