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Kevin Merz CO-DIRECTOR/CAMERA
Merz was born in 1978 in Switzerland. He studied photography at the Italian Institute of Photography and Filmmaking at the Los Angeles Film School. Since 2005, he has been working as an independent filmmaker. His latest feature documentary, Glorious Exit, has won various international film prizes including: the Special Jury Prize for Best Cinema Narrative 2009, Astra Film Festival – Sibiu, Romania; the Gran Premio for Best Documentary Film 2008, Orense Film Festival – Orense, Spain; and the Walter Mosley Price – ex aequo 2008, Real Life Documentary Festival – Accra, Ghana.
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Topher Osborn DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Having worked as a cinematographer in Ghana, Guatemala, Northern Mexico, Southern Mexico and throughout the United States, Osborn has developed the ability to work effectively with international production teams in a broad range of environments. He has shot over 40 shorts, 2 features, and lots of documentary content for networks including HBO, Comedy Central, Versus and Fuel TV. He is also a regular Director of Photography for Banner Caswell Productions.In 2009, Osborn finished his course requirements for his M.F.A. in Cinematography at UCLA, the nation’s most competitive film program, which accepts only three DP’s per year. He completed his B.A. in Mass Communications at the University of San Francisco in 2002.He was awarded the 2006 and 2007 Student Panavision Grants, the 2007 Fotokem Technical Award, the Mary Pickford Award in Documentary Filmmaking, the National Association of Theater Owners Award, and the Edi and Lew Wasserman fellowship.Osborn has had the privilege of training under Steve Burum ASC, Jonny Simmons ASC, Victor Kemper ASC and Joan Churchhill ASC.
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| Samir Samperisi EDITOR
Samperisi studied editing in Lugano and currently works for film and television. His credits include From Somewhere to Nowhereand the award-winning Glorious Exit, which received the Special Jury Prize for Best Cinema Narrative 2009, Astra Film Festival – Sibiu, Romania; the Gran Premio for Best Documentary Film 2008, Orense Film Festival – Orense, Spain; and the Walter Mosley Price – ex aequo 2008, Real Life Documentary Festival – Accra, Ghana. |
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Patrick Kirst COMPOSER
Patrick Kirst represents the next generation of film composers, providing a fresh and unique voice, expressing the unseen but deeply felt emotional landscape of film. He recently finished his powerful lyrical score for Der Grosse Kater (The Big Cat), starring acclaimed actor Bruno Ganz (Downfall, The Reader) along with an all-star German cast. The political thriller had its theatrical release in January 2010.In 2008, Patrick collaborated with Disneynature on their first nature documentary Earth, based on BBC’s highly successful Planet Earth TV series. In 2007 Patrick started his working relationship with critically acclaimed composer Aaron Zigman. Credits include top-grossing romantic comedy The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, Sex and the City: The Movie, and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman.Patrick’s recent documentary credits include The Golden Stool, released on Time Warner’s Africa Channel (2008), At the End of Slavery, produced by the International Justice Mission, narrated by Danny Glover (2009), and The Polo Kid, released on Amazon’s Video on Demand (2010). A great supporter of independent filmmaking, Patrick scored the short film Kavi, which was nominated for Best Live Action Short at the 2010 Academy Awards.Since 2007, Patrick is teaching film music composition to aspiring film composers at University of Southern California. He enjoys sharing his experience as an artist in today’s highly competitive film music market.
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Quirin Sieber PRODUCTION SOUNDMIXER
Sieber was born in Zürich in 1973. He studied sound engingeering in Glasgow, Scotland. He has worked extensively in the field of multimedia in Europe. His most recent credits as a production sound mixer include various commercials in Ghana and the Urban Repubic production of “The Soul of Ashanti”, a one hour TV special for the Africa Channel in Los Angeles. He is known in Ghana, his favorite place in the world, as the president of sound. |
| Ricardo Studer SOUND EDITOR/MIXER
Studer studied sound engineering in Italy and has been working professionally for film and television since 1995. He also teaches sound techniques at the university for visual communications in lugano, Switzerland. |
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| Volker Schaner CO-EDITOR
Schaner was born in 1968 in Augsburg, Germany. He began his career soon after finishing the gymnasium, working as an assistant director to renowned director Peter Fleischmann on the films: Hard To Be A God, Deutschland, Deutschland, Mein Onkel der Winzer and Mein Freund der Mörder.After completing his studies in Munich, Germany — in Slavic languages, literature and history — he directed his first documentary, Praha – Stage Of The Unexplainable. Schaner specializes in editing long-format documentaries and is currently at work on his second movie, Lee Scratch Perry – Vision Of Paradise, intended for international release.He speaks German, English, French and Czech fluently. |
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