John Sinno talks SIFF

Producer John Sinno (Iraq In Fragments, Zombies of Mass Destruction) shares his thoughts after experiencing 18 Seattle International Film Festivals, echoing the complaints of many and sharing some unique insights:

…A lot has changed in the film industry in the last 35 years. We live in an age where accessibility to films is no longer an issue. A good festival sets an agenda of what is worthwhile among the dizzying array of films produced in the world each year. As the film industry moves into new and un-charted digital terrain where film revenues are dwindling and film output is at an all time high, film festivals all over the world are scrambling to keep filmmaking and film viewing relevant in the twenty-first century. Some of them, like SIFF, have ventured into the year-round exhibition business with varying degrees of success. Others are acting as mediators between funding agencies and filmmakers. However, with the plethora of entertainment options available to moviegoers these days, film festivals should be focusing on their audience more than ever and delivering a rich and rewarding festival experience. Due to its incredible size, SIFF experience centers around what was unfortunately missed rather than on what was seen and enjoyed. The feeling of community is lost that a smaller festival would engender. With their top-notch website, SIFF does its best to help attendees navigate its cinematic offerings; this year, SIFF even unveiled an iPhone application that allows attendees to sift through the festival’s nearly 400 films. Even so, the feeling is that one is never able to adequately cover the festival, nor therefore share that experience with others.

In addition to its unmanageable size, SIFF takes place at the wrong time of year. Just when most Seattleites are coming out of hibernation to salute the sun, filmgoers are asked to spend an entire month in a darkened theater. This year I could not convince a number of friends to check out SIFF’s offerings with me; I was turned down because those friends preferred to spend their time outdoors enjoying the season’s first gorgeous weather. I would bet that the festival would gain a 20-30% bump in attendance if it were rescheduled in the autumn, winter, or even sometime earlier in the spring.

On the curatorial front, the festival has had a history of discovering gems, (The Stunt Man, for example), and has been credited with promoting German cinema in the 1980s. Apart from its emphasis on size, however, it’s hard to see a distinct curatorial strategy of late. This comes at a time when many festivals are focusing their film selections to pursue an identifiable niche. I would argue that there is a niche for SIFF that would give it an edge nationally– internationally even– and that relying on size alone no longer works in this brave new world of 24-hour video-on-demand.

The festival has always made an effort to showcase local films and filmmakers, and the good that it does is incalculable. However, it does so in a way that segregates them from other festival films. This year’s local films were grouped together under the heading “Northwest Connections,” and included several fictional films, an array of accomplished documentaries and even a multi-million-dollar Hollywood film starring Robin Williams screened under “Northwest Connections” only because it was shot in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood and executive produced by a local producer. Another local film received no less than 13 one-star audience reviews at SIFF’s website with one viewer lamenting that two hours of sunny Seattle weather had been wasted on the film. I can’t help but wonder if this film, its filmmakers and Seattle audiences eager to support local film might not have been better served if this particular film had been left out of the festival altogether. One assumes that if a film has been chosen for inclusion in the festival, it is qualified to screen alongside any other film chosen from among the hundreds submitted– otherwise it would not be an official selection…

Read the full essay at ONSCREEN.

“Little Dizzle” scheduled for encore in “Best of SIFF” series

David Russo’s “The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle” will be back for a Seattle encore screening as part of SIFF’s “Best of SIFF” series. The film will screen June 21 at 8:30pm at SIFF Cinema.

“Best of SIFF” gives audiences a chance to see the audience favorites that they might have missed during the festival.

Tickets and more details here: http://www.siff.net//cinema/seriesDetail.aspx?FID=158

More on Little Dizzle at http://www.littledizzlefilm.com.

The ending of “World’s Greatest Dad”

If you were at the Egyptian yesterday when the lamp blew out during the final, climactic scene of WORLD’S GREATEST DAD, and had to leave in order to make your next movie and aren’t sure if they ever started the film up again, this post is for you.

If you have not seen WORLD’S GREATEST DAD, and plan to, do not keep reading.

