David is a filmmaker whose work has won prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Film Festival, and has been acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the American Film Institute, where he was the recipient of the AFI Richard P. Rodgers Award for Creative Excellence. His film, ALL THESE VOICES, won the Student Academy Award®. David’s spec screenplay, ABOVE KINGS, was nominated to the Tracking Board Hit List and was a semifinalist for the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. His documentary film ULTRA VIOLET FOR SIXTEEN MINUTES (“Totally engaging” - Al Maysles), screened at festivals worldwide, the Pompidou Museum in Paris, and was acquired into the permanent collection of the MoMA. THE STORY WON’T DIE is his debut feature. www.davidhenrygerson.com
Odessa won an Academy Award and Sundance Audience and Festival Awards for her film NAVALNY. She was key in the formation and launch of Ivanhoe Pictures, which produced box office hit, CRAZY RICH ASIANS. Since finishing her multi-year First-Look deal at Ivanhoe Pictures in early 2019, Rae has been producing independently. She started her producing career in Japan by writing, producing and starring in the full length feature film JENIFA which was distributed widely in theaters in Japan. In 2018 she produced and directed a short documentary for the UNHCR called Clear Blue Skies. Odessa is currently producing a highly confidential documentary with Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris, the team behind NAVALNY, as well as a documentary series with Melanie Clark and Tiffany Haddish, inspired by Rae’s trips to Saudi Arabia..
Abdalaziz is an award-winning Syrian journalist and co-founder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, a non-partisan, independent organization that exposes the atrocities committed by ISIS and the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria. Prior to this position, Alhamza organized non-violent protests and demonstrations against the Syrian regime. After escaping to Turkey in 2014, he used smuggled video footage and images to show the reality of life in Raqqa under ISIS rule to the rest of the world. Alhamza was the subject of the documentary CITY OF GHOSTS which was on the 2018 Oscar Documentary Feature shortlist.
Colleen is a London-based strategic advisor. She is a specialist in cultural diplomacy, international affairs, and destination stewardship with 20 years of experience in cultural organizations that include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sotheby’s, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, ICOMOS, the American-Scandinavian Foundation and the Royal Academy of Arts in support of culture sector-focused development projects. Colleen serves as President of the Board of Directors at Tauck Family Foundation, USA; Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Statens Museum of Kunst, Denmark; and Member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Châteaux de Versailles, France.
Martin Marquet is an independent producer and publicity veteran. He has worked on the releases of over 200 audiovisual projects around the world. He has represented and worked with dozens of filmmakers, including Joel and Ethan Cohen, Harmony Korine, Gaspar Noé, Tim Sutton, Liv Ullman, Studio Ghibli and the Miyazaki Family, and Wim Wenders - to name a few. Marquet co-produced Tim Sutton’s DARK NIGHT (Sundance/Venice). He is the producer of Marie Losier’s THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE, Hubert Sauper’s EPICENTRO, winner of a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2020, and producer of Kirsten Johnson’s upcoming feature.
Katherine is a private investor and has lived in Europe and the US, where she lives now. She is Greek and is an ardent supporter of causes in Greece, especially from the time that the Greek financial crisis started to unfold, which she witnessed while working at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. She has spearheaded fundraising initiatives that have raised over 1 million Euros for Greek causes ranging from childhood education to urgently needed hospital equipment. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Cycladic Art Foundation.