DAVID USUI
Director, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
David Usui has spent over 15 years crafting character-driven stories as a director and cinematographer. His work has been featured on PBS, ITVS, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and VICE. His collaboration with the legendary director Albert Maysles on In Transit—a contemplative exploration of life on Amtrak’s Empire Builder—premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, where it earned the Special Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary.
In Been Here Stay Here, his directorial debut, David captures the quiet yet profound crisis unfolding on Tangier Island, where a close-knit Christian community contends with the heartbreaking reality of losing their home to rising seas.
In 2009, David co-founded Lost & Found Films, a production company creating documentary and commercial content for brands, NGOs, and broadcasters. He studied philosophy and environmental studies at Western Washington University, and served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
GIORGIO ANGELINI
Producer
Giorgio Angelini came into film from a longer, multi-faceted career in the creative arts, including music and architecture. His directorial debut, Owned: A Tale of Two Americas came out of his interest in architecture and housing policy. The film made its television premiere in 2022 on Independent Lens/PBS and was viewed by over three million people.
His second film, 2020’s Feels Good Man, premiered at Sundance where it went on to win the Special Jury Prize for Emerging Filmmaker, as well as a News & Doc Emmy for Best Research in Feature Documentary. His latest project, The Antisocial Network, was released on Netflix in April 2024 and was a Top 10 film across the globe.
Giorgio studied American History at the University of Texas, Austin and received his Masters of Architecture from Rice University.
ELIZABETH RAO
Editor
Liz Rao is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Her award-winning work focuses on theatrically-released fiction and documentary features. Recent credits include lead editing feature film Materna (dir. David Gutnik, Tribeca Film Festival 2020 US Narrative Competition, lead editing feature documentary Maineland (dir. Miao Wang, SXSW winner of special jury award for observational cinema), and producing and co-editing acclaimed fiction film Madeline’s Madeline (dir. Josephine Decker, Gotham Independent Film Nominee for Best Feature, Independent Spirit Award-nominee, Independent Editor Award), among other upcoming fiction and documentary features. She is currently on scholarship as a writer and director in the NYU Graduate Film program. She has taught workshops in experimental filmmaking at True/False Film Festival, has given artist talks at The Edit Center, UnionDocs, and Yale University, and is a member of the collective Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Before filmmaking, she worked for four seasons on the programming team at Tribeca Film Festival.
PETER STEUSLOFF
Director of Photography
Peter Steusloff is an award-winning cinematographer based in Los Angeles, with over 15 years of experience. His debut feature, Skook, garnered the Grand Jury Prize at the New Orleans Film Festival, establishing him as a distinguished talent in the industry. Peter’s extensive portfolio encompasses documentary and narrative films, commercial projects, and music videos, each reflecting his keen storytelling sensibility and meticulous attention to lighting. He has collaborated with clients such as L’Oréal, Swarovski, Macy’s, and Comcast, among others. Peter’s work is characterized by a deep understanding of visual narrative and an acute attention for detail.
MARTHA WOLLNER
Story Producer
For over 20 years Martha Wollner worked with Albert and David Maysles (Maysles Film Inc), capturing real people stories for award winning projects that ranged from documentary features to landmark commercial campaigns and corporate projects for a host of Fortune 500 clients. Her duties at MFI included casting, producing and second unit directing on feature documentaries. Following her tenure as General Manager of the company, Martha established her own company, Very Real Casting, dedicated to nurturing human stories for all forms of media. Now in its 20th year, Very Real Casting is rooted in the same skill set the Maysles Brothers saw in Wollner from the outset; the ability to find and establish relationships with people who deliver the greatest window into their real stories.
JAMES WILLIAM BLADES
Composer
James William Blades is a composer and producer based in New York. Working primarily as a film composer, he has worked across a wide range of productions including feature films, documentary, art exhibition, sound installation as well as producing music for recording artists. His credits include music composition for Black is King (dir. Beyonce Knowles, Disney), Flypaper and Black Mary (dir. Kahlil Joseph), and for Mercury Award Winning artist Sampha’s film Process.
James has produced music that had been presented at the V&A Museum in London, Venice Biennale, Serpentine Gallery, New Museum, The Shed, 180 The Strand and Palais De Tokyo, where he produced music for artist and musician Theaster Gates exhibition, Amalgam. More recently James scored the Showtime documentary Point Gods produced by Coodie and Chike and Kevin Durant. James has a Masters in composition at Royal College of Music and is the founder of the music production studio Interlude.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
JEFF SOBRATO
NICOLE SHIPLEY
JADEN LEVITT
RYAN HARRINGTON