DIRECTOR/PRODUCER VIVIAN KLEIMAN
Vivian is known for tackling challenging subjects and filmic approaches. Credits include: Executive Producer, Academy Award nominated documentary short Last Day of Freedom; Producer, Peabody Award-winning Color Adjustment; Director/Producer, Families Are Forever (Outfest Audience Award) and Additional Cinematographer, Tongues Untied. She has 8 co-productions with the Independent Television Service (ITVS) for national PBS broadcast. She also served as Adjunct Faculty for 9 years at Stanford University’s Graduate Program in Documentary Film & Video Production. Website
PRODUCER JUSTIN HALL
Justin is an Associate Professor of Comics at the California College of the Arts and a Fulbright Scholar. He is a pioneer historian of LGBTQ comics, having curated major shows at the SF Cartoon Art Museum and the Schwules Museum in Berlin as well as having written for academic publishers such as the Cambridge University Press. He is also a recognized artist in the field, with his work appearing in the Houghton Miflin Best American Comics, SF Weekly, and Best Erotic Comics. He edited the first comprehensive anthology of LGBTQ comics, No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, which received a 2013 Lambda Literary Award and a prestigious Eisner Award nomination. Website
CINEMATOGRAPHER ANDY BLACK
Andy has worked on award-winning documentary films including: Scout’s Honor (Tom Shepard), 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. & Mrs. Kraus (Steven Pressman), Speaking in Tongues (Marcia Jarmel/Ken Schneider), Sicko (Michael Moore), and The Weather Underground (Sam Green). His work has been broadcast on MTV, BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic Explorer.
Associate Producer Cassandra Dreher
Cassandra honed her storytelling skills at Citizen Film as an associate producer on the PBS documentary American Creed, and many shorts, web-based documentaries, and museum installations – all with a mission to inspire active engagement in civic life. With a B.A. in Film Studies from Vassar College, she comes to the No Straight Lines team with a passion for bringing queer stories to screen.
ADVISOR HILLARY CHUTE
Hillary is a Professor of English and Art + Design, Northeastern University, authored several books on graphic narratives: Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics; Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists, Disaster Drawn, and most recently, Why Comics? She also served as associate editor of Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus. Website
ADVISOR RAMZI FAWAZ
Ramzi is Assistant Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison. focuses on the relationship between literature and popular culture and 20th century social movements, with particular attention to the cultural politics of civil rights, black power, and women’s and gay liberation. Website
Consulting Producer Vicky Funari
Vicky is a veteran documentary filmmaker, editor, and teacher. She is a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow and a MacDowell Colony fellow, and has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Center for the Arts and an NEA Artist-in-Residence at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Website
Consulting Producer Jason Cohn
Jason is the Peabody Award-winning director of EAMES: The Architect and the Painter and The First Angry Man, which traces the roots of the American Tax Revolt to a California ballot initiative. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone Magazine. Website
Consulting Producer JENNI OLSON
Jenni is an internationally recognized queer media historian, activist and online pioneer. An accomplished filmmaker, Jenni’s latest work (the experimental documentary The Royal Road) had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Website
OUTREACH COORDINATOR MAYA CURRY
Maya is an independent Producer/Videographer with a diverse background in outreach, digital communications, journalism, and storytelling. Maya has worked on projects for Time Magazine, Skoll Foundation, WaterBear Network, a multitude of small businesses and non-profits, and as Associate Producer for the award-winning Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (2018). Website