Gregg Lachow, Co-President       Gregg Lachow has been creating original works in film and performance for twenty-two years, the last seventeen in Seattle. He has made numerous short films, including the Emmy-nominated To Have and To Hold for PBS. His feature films have played at festivals and art houses worldwide. His first, the comedy The Seven Mysteries of Life, premiered at the Taos Talking Picture Festival in 1995 and was hailed by Variety as “an unexpected delight.” Lachow’s second feature, The Wright Brothers, premiered at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1997; Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said the picture is “unlike any film biography you’ve ever seen” and called Lachow “a very real and original talent.” His next feature, Money Buys Happiness, screened at the Cinerama as part of the 25th annual Seattle International Film Festival. Variety called the film, “thoughtful & lyrical.” Other films include Silence!, a feature with all dialogue, music, and fx performed live by a troupe of thirteen actors and musicians, and It’s All My Fault, based on Nathaniel West’s Miss Lonelyhearts, which premiered at the Seattle Jewish Film Festival in the spring of 2004.       In addition to his film work, Lachow is the co-founder and director of the internationally-acclaimed performance group Run/Remain, which has toured its unique blend of theater, film, live music, and dance to wide acclaim in the U.S. and Europe. In Seattle, he co-created and co-produced The Late Night Club at New City Theater, and the Belltown Coliseum, a downtown storefront performance space.
	Jamie Hook, Co-President Mr. Hook is a film and theatre artist based in Brooklyn, NY. His 2004 Feature film debut was the award-winning film The Naked Proof. He has produced over 10 full length works for the stage, and has produced four feature length films over the past decade. His work has been seen in film festivals and at arthouse cinemas throughout the nation. Mr. Hook is also well known as the founding director of the Northwest Film Forum, a non-profit film-arts organization in Seattle, Washington. Finally, Mr. Hook is widely recognized for his writing on film, which has appeared int such magazines as Vogue and Hapers, not to mention numerous newspapers throughout the nation, including the Stranger, where Mr. Hook served as the film and arts editor, 2000-2001.
	Joy Fairfield, Production Manager       Joy Fairfield is a recent graduate of Harvard University where she studied literature, cultural criticism and theatre with scholars such as Robert Brustein, Peggy Phelan, and Robert Woodruff. While at Harvard she directed, stage managed and set designed over a dozen theatre pieces for stages large and small, including a deconstructed Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, and her thesis production entitled HouseBreakHeart, a radical adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw play.       Since moving to Seattle, Joy has worked as the literary manager at The Empty Space Theatre and assistant directed at On The Boards and The Intiman Theatre. She also plays electric violin in the Seattle rock band VigilSpec.
	Benjamin Kasulke, Cinematographer      Ben Kasulke graduated from Ithaca College with a B.S. in Cinema Production, including advanced study at the Filmová a Televizní Fakulta Akadmie Muzickych Umní, Prague’s National Academy of Film. His professional experience includes employment with The Image Treasury, Negative Cutting and Conforming, the Raindance Film Festival in London, and the Olympia Film Society. Previous film collaborations include work with 33 Fainting Spells and the Maureen Whiting Company.      Ben’s work has screened at Raindance Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Northwest Film Forum, Cornell Cinema, and Cincinnati Underground. Ben also used to drive a cab.
	Cheryll Hidalgo, Editor      Cheryll Hidalgo learned to cut film on a Steenbeck flatbed at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her BFA and MFA in film. Her graduate film project, a short entitled The Real You, Top to Bottom, was selected for screening at the Midwest Film Center and was shown on public television in Chicago. After graduation, her careers as a machinist and political activist brought her to Seattle, where she worked for General Electric for nearly a decade and ran for office in 1982 and 1984. She spent another 10 years as a software engineer and computing consultant before deciding to return to her first love, film.       In 1999, Cheryll designed and founded the film/video production program at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, a department which she continues to head. Unique in its approach to the study of film as art, this program has produced numerous award winning student films including a “Best of the Fest” at Bumbershoot.
	Tania Kupczak, Art Director      Tania Kupczak graduated from Oberlin College with degrees in Molecular Biology and Art History. She received her MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College, with an emphasis on Installation Art, Digital Media and Cyberfeminism and published her graduate work in Domain Errors: Cyberfeminist Practices (Autonomedia, 2003).      Tania comprises one half of Yes Sir, a tactical collaboration producing work that incorporates found sounds and images with electronic media into installations involving audience participation and site-specific contents. She is also co-founder of the Center for Visual Culture and one of Jack Straw’s New Media Gallery Artists-in-Residence for 2004. Tania shows her work in New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and cyberspaces in between.
	Brian Short, Sound Designer/Motion Graphics Designer      Brian Short is a filmmaker, animator, photographer, musician, novelist and screenwriter, who, in ten years as a design and motion graphics professional, has collaborated with artists such as Nick Bantock and Peter Gabriel. He began making Super-8 films at the age of 12, and as yet hasn't stopped. Earning his BA at The Evergreen State College and receiving further schooling at The Art Institute of Seattle, he has worked on projects that have won widespread acclaim, including an Emmy and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. Brian has also taken field recordings, in search of unique sonic properties for use in experimental audio compositions, during his travels to locations such as the Stephansplatz of Vienna, an orphanage on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, and the mountains and coastal regions of Northern California.
	Jason Staczek, Director of Music and Sound      Jason Staczek has been playing and writing music for thirty years, the last twelve in Seattle. He has performed with and written for many different groups, in styles including R&B, soul-jazz, singer-songwriter acoustic, 70’s rock, and country blues. He has played as a session keyboardist on many records and is a voting member of the Recording Academy. His main instrument today is the Hammond B-3 organ.      Jason is also co-owner of Chroma Sound, a music production house and recording studio located in Seattle. He is currently producing projects with Garth Reeves and Carrie Akre. Recent film scoring adventures include Rent’s Due, a short silent film scored for piano in four hands and a current collaboration with director David Russo on an animated short.
	Michelle Witten, Assistant Editor/Director of Distribution       Michelle Witten studied Film Production at Ithaca College, where she edited exclusively on a Steenbeck, and bemoaned the inevitable digital revolution. After graduating, she spent time working at The Post Factory, a post house in New York City. When NYC became too claustrophobic, she decided to spend some time traveling the U.S. and had a number of varied experiences including sleeping in a cave in Yosemite, and traveling by bike across several states. She is a recent transplant to Seattle, and has finally learned to love digital editing. Besides collaborating with The Film Company, she also works as an editor for other local filmmakers, and skates as a Rat City Rollergirl.
	Serene Petersen, Web Design      Serene Petersen spent time making super 8 films in Bellingham, Wa to get college credit, eventually finishing with a B.A. in film production and a basic understanding of critical theory. Along with web design, Serene makes music videos and documentaries for record labels, hidden behind the small business front of Do it for the girls productions.

about us    projects    news    staff    contact     links