Director/Producer
Deborah Dickson, a three-time Academy Award nominee, is an
independent documentary filmmaker who loves the mix of memory and
cinéma vérité. In 1988, her film FRANCES STELOFF:
MEMOIRS OF A BOOKSELLER (which she produced, directed and edited)
premiered at both Sundance and Berlin, and was nominated for an
Academy Award. In 1997, her film SUZANNE FARRELL: ELUSIVE MUSE (co-directed
with Anne Belle) premiered at the New York Film Festival and was
nominated for an Academy Award. A graduate of Barnard College/Columbia
University and New York University Film School, Dickson is also
known for her long collaboration with Susan Froemke and Maysles
Films. Their most recent effort, LALEE'S KIN: THE LEGACY OF COTTON,
won top honors at Sundance, 2001, and was recently nominated for
an Oscar, as well as an Independent Spirit Award. Their 1992 film,
ABORTION: DESPERATE CHOICES, won Emmy, DuPont and Peabody Awards.
In addition, Dickson also collaborated with Maysles Films on OZAWA;
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ: THE LAST ROMANTIC; CHRISTO IN PARIS; ACCENT ON
THE OFF-BEAT; and LETTING GO: A HOSPICE JOURNEY. Dickson also produced
and directed (with Roger Weisberg) SEX, TEENS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
for PBS, and completed THE ART OF INFLUENCE, a documentary on fourteen
artists, for the Bravo Network in 1999. Currently, Dickson is directing
THE EDUCATION OF GORE VIDAL for the award-winning PBS series, American
Masters. She also has a narrative work-in-progress, EROS: THE COSMOLOGY
OF LOVE - a meditation on love and the history of the universe, and by 1998, she had joined Goldmacher's production team as director.
Producer Donald Goldmacher is a California-based psychiatrist
with a social conscience and a long-term love of film. In 1975,
he made his first documentary, DO NO HARM, an expose of American
drug companies and their marketing practices. Other film productions
followed, primarily in the field of health care -- until 1996, when
his work in the mental health arena inspired him to make a film
for a more general audience: a documentary about the remarkable
life of his older sister's best friend, Ruthie. "She was like
my second older sister," says Goldmacher. "I watched her
get married, divorced, and move in with Connie - and I suddenly
realized that her story, well told, could help straight people deal
with homophobia." He then raised some money, assembled a team
… and by 1998, Deborah Dickson was his Director/Producer. One of Donald's earlier films was Helping Your Baby Sleep Through the Night.
Co-Producer
Sandra Butler is a writer/producer who has specialized in the
politics of women's health, both physical and mental. Her first book,
CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE: THE TRAUMA OF INCEST, was published in l978.
A later work, CANCER IN TWO VOICES, was winner of the 1992 Lambda
Nonfiction Award. A memoir written in collaboration with Barbara Rosenblum,
it explores the impact of breast cancer on a lesbian relationship,
and was described as "a landmark feminist perspective" by
Publishers Weekly. In 1994, Butler went on to Executive Produce
the film version of CANCER IN TWO VOICES, which premiered at both
Sundance and the Berlin Film Festivals.
Co-Producer Lynda A. Hansen, President of Lynda A. Hansen &
Associates, is a creative and marketing consultant to producers, directors,
writers and film festivals.
Lynda has been Program Director for the Hamptons Festival; U.S. Consultant to the Berlinale; Executive VP for Unipix's Mystic Fire label. As a producer's representative, she represented Sandi Dubowski's groundbreaking TREMBLING BEFORE G-d, and is currently representing RUTHIE & CONNIE; and Jesper Jargil's THE PURIFIED (World premiere 2003 Sundance).
After receiving her undergraduate degrees, she became a staff producer for CBS. Then, drawn to indie film, she produced and directed the documentary, WHAT'S IMPORTANT. She went on to develop and head the Film Division of the New York Foundation for the Arts, which rapidly became a giant magnet for formidable filmmakers who worked one-on-one with Lynda, often from development to distribution.
Hansen has two films and a few film related projects in development. She serves on numerous boards. Fans of her WIGGIE Comix Saga will be relieved to know that WIGGIE will be out of hibernation shortly.
Editor
Rachel Kittner received a BS in Broadcasting and Film from
Boston University in 1996. She then began her career at Maysles Films
Inc. - where she met Director Deborah Dickson - and began editing
in 1998. Her credits include CODE BLUE for The Learning Channel; Michael
Moore's THE AWFUL TRUTH for Bravo; THE BOYS AT THE BARRE, a portrait
of male dancers at the American Ballet Theatre; and SCENES FROM A
TRANSPLANT: A CANCER DIARY, a feature length documentary about a woman
with lymphoma for HBO.
Cinematographer
Ferne Pearlstein is a New York-based documentary filmmaker.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, the International Center
of Photography, and Stanford University's Masters Program in Documentary
Film, she has been producer/director, cinematographer, and/or editor
on over 25 films - many of which have won awards. Her films include
her debut RAISING NICHOLAS (Sundance, 1993), SECRET PEOPLE (PBS, 2000),
DITA AND THE FAMILY BUSINESS (PBS, 2001), PLEASURES OF URBAN DECAY
(Sundance, 2001) and THE VOICE OF THE PROPHET (Sundance, 2002). Currently
she is shooting STEEL BUTTERFLY, an ITVS feature doc on Imelda Marcos.
She is also directing, shooting and editing SUMO EAST AND WEST, an
ITVS feature doc about Americans in the ancient Japanese sport of
Sumo.
| Chris Cunningham & Michelle Kinney |
Composers
Chris Cunningham & Michelle Kinney are a musical team:
they both compose; they both play. The score for RUTHIE & CONNIE
is their second collaboration with Director Deborah Dickson; the first
was for Dickson's documentary for the Bravo Network, THE ART OF INFLUENCE.
Cunningham turned to composing after years of performing and recording
with a huge roster of international artists, from Marianne Faithfull
to The Lounge Lizards. Along with his 1999 solo CD, Stories To Play
- which was nominated for a Grammy award - he has composed scores
for numerous award-winning docs, TV series, shorts and features (including
the Israeli film, THE HOLY LAND, which won Best Feature at the 2002
Slamdance festival). Kinney - a cellist who has played with artists
from Sheryl Crow to Lou Reed -- has composed scores for dance and
theater as well as film, including the award-winning PBS documentary,
RIVER RAT.
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