Ok, here’s how it ends, as reported from someone who caught the film in it’s entirety at Sundance: Robin Williams gets up to the podium during the dedication of the library to his son and basically says you all know my son was a jerk, none of you liked him while he was alive, stop being phonies, and he admits to writing the suicide note and the journal. As he walks away from the podium, the entire crowd – in slow motion – gives him look of general disdain and scolding (according to my source, this was one of the best scenes in the movie) while failing to see how they were complicit in the whole ugly business. Robin Williams strips off his clothes and dives into the school pool. As he walks home, his son’s little friend with the drunk mother comes up to him and says he knew all along Kyle never wrote the note and Robin Williams invites him to dinner. The last scene is Robin Williams, his hoarder neighbor and his son’s little friend eating pizza on Robin William’s couch.

So there you have it. And, oh, the movie is opening at Landmark in a few weeks, so you can always try again. No word on whether is is playing at the Egyptian.

“End of the Line” doc succeeds in gaining star power

Here’s a story that will warm some hearts, and evoke some dubious eye rolls from others. In either case, those who caught “The End of the Line” at SIFF will certainly appreciate the speed with which the film has achieved this level of celebrity activism:

Elle Macpherson and Stephen Fry condemn Nobu for serving bluefin tuna

Elle Macpherson, Stephen Fry and Sienna Miller are among the celebrities who are threatening to boycott Nobu for serving bluefin tuna.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 2:24PM BST 04 Jun 2009

The Michelin-starred Japanese fusion restaurant, part-owned by Robert de Niro, is a popular celebrity eatery with A-list diners including Wayne Rooney, Kate Moss and Brad Pitt.

However, following a hard-hitting documentary a number of celebrities have written to the restaurant to say they can no longer “dine with a clear conscience” as long as the restaurant continues to serve bluefin tuna – a species considered by many to be as endangered as the white rhinoceros, panda or tiger.

Jemima Khan, Laura Bailey, Alicia Silverstone, Charlize Theron, Zac Goldsmith, Sting and Trudie Styler are also among the signatories to the letter.

“The possibility that the magnificent bluefin tuna, one of the fastest creatures on the planet, could be extinct in as little as four years is a tragedy. Continuing to serve bluefin leaves Nobu vulnerable to public criticism and lagging behind Moshi Moshi, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Itsu and numerous others,” they write.

The celebrities say Nobu is a restaurant “we all love with a fantastic reputation and enormous influence” but bluefin tuna “must be completely removed from the menu due to its’ perilous position as an extremely endangered animal”.

Bluefin tuna used to be abundant in the Atlantic and Mediterranean but has been fished to the point of extinction with environmentalists warning that breeding stocks could disappear in just three years’ time.

The new film, End of the Line to be released on World Ocean Day on Monday 08 June, shows the fish being caught and sold on the market and even suggests that some companies are stockpiling the fish in order to sell it as an even greater price once stocks are further depleted.

However, Nobu continue to serve the tuna at its restaurants at up to £32 per dish, including at two branches in London’s Park Lane and Berkeley Street.

The restaurant recently included a warning on the menu advising diners that the bluefin tuna is an endangered species.

Environmentalists and now celebrities say only removing the dish from the menu is good enough.

Mr Fry, who has been posting reports on Twitter in an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the fish, said there was no justification for serving up an endangered species.

“It’s astounding lunacy to serve up endangered species for sushi. There’s no justification for peddling extinction, yet that is exactly what Nobu is doing in restaurants around the world,” he said.

A spokesman for Nobu said the restaurant takes the issue of Bluefin Tuna and its environmentally threatened status “very seriously”.

He added: “The consumption of this fish is a cultural institution in Japan and there is still an enormous demand for this delicacy at all our restaurants. In the specific case of the menus at our London restaurants it should be noted that the statement that informs diners that the tuna served is Bluefin was included at the behest of Greenpeace, with whom we have continual dialogue. We are also currently looking at Australian farm-raised tuna as an alternative.”

Perhaps a similar outcome will take place after the A-list catches Sandy Cioffi’s Sweet Crude, which also documents a futile effort in the film to influence major political and economic forces (and includes a small mention of harnessing the power of George Clooney to achieve these aims).

Free SIFF tickets!

