Elain L. Liu (writer/director)

Elaine L. Liu was born in Yunnan, China and grew up in suburban Ohio. She developed a passion for writing at an early age, and due to her grandparents’ influence, she has been particularly interested in stories that deal with individuals engaged in personal struggles against the complexities of the world. Elaine attended the film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and graduated in 2004. Elaine’s thesis film, “The Projectionist,” won the Chris Columbus Film Production Award as well as the Clive Davis Award for Excellence in Music in Film.

 

In 2005, Elaine worked on M. Night Shyamalan’s “Lady in the Water” as assistant to director of photography Christopher Doyle, HKSC (“Hero,” “2046”). Elaine is currently finishing her first feature script, “Daddy, Please Don’t Go!”, about the global adoption trade and is working on a Chinese-language television mini-series script for SETTV Taiwan. Elaine recently co-founded Illusionwave Films with producer Jason Brown to develop her commercial and feature film projects.

 

Jason F. Brown (Producer)

Jason F. Brown grew up in Berlin, Germany and began his career as a critic and journalist in San Francisco before enrolling in the film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Jason has since produced over a dozen short films, commercials, and two independent features. His first feature, “American Yearbook,” has shown at festivals across the United States and Europe, and is in negotiations for video distribution. His second feature, “Still Life,” with Sean Gullette (“Pi”), Mark Margolis (“Scarface”), and Matthew Faber (“Palindromes”), is now in post. Jason has also worked on commercials with the producers at Park Pictures, the award-winning production company of cinematographer Lance Acord (“Lost in Translation”), and has worked in the office of producer Scott Rudin, who now heads Miramax Films.

Jason met Elaine Liu shortly after he arrived at NYU, and the two have been collaborating ever since. They recently co-founded Illusionwave Films to develop Elaine’s commercial and feature film projects.

 

Jamison F. grella (Director of Photography)

Jamison Grella has worked as a cinematographer and gaffer in New York for five years and has shot over 30 short films and documentaries. He was the director of photography on “Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay” for the Food Network, and has regularly worked as a set electrician on “Law & Order,” “The Apprentice,” and “The Cut.” Jamison grew up in suburban Maryland near where “The Projectionist” was filmed, and graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2004. He has been a member of IATSE Local 52 since 2005.

 

Jane Chen (Editor)

Jane Chen studied editing at The Edit Center, Alan Oxman’s (“Welcome to the Dollhouse,” “The Control Room”) New York-based editing school. She was an assistant editor on “August in the Empire State,” a documentary directed by Gabriel Rhodes and Keefe Murren. She was a contributing editor to the feature film “Red Doors” (dir. Georgia Lee) and the feature documentary “Home” (dir. Jeffrey Togman). She has also edited training videos and industrials for corporate clients.

In addition to editing, Jane is also a writer and producer. She co-founded Blanc de Chine Entertainment, a New York and LA-based production company. Blanc de Chine’s first project is “Red Doors,” a feature-length narrative that will be released theatrically by Polychrome Pictures and Warner Home Entertainment in 2006. “Red Doors” has won the Best Narrative Feature Prize in the NY, NY competition at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. “Red Doors” has also won the Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Acting at the 2005 CineVegas Film Festival and the HBO Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting at the 2005 OutFest. Jane co-wrote and co-produced the short film “Educated,” which has shown in over 30 film festivals around the world and won “Best Short Film” at the Durango Film festival. She also served as Executive Producer on the short film “Diagnosis.” Jane is a graduate of Harvard University.

 

raz mesinai (composer)

Raz Mesinai was born in Jerusalem in 1973. His first two decades were spent in frequent transit between Jerusalem and New York City, where he became immersed in both the worlds of traditional Middle Eastern music, and the dub and hip-hop scenes of the eighties and early nineties in New York City. In the nineties, he became involved in the avant-garde, downtown music scene of New York City, performing, improvising, and leading his own ensembles on percussion, piano and sampler. Mesinai’s electronic and electro-acoustic music, including over a dozen acclaimed recordings under the moniker Badawi and as one-half the seminal duo Sub Dub, exists at the crossroads of composition, sound design and modern studio production. Since 1999, Mesinai has been releasing music under his own name as well, including three releases on John Zorn’s “Tzadik” label.

Mesinai’s work has been commissioned and/or presented by the Lincoln Center Festival, the Jerome Foundation, the Sundance Institute, BAM’s “Next, Next Wave” festival, the American Music Center, Ars Electronica, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Asian Jazz Festival and many others. In 2004, following his developing interest in visual narrative and storytelling in music, Mesinai was awarded a Fellowship at the Sundance Composer’s Lab where he had the opportunity to participate in workshops with such artists as John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov and Thomas Newman. His recent film scoring credits include the feature documentary “Romantico” (dir. Mark Becker, official selection Sundance Film Festival, 2005), “Sorry, Haters” (dir. Jeff Stanzler, with Robin Wright Penn and Abdel Kechiche, official selection Toronto Film Festival 2005, commercial release March 2006), “No Restraints” (dir. Alison Chernick, official selection Berlin Film Festival 2006), and numerous short films.

 

paul hsu (sound design)

Sound designer and re-recording mixer, Paul’s experience ranges from the narrative and documentary films of the independent world to Hollywood studio films. Among his past projects are films which have received Oscar and Emmy nominations as well as won awards at the world’s premiere film festivals including Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, and South by Southwest. Paul has a formal education in classical piano and composition, while his tastes in things aural run the gamut from “early music” to modern electronica and experimental genres. When not in the studio, you’re most likely to find him enjoying the outdoors and/or exploring the realms of quantum realities and metaphysics. Paul’s credits as sound designer include “Angels in America,” “The Door in the Floor,” and “The Station Agent.”

 

chris schuster (production designer)

A carpenter by age 8, Chris Schuster is a production designer and scenic artist based in Brooklyn, NY.  She studied theater design and mathematics at Hamilton College, and is currently pursuing an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.  In addition to independent films, she has also worked on sets for ESPN, CNBC, off-Broadway theater, and the Museum of Chinese in the Americas.