ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Producer/ Writer/ Director POLA RAPAPORT has made many award-winning films. She is a freelance producer for Christie's International, producing digital content as well as teaching film and digital editing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, her alma mater. Her feature documentary films as director and producer include “Nadia Comăneci: The Gymnast and the Dictator” on the complex relationship between the young “Perfect Ten” gymnast and the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu; “Hair: Let the Sun Shine In”, the definitive documentary on the groundbreaking hippie musical; “Writer of O,” portrait of the elusive author of the erotic novel Story of O; “Family Secret,” the story of the discovery of the filmmaker’s secret Romanian brother; “Blind Light,” a hybrid documentary/drama of a photographer’s peak experience in an Italian villa, starring Edie Falco and punk-rock legend Richard Hell, and “Broken Meat,” featured in the documentary competition at Sundance Film Festival, portrait of the mad poet Alan Granville. Several of her films have been co-produced by Arte France.
Rapaport is the editor of many feature documentaries, including “Museum Town”, (SxSW 2019), award-winning portrait of the contemporary art museum MASS MoCA, “Oli Otya: Life and Loss in Rural Uganda” (2020), Alex Sichel’s “A Woman Like Me” starring Lily Taylor (SxSW Directing Award, 2015), Lilly Rivlin’s “Heather Booth: Changing the World” and “Grace Paley; Collected Shorts” (Audience Award, 2010 Woodstock FF). Pola also edited Kathy Leichter’s “Here One Day”, on the impact of a mother’s suicide on her family and consulted on Kirsten Johnson’s Oscar-short-listed “Cameraperson”.
Rapaport has been a fellow of the Yaddo Artists’ Colony, the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, an Emmy nominee and winner of numerous grants and awards. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she teaches editing; she also produces pieces on art collections for Christie’s, the international auction house. She is married to DP Wolfgang Held, with whom she has often collaborated. She holds both USA and French citizenship.
Awards
Best Editing and Audience Award, Best Documentary, History Film Festival, Croatia;
Candido Cannavò Prize, FICTS Sports Film Festival, Milan;
Special Jury Prize, Barcelona BCN Sports Film Festival
(Nadia Comăneci)
Grand Prix de la S.C.A.M. Best Documentary on French television (Family Secret)
Grand Prix d’URTI Monte Carlo- Best Documentary (Writer of O)
Award of the Press, Message to Man Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia;
Nominee, Joris Ivens Prize, IDFA;
Best Cinematography at the Oberhausen Film Festival (Broken Meat)
Broadcasts
IFC, Sundance Channel, WNET/Channel 13, Arte (France-Germany), VRT & RTBF Belgian Television, WDR Germany, RAI Italy, DR Denmark, SBS Australia, YLE Finland, RTS Switzerland, RTP2 Portugal, RUV Iceland, RTVE Spain, Channel 8 Israel, et al
Film Festivals
Sundance, Toronto, South by Southwest, Hot Docs, IDFA, Rotterdam, Jerusalem,
Hamptons, FIPA Biarritz, Gothenburg, Denver, San Francisco Jewish, Edinburgh,
Washington and Toronto Jewish, and the Flaherty Film Seminar
Dual citizen USA/ France
www.polarapaport.com
polarap@gmail.com
Director of Photography and Producer WOLFGANG HELD, ASC, has been working as a cinematographer in New York City since the mid 1990s. A 2022 Emmy nominee for his cinematography on the Andy Warhol Diaries (Netflix), he recently was inducted into the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars). He co-founded the KameraKollektiv, a group of six top D.P.’s who specialize in socially conscious, non-fiction films.
Held photographed Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit comedy Brüno (2008). Shooting the PBS documentary series Carrier won him a prime-time Emmy for Best Cinematography in 2008. Wolfgang Held traveled the world as a young man, studied American Literature in Germany and received an M.F.A. in Film from Temple University.
Throughout his career Held has photographed many high-profile documentaries and award-winning films. He has shot high-profile documentaries including “Boys State” (2020), "The Fourth Estate" (2018), "Years of Living Dangerously" for Showtime and PBS, "Children Underground" (Oscar nominee, 2002), "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster", and "Half the Sky", featuring Nicholas Kristof, for PBS. He has shot several documentaries with his wife, Pola Rapaport.
Held has photographed over 20 narrative feature films, including “O.G”, which won Jeffrey Wright “Best Actor” at Tribeca (2018). The narrative short “The Neighbor’s Window” won the 2020 Oscar for Best Narrative Short. Other narrative features include Maggie Greenwald’s "Sophie and the Rising Sun" (Sundance, Gala premiere 2016), Mo Ogrodnik’s "Ripe", "Floating", for which he was awarded Best Cinematography at the New England Film Festival, "The Tic Code" for director Gary Winick, and Rob Morrow's directorial debut "Maze", starring Oscar Nominee Laura Linney. The black comedy horror film "Teeth", by director Mitchell Lichtenstein, has become a cult favorite.
Dual citizen USA/ Germany
www.wolfgangheld.com
wolfganghelddp@gmail.com
Production Company: BLINDING LIGHT, INC.