But hurry! Send an to promotions@nwfilmforum.org before 1pm today to get your paws on tickets to these great films showing this weekend in SIFF:

At West of Pluto
Canada, Directors: Myriam Verreault, Henry Bernadet
Reminiscent of Gus Van Sant’s high school movies, this film follows a handful of teenagers over the course of 24 hours, culminating in a house party hosted by the shy kid who wants to make an impression. More than just a film about high-school stereotypes, this film is for anyone who’s ever gone to high school.
Saturday, June 6, 7:00pm, Harvard Exit
Sunday, June 7, 1:30pm, Harvard Exit
Directors Myriam Verreault and Henry Bernadet and Associate Producer Virginie Barret are expected to attend.

The Square
Australia, Director: Nash Edgerton
Wishing to flee his monotonous marriage, construction supervisor Raymond Yale becomes entangled in a love affair. But after a series of fatal missteps, a nightmare of unforeseen events unfolds in this thrilling neo-noir, set in a bleak Australian town.
Saturday, June 6, 9:30pm, Harvard Exit
Monday, June 8, 4:30pm, Uptown
Director Nash Edgerton is expected to attend.

Don’t Let Me Drown
USA, Director: Cruz Angeles
New York’s vibrant Mexican and Dominican communities take center stage in this lyrical and romantic look at the love between a young “Mexi-Yorker” boy and a Dominican girl. Set in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the star-crossed lovers try to reconcile their differences with an irresistible attraction.
Tuesday, June 9, 7:00pm, Admiral
Director Cruz Angeles and Cinematographer Chad Davidson are expected to attend.

Important Sweet Crude update

This just in from Leslye Wood, producer of the documentary “Sweet Crude.” Leslye kept Seattle updated via Hot Splice when, in April 2008, Seattle-based filmmaker Sandy Cioffi and crew members Sean Porter, Tammi Sims and Cliff Worsham were picked up by the Nigerian military. and held in military prison for a week.

Leslye says:

The news from the Delta continues to be dire. It’s reported that the attacks have now spread to other states. The military is still denying free access in and out of the region, so it’s hard to get reliable casualty and refugee numbers. We do know that Oporoza, the village where much of Sweet Crude was filmed, was at least partially burned by the military.

And from her press release:

The film’s timeliness increased exponentially when the Nigerian military began bombing and burning civilian villages May 15 in an offensive they say is targeting militants. Much of Sweet Crude was filmed in one of these villages, Oporoza, where many buildings and homes were razed by the military. Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry issued statements about the crisis on May 22. A letter signed by 15 concerned organizations, including Sweet Crude, was sent to the International Criminal Court May 19.

The SIFF screenings coincide with a landmark court case begun this week in New York – a suit against Shell Oil for complicity in the 1998 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other environmental activists in the Niger Delta.

“We made Sweet Crude to show the complexity of this place and the humanity of people typically represented to the world in highly sensationalized media coverage,” says Cioffi. “The situation is becoming more critical every day. This is a movie about issues unfolding as we speak; we hope it will communicate the urgency and inspire action. There’s an opportunity in this moment for our government and the international community to pay attention and press for political solutions that could avert war.”

On her fourth and last trip in April 2008, Cioffi, three members of her film crew and their Nigerian colleague who is featured in the film were detained by the Nigerian government in an attempt to suppress the story and held in military prison for a week. Their footage was confiscated. An international effort, including a letter signed by 14 U.S. lawmakers spearheaded by Senator Maria Cantwell, was mounted to secure their release.

Despite this setback, Cioffi went on to finish the film, which premiered in early April 2009 at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC to a standing ovation. A review from the New Raleigh includes this: “One film to really seek out is Sweet Crude, which covers the struggle by indigenous peoples in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region… Cioffi skillfully portrays a people with their backs against the wall… Cioffi’s film succeeds, not only because she humanizes the members of these oft-maligned resistance groups, but because she makes their approach seem like the only logical and available option. Sweet Crude was, hands down, the most fresh and interesting documentary I saw at Full Frame…”

Sweet Crude tells the largely unknown story behind today’s increasingly urgent headlines from a volatile region where people are desperate and unrest is growing. Fifty years of crude oil extraction has enriched the oil companies and Nigerian government, but left the residents impoverished in a decimated environment. After decades of nonviolent protest and unfulfilled promises, a growing militancy is kidnapping oil workers and sabotaging pipelines in an effort to be heard. Set against a stunning backdrop of Niger Delta footage, the film gives voice to the region’s complicated mix of stakeholders and invites the audience to learn the deeper story.

