Reach Film Fellowship

Angela Tucker is a filmmaker and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. She worked at Arts Engine, Inc/Big Mouth Films for over eight years, most recently as the Director of Production. Her producing credits include: Pushing the Elephant (PBS’ Independent Lens in March 2011), Election Day (PBS, POV), Teacher (PBS, Global Voices), Beyond the Steps: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (PBS’ Great Performances) and the Emmy nominated film, Deadline (NBC’s Dateline, 2004). As a freelancer, she was a Consulting Producer on Pop Star on Ice, a documentary about Johnny Weir that inspired the reality series, Be Good Johnny Weir. Her feature length directorial debut is Asexuality: The Making of a Movement, a documentary about people who experience no sexual attraction. She directed two short pieces for The National Black Programming Consortium and ITVS’ online initiative, The Masculinity Project, entitled Invisible Men. She received an MFA in Film from Columbia University where she was awarded a grant from The Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Dean’s Fellowship and a Milos Forman Finishing Fund Award. Angela was a mentor for IFP’s Documentary Rough Cut Lab, an Artist in Residence at Yaddo and a juror at The Silverdocs Film Festival and The Atlanta Film Festival. She writes for The Huffington Post.

Tamir Muhammad led a workshop with colleague Ryan Harrington on the successful, informal pitch. Tamir currently serves as Director of Feature Programming at the Tribeca Film Institute where he’s responsible for directing and developing programs such as Tribeca All Access. He started his career with Tribeca in the office of Founder Jane Rosenthal during the inaugural year of the Tribeca Film Festival. Since that first year he has held several positions at numerous other festivals including The New York International Latino Film Festival and Urbanworld. Earning his B.F.A. at New York University (Tisch School of the Arts), Tamir also went on to serve as an international staff member for the University, traveling to such countries as South Africa, China, Brazil, and Cuba. He currently serves on the board for Firelight Media and Moving Mountains, Inc. along with consulting for other art organizations. Tamir also has several years of film and television production experience to his credit dating back to a stint at Department of Film (Goldcrest) and has scouted and developed the careers of several filmmakers.

Ryan Harrington led a workshop with colleague Tamir Muhammad on, “The Art of Packaging: How to Present Your Film & Yourself.” Ryan is the Director of Documentary Programs at the Tribeca Film Insititute where he oversees the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and TFI Documentary Fund while developing other initiatives and programs that support non-fiction filmmaking. Independently he is currently working on the feature doc Hungry in America, with filmmakers Kristi Jacobson & Lori Silverbush and Participant Media, that explores why so many people in the USA go without food, and what can be done about it. Harrington managed production for A&E IndieFilms, the theatrical documentary arm of the A&E Network, for four years. Throughout his time there he championed the Oscar-nominated films Murderball and Jesus Camp, and the Sundance hits My Kid Could Paint That and American Teen. Other films include Barbara Kopple’s Bearing Witness, Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern’s The End of America, Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven, Alexis Arquette She’s My Brother, 21 Below, Entre Nos, and P-Star Rising.

Ingrid Kopp is Editor-in-Chief of Shooting People – an international networking organization for independent filmmakers with over 38,000 members. She began her career in the Documentaries department at Channel 4 Television in the UK. She moved to New York in 2004 to work as an associate producer for a number of independent production companies before taking her current post at Shooting People. Ingrid teaches Digital Bootcamp workshops for filmmakers, focusing on audience engagement and harnessing technology for storytelling. In addition to her work with Shooting People, Ingrid works as a documentary programming consultant for film festivals, broadcasters and foundations and is the New Media Consultant for the TFI New Media Fund.

Susan Leber is consulting producer to the narrative fellows, Kaz and Nick. Susan was named one of Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch 2004. Her first feature production, Ilya Chaiken’s Margarita Happy Hour, had its world premiere at Sundance 2001. After working with Scott Saunders on shorts, Susan and Jim Calabrese produced his feature The Technical Writer, which debuted at Sundance in 2003 and starred Tatum O’ Neil and William Forsythe. She produced the critical darling Down to the Bone, which premiered at Sundance 2004 and won two awards, Best Director for Debra Granik and a special jury prize for actress Vera Farmiga. She produced Ti West’s first feature, horror favorite The Roost. She co-produced Alfredo DeVilla’s Adrift in Manhattan which premiered in competition at Sundance 2007. She also co-produced Ed Radtke’s The Speed of Life, which premiered at Venice Days at the Venice Film Festival 2007. Toe to Toe, which she produced, was nominated for a 2009 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and was released by Strand this past year. Currently, she is in development on several projects and has been line producing on such features as Margin Call and The Green.

Jeff Marcello is the Reach Film Fellowship’s post-production consultant. Jeff is a New York based editor and post supervisor. Recent credits include: Toe to Toe (editor/post supervisor), a raw coming-of-age drama that premiered at Sundance 2009; Cultures of Resistance (editor/post supervisor), the feature documentary which looks at contemporary conflicts around the world and creative solutions by local artists and peace activists; Planet B-Boy (editor/post supervisor), the feature documentary that follows the evolution of breakdancing throughout the world. Jeff has also edited many television shows and commercials for Discovery Channel, TLC, Travel Channel, MTV, Style Network, Spike TV, Cooking Channel and Nickelodeon.

Past advisors who have given Reach Film Fellowship workshops include: award-winning documentary filmmaker Edet Belzberg (Children Underground, The Recruiter); Joshua Blum, founder and president of Washington Square Films/Arts; Yoni Brook directed Bronx Princess, and A Son’s Sacrifice, which won Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival; Tze Chun director of Children of Invention; Dan Cogan Co-Founder and Executive Director of Impact Partners; Nekisa Cooper Producer of Pariah; Hamptons, Brooklyn, and Tribeca film festivals programmer Cara Cusumano; Felix Endara who manages Arts Engine’s fiscal sponsorship program, and its documentary series DocuClub; composer, songwriter and producer Todd Griffin who has scored Children of Invention, and A Walk into the Sea, as well as playing with Fugazi, The Ex, Vic Chestnutt and others; Ingrid Kopp Director of Shooting People; renowned cinematographer and director Ellen Kuras (The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), Blow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind); Paola Mendoza who co-directed and starred in Entre Nos; 2008 Nicholl Fellowship finalist and filmmaker Afia Nathaniel; Esther Robinson whose film A Walk into the Sea won top prizes at the Berlin, Tribeca and Chicago film festivals; Freelance Producer Leah Sapin has worked for BBC Television, Radical Media, and Guns for Hire Productions; award-winning Director of Photography Michael Simmonds who worked on Goodbye Solo, The Order of Myths, and Plastic Bag; and Cameron Yates, the director and cinematographer behind the doc Canal Street Madam, who also is a doc programmer at Hamptons International Film Festival and NewFest.