Jason Gardner
Jason Gardner tells stories, using photography and video within the framework of Visual Anthropology. Jason published A Flower in the Mouth, a book of photography and writing about the culture, music and rituals of Carnaval in Pernambuco, Brazil and is currently working on a book about Carnaval around the world.
Lincoln Center, New Orleans Jazz Fest and The Brazilian Consulate General have hosted an exhibition and presentation of his work. Other exhibition locations include Paris, Vienna, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Toronto.
Jason is board member at-large, NY Chapter of ASMP, and co-founder of creative networking community Toasted Almonds. Jason divides his time between New York and Paris. Website
Michiel Pilgram
Michiel Pilgram is a New York-based filmmaker who has been a friend of Andy since 1998. Pilgram edited Andy’s first film, Urk. They also collaborated on a short, Displaced, about refugees Andy saw when he passed through Kirkuk in 2004, on his way to Iraq.
Pilgram works primarily for public TV. He works as an editor on PBS NewsHour, Amanpour & Co, Firing Line, NYC-Arts, Great Performances, and documentaries like After Newtown: Guns in America and Dead Reckoning.
He has produced gritty indie films set in the streets of New York, like Bobby G Can’t Swim, Off Jackson Avenue and The Astrologer. Website
Aaron Soffin
Aaron is a documentary film editor and online course producer. He edited three films for Andrew Berends: Blood of My Brother, When Adnan Comes Home, and Delta Boys. His most recent editing credit is Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS, which aired on National Geographic in June 2017. He also edited The Return of the War Room, Pennebaker and Hegedus’ sequel to their 1992 classic about Bill Clinton’s campaign, and Four Seasons Lodge, a film about a community of Holocaust survivors in upstate New York.
In addition to editing films, he spent a year recording the oral histories of Rwandan genocide survivors with Voices of Rwanda. Website
Maria Ibrahimova
Maria Ibrahimova’s debut film the documentary Miss GULAG, was produced with support from the Sundance Institute and the Ford Foundation. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and screened at festivals and on TV around the world. A Fulbright recipient, Maria also directed and produced several award-winning short films. With the American Embassy she created Women in Motion, a program bringing Azerbaijani female filmmakers into the film industry. She recently produced her first feature film, Fisherman’s Daughter, with Azerbaijani director Ismail Safarali and Russian producer Alexander Rodnyanski. Currently, she is developing her directorial feature debut Hazel Eyes with Turkish producer Zeynep Atakan. Website