Blinding Light, Inc. is a small US production company owned by married couple Pola Rapaport and Wolfgang Held, active since 1993. Formed to produce the independent documentary/ drama “BLIND LIGHT”, starring Edie Falco, the company has gone on to produce and co-produce several creative documentaries, many in co-production with Arte in Europe. Awards include the Grand Prix de la S.C.A.M. and Grand Prix URTI. Festivals include Sundance, Toronto, IDFA, SxSW, Hot Docs, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Milan and Gothenburg.
Co-Production Company, Belgium ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS
Associate Directors is an independent production company based in Belgium, with offices in Antwerp and Brussels. Associate Directors focuses on co-producing creative documentaries for an international audience. The productions concentrate on social relevant issues and cultural in-depth stories. Started in 1991, today the company combines the filmmaking experience of Mark Daems and Bram Crols. "Cold Case Hammarskjold", for which AD served as Belgian co-producers, won the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. www.adirector.eu Contact mark@adirector.be
Co-Producer REBECCA BORDEN, Esq. Rebecca is an intellectual property legal expert, with concentration in content protection of digital film, tv and book content as well as global protection of trademarks. Her former positions include over twenty years tenure as SVP, Assistant General Counsel with CBS Corporation and Viacom. Her work included intellectual property legal support for content owners’ exploitation on social video platforms and legal clearance of elements in television series and specials produced by Showtime, CBS Sports, CBS News and CBS Studios Productions. bordenrebecca@gmail.com
Naima Joris plays with her jazz band
Music Composer NAIMA JORIS Now a leading jazz singer and composer on the Belgian Jazz scene, Naima Joris sang her first songs at 27. Encouraged to perform by her father, prominent jazz musician Chris Joris, her wonderful voice and disarming covers have made Naima the virtual BelPop sensation of this past year. Now, with her band, Naima creates dark, intense songs that strike a universal chord. Naima Joris’s new album, “While the Moon” will debut late in 2022. Her first EP has a powerful message. Five songs, pure and reduced to the essence. Contact jens@insidejazz.be
Co-Editor VICTOR ILYUKHIN Victor is a non-fiction producer who has worked internationally in documentary film and television for more than 10 years focusing on social issues, human rights and mental health. Victor worked on the team of “Welcome to Chechnya” which premiered at Sundance and Berlinale in 2020 and was acquired for broadcast by HBO. Most recently, he produced the documentary “Busy Inside”, selected for national broadcast on PBS in 2021. “Busy Inside” premiered at The Moscow International Film Festival, won the audience award at the Middlebury Film Festival in 2019, and was screened at DOC NYC and Hamptons Doc Fest in 2019. https://diplodocusfilms.com/who-we-are/
Associate Producer ALEX EGGERKING
Alex works in media in New York and Sydney, mixing the creative with the entrepreneurial. Born in Sydney, Australia, Alex traded in life as a corporate Mergers & Acquisitions attorney for the world of producing, editing, growing and monetizing media projects across podcasts, documentary, online and email newsletters. Alex has worked as a freelance business consultant with media organizations including ProPublica and Daily Pnut. She is currently building a new journalism-focused startup to tackle polarization in the US, as part of CUNY's Tow Knight Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Journalism.
alex.eggerking@gmail.com
Consulting Producers: JAMIE GORDON, a partner at Fugitive Films, is an executive producer of Emmy-winning PBS series Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and its sequel, A Path Appears, both with Nick Kristof. Gordon has produced multiple narrative films, both comedy and drama. MIKAELA BEARDSLEY is an Emmy-winning documentary producer who has worked with filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney and Wim Wenders and produced 15 nationally broadcast films. Mikaela originated and EP’ed Half the Sky Movement, a global media project aimed at improving opportunity for women in the developing world. Mikaela produced the Emmy-nominated HBO doc Reporter: A Film with Nicholas D. Kristof.
Board of Advisors
• DEREK HUMPHRY, Consultant
Derek Humphry is a British-born American journalist, author and principal founder in 1980 of the Hemlock Society USA and past president of the World Federation of Right To Die Societies, both of which support the notion of decriminalization of voluntary euthanasia. He is the author of the #1 NYT Best Seller Final Exit. He is also the president of the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO) and advisor to the Final Exit Network.
Derek Humphry on the film: “This is a tale of outstanding bravery and achievements in Marieke's life, closing with her well-considered choices about death with dignity.”
• STEPHEN JAMISON Ph.D., Consultant
Stephen Jamison, Ph.D., is a social psychologist, medical ethicist, and author of Final Acts of Love: Families, Friends, and Assisted Dying. He has worked for decades educating healthcare professionals on communication issues around end-of-life medical decisions.
Non-Profit 501 (c)(3) Umbrella Organization:
Human Arts Association JACQUELINE OCHS, Executive Director
The Human Arts Association is a non-profit organization, incorporated in the State of New York in 1976 for the purpose of producing and sponsoring independent productions by artists, writers, composers, performers and media-makers. HAA's support stimulates talent and nurtures educational and artistic works which speak to relevant community issues—local, national and international. Over the last four decades, the foundation has produced and sponsored many significant and award-winning performances and films. www.humanarts.org