RAISING RYLAND

Sarah is a filmmaker whose work includes the highly acclaimed feature documentaries: IRAQ FOR SALE and WAL-MART. She is the creator/executive producer of My Side of the Sky a documentary television series she created for Hulu. Sarah has been working with the Whittington family for nearly two years and makes her feature documentary directorial debut with RAISING RYLAND.

Sarah directs, produces and writes for film, television and commercials. She's worked with leading companies, including: The Coca-Cola Company, Subway, Truth, EA, Polaroid, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment. While at Vulcan Productions, Sarah managed production and strategy for the award-winning Vulcan Productions/WGBH co-production This Emotional Life. Sarah collaborated with Robert Greenwald and Richard Ray Perez on the ACLU-Brave New Films co-production The Freedom Files, which aired on PBS. During her tenure at Brave New Films, Sarah helped establish the company as the leading innovator in independent documentary distribution.

Sarah holds an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California and is a graduate of Boston College, where she majored in History. In 2013, Sarah founded Mile Marker Entertainment.

Twitter: @Sarah_Feeley

Lisa Remington is an independent documentary producer who has worked with notable directors including Davis Guggenheim, Rory Kennedy, Lucy Walker, Geoffrey Smith and Robert Greenwald. Lisa most recently produced Davis Guggenheim’s short film for the Obama campaign, THE ROAD WE’VE TRAVELED, and Rory Kennedy’s HBO film about her mother, ETHEL. With Lawrence Bender, Lisa produced Participant Media’s chilling documentary on nuclear weapons, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, which premiered at Sundance (US) and the Cannes Film Festival (International). She collaborated with Robert Greenwald on IRAQ FOR SALE: THE WAR PROFITEERS and the ACLU-Brave New Films co-production The Freedom Files, a nine-part documentary series, which aired on PBS. 

Lisa has a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a minor in gender studies, and is a Sundance Institute Documentary Fellow.

Kate Amend is the editor of two Academy Award Winning Documentary features: INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS and THE LONG WAY HOME and is the recipient of the International Documentary Association’s inaugural award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing. Kate also received the 2001 American Cinema Editors’ Eddie award for INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS, and edited the 2001 Oscar-nominated documentary short ON TIPTOE: Gentle Steps to Freedom. 

Her most recent film, THE CASE AGAINST 8, was an award-winner at the 2014 Sundance, South by Southwest, Vail, and RiverRun Film Festivals. Other credits include THE SOUND OF REDEMPTION: THE FRANK MORGAN STORY (Los Angeles Film Festival, 2014), BIRTH STORY: INA MAY GASKIN AND THE FARM MIDWIVES  (Audience Award, 2012 Los Angeles International Film Festival, FOLK (Nashville Film Festival and DOC NYC, 2013), CRAZY WISDOM: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, RINPOCHE, (2011 Santa Barbara Film Festival), FIRST POSITION, (Toronto International Film Festival, 2011), ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT, (Best Documentary Editing: 2010 Woodstock Film Festival) and MAN FROM PLAINS (2007), directed by Jonathan Demme, and a triple- award winner at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. 

Kate was recently elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and sits on the Board of Directors of the American Cinema Editors. She is on the faculty of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, and has been an advisor at the Sundance Institute Documentary Editing and Storytelling Lab since June 2004. Kate has appeared on panels for the Sundance Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Los Angeles International Film Festival, Hot Docs Toronto, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, IDA, and American Cinema Editors.

Ed is a composer, musician, producer, educator, and music curator. Recent projects include original music for the acclaimed documentary Cesar’s Last Fast (2014 Sundance Film Festival, Netflix), and In Our Son’s Name, a feature documentary which will premiere at the 2015 Atlanta Film Festival.

Ed has received grants, awards, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, The ASCAP Foundation, The American Music Center, and the Sundance Institute. He is also the consulting Music Director of Active Arts @ The Music Center of Los Angeles County, where he develops and curates hands-on events for non-professional musicians.

Ed’s wide array of musical interests include: field recordings in Botswana, modern interpretations of Billie Holiday at the Barbican in London, interactive orchestral concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, ukulele jam session with 300 people in downtown Los Angeles and more! 

Bryan Donnell is an Emmy-nominated director of photography based out of Los Angeles and is a frequent collaborator of prominent directors such as Morgan Spurlock and Lucy Walker. A short narrative film, Bean Cake, won the Palme d'Or for best short film at the Cannes film festival, and a narrative feature, Wait Means Never, won both Best Cinematography and Best Feature at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. Recent work has been as series co-DP on CNN's Morgan Spurlock: Inside Man (IDA award winner for best series) and work on Ashley York and Kristina Goolsby's documentary on Tig Notaro, which premiered at Sundance in 2015.