Currently more than 10 percent of U.S. oil comes from the Niger Delta, expected to grow to 25 percent by 2015. Ongoing destabilization of the region has cut its total oil exports by a quarter.

To learn more about Sweet Crude, visit http://www.sweetcrudemovie.com
To learn more about the current military attacks, visit http://www.sweetcrudemovie.com/attacks

The film plays SIFF June 3, 7:00pm at the Egyptian Theater; June 7, 1:30 pm at the Kirkland Performance Center; and June 13, 1:30 pm at the Egyptian. Director Sandy Cioffi will be there for a Q&A, as will many of the Seattle based production crew.

More information about the situation in the Niger Delta can be found here: http://www.sweetcrudemovie.com/attacks

Natasha Lyonne & Marshall Allman brave the Seattle press

This weekend NWFF was thrilled to welcome “Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle” stars Natasha Lyonne and Marshall Allman to Seattle, to present the film Sunday night to a sold out crowd at the Egyptian.

A lucky few of Seattle’s press were able to sit down with the vivacious pair before the Sunday show. Read the results:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/05/25/beauty-in-the-break-down-the-dark-blossoming-of-natasha-lyonne

http://seattle.metblogs.com/2009/05/25/siff-spotlight-little-dizzle/

http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/features/2009may/imaginaryinterviewnatashalyonne

SIFF guides!

Since there was a problem in our weekly newsletter with the link to our previous posts about SIFF, I thought I’d repost links to them right here:

Adam Sekuler’s Helpful Guide to SIFF

Films coming to NWFF for a longer run after they play SIFF

David Russo interviewed in Seattle Weekly

SIFF: Off the Indie Radar
After his first feature, maverick local director David Russo may be done with movies.
By Sean Axmaker
Published on May 19, 2009 at 9:48pm

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle SIFF Cinema: 4 p.m. Sat., May 23. Egyptian: 9:30 p.m. Sun., May 24.

“Film has always been a personal medium for me. Some people write with journals. I have always made little films that shoot right out of my soul. And I’m making them with my hands.”

For more than 15 years, David Russo has been making films, short films, funded out-of-pocket or by arts grants, rarely seen by a general audience. Until recently, they have been the creation of a solitary artist carving personal visions out of the world around him. His animated shorts typically combine painting, sculpture, photography, music, poetry, and soundscapes on unique moving canvases. In Pan With Us (2003), he takes the cel off the studio animation stand and makes it a canvas floating freely through space. As his paintings are photographed frame by frame on 35mm film, then transformed into a flowing, flying image, the surrounding throngs of people become pixilated, jittery, impermanent things.

I Am (Not) Van Gogh (2005) uses the same stop-motion and animation techniques to produce a visual stream of consciousness, set to a soundtrack of Russo explaining his idea for a project that an arts organization doesn’t understand. To date, his short films have been entirely non-narrative, works of wonder and grace, chaotic and visionary, unlike those of any other artist in Seattle.

Which is why you’ve probably never heard of him. Until now.

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle represents a major leap for Russo: his first feature, his first narrative, and in many ways his first collaborative endeavor. Certainly it’s his first picture with actors (including troubled former starlet Natasha Lyonne), a substantial budget, and the pressures and compromises that inevitably come with indie filmmaking. “It is extremely distracting at first,” says Russo of his 19-day Seattle shoot last year, “especially being the kind of filmmaker I was—that always worked by myself. It was a nightmare.”

I first met David Russo a few months after his 2002 short Populi premiered at Sundance. Over a couple of beers at a Greenlake cantina with his wife, Celia, he proceeded to explain to me why film critics were irrelevant at best and parasitic at worst. It was one of the most enjoyable conversations I’ve ever had. It was the beginning of, if perhaps not a friendship, then at least a respectful acquaintanceship. At least on my part. I would sometimes run into Russo at a reception or a film event and catch up on his projects. And it was always fun to follow the career of the outspoken artist.

