The Team

Anna Reid Jhirad
Director
Anna Reid Jhirad, founder of Marigold Productions, LLC, is an award-winning writer/producer of documentaries for primetime national television, museums, educational markets, IMAX screenings, and international media markets. Her films turn to history to understand dilemmas facing society today.

Maha Haddad
Co-Director and Editor
Maha Haddad is an award-winning Director and Editor who has overseen films in the U.S. and the Middle East. She edited and was the second unit director of Season I of On the Road in America. The documentary was the second highest-rated show in its primetime slot, when it aired in the Middle East and the English version aired on the Sundance Channel.

Ziad Foty
Producer
Founder of Foty Fusion Films, Ziad Foty is an emerging independent director, writer, and producer based in the DMV area. His films seek to highlight underrepresented stories in an effort to challenge the dominant representation in film.

Damien Coor
Director of Photography
Damien Coor is a cinematographer and photographer who has spent more than a decade working in film and video production. Damien has worked directing and shooting numerous projects including award winning music videos, documentary, narrative and commercial productions.

Bonnie Rowan
Archival Footage Researcher
With a graduate degree in film, Bonnie Rowan came from Wisconsin to work for the US Information Agency but soon was teaching film studies and production as an assistant professor at Towson University in Baltimore.

Lenny Williams
Musical Score
Lenny Williams has composed music for hundreds of documentary films and over a thousand hours of broadcast television. He has won six News and Documentary Emmy awards and has been nominated eleven times in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound".

Laura Seltzer-Duny
Film Impact Director
Seltzer-Duny creates and manages strategic campaigns for social action around film projects. These campaigns encourage viewers to get involved and take action after watching a film. She and her team create outreach campaigns for causes and assist filmmakers in spreading the reach of their films.

Reilly Thate
Associate Producer
Reilly is a creative and technically skilled individual with solid professional instincts developed by strategically working in various production contexts.

Ladawn Manuel
1st Assistant Camera
LaDawn Manuel, from Cleveland, Ohio, is a Freelance Camera Operator and Director of Photography, experienced with Alexa, Black Magic, Canon, Panasonic, RED, and Sony Systems.

Aaron Tucker
Steadicam
Aaron Tucker is a cinematographer, camera operator and producer who enjoys supporting soulful bodies of work – including fictional narratives, documentaries and music videos.

Richard Kane
Producer, Special Segment
Richard is an independent director whose work is focused on the intersection of art and contemporary American life. Previous film releases include, J. Fred Woell: An American Vision, I Know a Man ... Ashley Bryan, Imber’s Left Hand, and 15 others, all part of the Maine Masters collection, a New England Emmy-nominated series of portraits that airs on public television.

Melody Lewis-Kane
Producer, Special Segment
Melody is a potter, arts educator and filmmaker and is the primary consultant/co-producer on all arts and education films produced by Kane-Lewis Productions.
Additional Credits
Catholic University Media Department

Dr. Niki Akhavan

Virginia “Abby” Moser
Interns

Katie Wethli

Raish Andrews
Valeria Salazar

Maria Gustina Fabara Martinez

Josie Ziemski

Ryan Reilly
Consultants

Melissa Houghton
Executive Director WIFV, Fiscal Agent
Melissa J. Houghton joined Women in Film & Video (WIFV) as Executive Director in August 2005. WIFV serves 900 media professionals and program provision exceeds 90 professional development offerings annually.

Erica Ginsberg
Consulting Producer, Story Consultant
Erica Ginsberg is a documentary filmmaker and story consultant based in the Washington DC area. She is the co-founder and was the Founding Executive Director of Docs In Progress, a nonprofit film services organization that helped more than a thousand documentary filmmakers move forward on their projects.

Dr. Edward Meyers
Project Advisor and Consultant on D.C. History
Dr. Edward Meyers began his career with Ford Motor, Detroit’s Model Cities program, and the University of California. At the beginning of Home Rule for DC (January 1974), he served as staff director, DC Council Committee on Finance and Revenue and later as chief of staff to Councilmember Marion Barry.

Dr. Kathleen Burke
Project Advisor and Consultant on D.C. History
Dr. Kathleen M. Burke is a retired academic administrator with private sector experience in technology and distance learning. Most recently, she served as Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where she directed the University’s Advanced Academic Programs in the Baltimore, Washington, DC and Rockville campuses.

Dante James
Consultant, Film
Dante James received a National Emmy for his work as series producer of the critically acclaimed PBS documentary series, Slavery and the Making of America. He is also the recipient of two Washington, DC region Emmy awards.
Thomas D. Vaughan
Sound
Thomas D. Vaughan is a freelance sound mixer, sound editor, video editor, and corporate video producer jack-of-all-trades based in the Baltimore/DMV area.