About the Filmmaker
Ramona S. Diaz (Director, Producer, Co-Editor) Ramona S. Diaz’s award-winning films – Imelda (2004), The Learning (2011), Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (2012) and Motherland (2017)-have screened at top-tier film festivals and been seen globally. Motherland won a special jury award at Sundance and had its international premiere at the Berlinale in 2017. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and a Peabody. Ramona was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016 is a current recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship.
Leah Marino (Producer, Editor) is based in Austin, Texas, where she has edited documentaries for over 20 years. She has collaborated with Ramona Diaz since 1999, beginning with Imelda, and including The Learning, Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey and most recently Motherland. Among her other editing credits are Kim Hopkins’ Voces Del Mar, I (True/False 2018, POV 2018, Best Documentary NYLFF) and Deborah Esquenazi’s, Southwest of Salem (Peabody Award 2017, Emmy nominated 2017). Leah has recently completed work on Ray Santisteban’s ITVS-funded Time of the Phoenix: The First Rainbow Coalition.
Gabriel Goodenough (Cinematographer) began his career learning the craft of storytelling and photography while working on productions such as A Beautiful Mind, The Sopranos and Homicide: Life On The Streets. Yet his true love is non-narrative vérité filmmaking, a journey that he began while working with Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney on their hybrid fiction/documentary project K Street for HBO. Since then he has photographed and produced hundreds of hours of documentary content following subjects in the United States and abroad. Most recently Gabriel has been on assignment in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East, producing and shooting a project about war correspondents.
Jeff Johnson (Cinematographer) From the remote bat caves of Lebanon to the deserts across the Mexico/US border, Jeffrey’s vérité camera work has taken him around the world to show engaging perspectives on some of the most challenging stories. His work has appeared on HBO, PBS, A&E, Netflix, the New York Times, Field of Vision, and the Atlantic. He was the Director of Photography for the two-time Academy Award winning Director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton on their feature documentary Student Athlete, following the stories of amateur athletes in the United States. And most recently lensed Tania Cypriano’s, Born To Be.|