In 2004, he won The Stranger’s Genius Award and proceeded to rip that paper in his acceptance speech. In 2005, he was awarded a Start to Finish grant by Northwest Film Forum to make a film of his choice. It didn’t stop his criticism of the insularity of local arts organizations that bestow grants. But it did start him on the road to Dizzle.

Russo had written the script in 2001, right before the invasion of Iraq. He recalls, “I knew we were going to war again, and it was an interesting time to write a script about marginalized people.”

Those people being the late-night janitors of Dizzle, who are being used by a market-research firm as unwitting guinea pigs for a highly-addictive “self-heating cookie.” The side effects of these enhanced snacks are unusual, to say the least, especially for the men: cramps, cravings, and finally giving birth to a living…something.

As with his handmade shorts, Russo creates almost all the Dizzle effects himself: animation for his characters’ hallucinations and visionary flights, and a hyper-real little blue creature that flops about like a fish out of water—the immaculately conceived Dizzle. And while there’s plenty of humor throughout the film, there’s nothing comic about this helpless mutant creature’s struggle to survive, or the dilemma of a confused father who instinctively tries to protect this unexpected progeny.

While the film has fantastic elements, Russo says its inspirations are autobiographical: “I was a janitor for 11 years. One night I found a miscarriage in one of the women’s-room toilets.Soon I got to thinking: What if something like that happened to men?” The film also explores religion and the contamination of our food supplies, he tells me: “[Dizzle] wants to be a conceptual think-y piece, but it also wants to be a legitimate story. I do love movies. And I wanted to give people a movie experience. [But] it has to be a little bit about the artist.”

Of one Dizzle character, this is literally true: One of the janitors, the exuberant OC (Vince Vieluf), spends his off hours applying for grants for his artistic endeavors. “OC is the artist that I’ve always wanted to be,” confesses Russo, “the one that really believed in what he was saying. Maybe not that talented, but it didn’t really matter.”

Ironically, despite having secured the indie grail of getting his first feature into Sundance, with SIFF the cherry on that cake, Russo is ambivalent about making another movie.

“I made every single little project that I ever wanted to, and Dizzle was the last one [I wanted to make],” he tells me over breakfast earlier this month. “What’s beyond it, I don’t know. I was ready to change my life after Dizzle.” The film was acquired for distribution at Sundance, and Vista Films is currently selling it at Cannes. No Seattle release date is yet determined.

Yet Russo’s passion for the project is as manic as his personality. “I feel like a fuck-up and failure and loser,” he says. “I see this movie, and it’s not as good as I want it to be. And I don’t know that I deserve another chance at narrative.”

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle SIFF Cinema: 4 p.m. Sat., May 23. Egyptian: 9:30 p.m. Sun., May 24.
Follow all our coverage of SIFF, including daily updates with news, reviews, and gossip on our special SIFF page.

As he bounces around conversationally—one minute down on his failures, the next lasering in on a well-crafted effect or an emotionally delicate moment that he’s particularly proud of—it’s hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm. Small, wiry, with a wound-up energy expressed with his busy hands, Russo talks about art and filmmaking with a conviction bordering on devotion. Surely this guy can’t be done with movies.

He tells me about his new project, an IMAX 3-D film with the Blue Man Group (“They’re basically looking for a fourth Blue Man who is a filmmaker”), and his excitement is palpable. “The Blue Man thing is a continuation of film school, a continuation of my art,” he enthuses. “I realized that my whole life I’ve been fighting two dimensions.”

It’s still a project in development, and Russo is deep into the process. “The Blue Man thing dropped into my field of vision, and the more I looked into it, the more interesting it became. I like the fact that it’s so hopeless, it’s so crazy, it’s so outlandish. But they’re also accomplished people. I didn’t look for it, but I’m taking it.”

Whatever his own feelings, I hope Russo does eventually take another shot at narrative. Dizzle is as passionate and eccentric a movie as has ever emerged from the local film scene. He stumbles through the narrative and fumbles for focus, but Russo’s “misfit film,” as he calls it, is a sincere and personal expression swirling with ideas and bubbling with imagery.

There are dozens of Blue Men in Vegas and on other stages throughout the world. But David Russo is, like his new film, utterly unique.

Actors Natasha Lyonne, Marshall Allman and others to attend “Little Dizzle”

Prepare to be Dizzled!!!!

After standing ovations at Sundance and SXSW, David Russo’s Seattle-made The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle premieres at SIFF with stars Natasha Lyonne, Marshall Allman, Vince Vieluf and Tygh Runyan in attendance

Congenital Engine is delighted to announce that the stars of filmmaker David Russo’s dark, stylish comedy The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle will be on hand as the film makes its hometown premiere in front of a discerning SIFF audience. Dizzle has been generating “crazy buzz” at festivals around the country with its irresistibly weird story and characters. As one Park City reviewer put it, “You have to see this!”

Little Dizzle is an edgy, character-driven fable with a unique Seattle flavor. Familiar Northwest icons (the Space Needle, the Viaduct, the waterfront, the skyline, the ferries) haunt the background of Russo’s strange world.

Natasha Lyonne (Slums of Beverly Hills, American Pie) is excellent in her return to the screen after a recent hiatus, giving a low-key, quietly funny performance as an overzealous market researcher who uses human subjects as guinea pigs in the quest for a top-selling, addictively scrumptious product. Lyonne has racked up a string of recent credits; she also appears in the 2010 thriller 13 with Mickey Rourke and Ray Liotta, and starred in Mike Leigh’s 2008 play Two Thousand Years.

Marshall Allman (a fast-rising young star know for his role on Prison Break) plays the spiritually hungry Dory, who winds up as a night shift janitor after losing a high-paying tech job. Dory forges an unexpected bond with his ragtag group of outcast cleaning colleagues. When strange things start to happen to his mind and body, Dory discovers that he and his co-workers are the subjects of a cynical (but delicious!) experiment.

Vince Vieluf is irresistibly brash and quirky as the artist-janitor O.C. who is always playing the angles.

Tygh Runyan (Normal) gives a hilariously poignant performance as one of Dory’s toilet-cleaning associates.

Little Dizzle will screen twice at SIFF:
Saturday, May 23 — 4:00 pm, SIFF Cinema
Sunday, May 24 — 9:30 pm, Egyptian Theatre

Seattle Cast:
Amelia – JEANETTE MAUS
Jason – SEAN NELSON
Preacher – ALLEN JOHNSON
Weird William – RICHARD LEFEBVRE
Sheila – MELISSA D. BROWN
Cookie Company CEO – LANCE ROSEN
Gary – MATT SMITH
Crooked Stream – JOHN OSEBOLD
Dr. Bergsman – RUSSELL HODGKINSON
Hospital Receptionist – BETH ANDRISEVIC
Drug-Addled Art Patron – TONY DRISCOLL
Wean-Naun – TOAN LE
Cop – RYAN BERGSMAN

Seattle Production Credits:
Produced by Peggy Case (Zoo, We Go Way Back), Edited by Billy McMillin (Iraq in Fragments). Music by Awesome. Production Design by Christopher Swenson. Costume Designer: Rebecca Luke. Director of Photography: Neil Holcomb. Additional Cinematography: Benjamin F. Kasulke. Animation, Art and Additional Cinematography: David Russo. Sound Mixer: Steven Bechtold. Key Hair and Make-up Artist: Dawn Tunnell. Music Supervisor: Van Riker. Story Editor: Celia Day Russo. Unit Production Manager: Mischa Jakupcak. First Assistant Director: Megan Griffiths. Production Coordinator: Caroline Colon. Gaffer: Steve Colgrove. Animation Lead Man: Courtland Premo. Locations Manager: Carey Christie. Locations Associate: Stacia Beer. Extras Coordinator: Denise Gibbs. Post Production Coordinators: David Jones Morgan, Brit Exworthy, Leone Fogle. Stills photographer: Bob Fink. Payroll Services provided by: Talent Services. Finance Manager: Elizabeth Heile. Legal Services: Rosen Lewis, PLLC. Film Processing: Alpha Cine Forde Film Lab. Camera equipment: Oppenheimer Cine Rental. Additional Visual Effects and Digital Intermediate by: Modern Digital/Seattle.

Executive Producer: Michael Seiwerath. Co-Producers: Alan Pruzan and Lance Rosen. Co-Executive Producers: Garr Godfrey, Menno van Wyk, Malayka Gormally, May L. McCarthy, David P. Glickman, A. Joel Eisenberg.