THE
FILM
MAKERS
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Long esteemed as "an aural and visual poet", Susanne Rostock's filmmaking is a stunning 40 years of some of the most compelling documentaries of each decade. Her most recent film as director/editor, Following Harry, joins the artist and activist Harry Belafonte, beginning at the age of 84, as he embarks on a twelve-year journey to find out how to redirect oppression to oblivion. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June, 2024. This film is a sequel to her film, Sing Your Song, about Harry Belafonte's earlier life as an artist and activist and was chosen to open the U.S. Documentary Competition section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where it was described as a story "told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style and musical panache". This film continues to be in worldwide theatrical distribution and television broadcast and has aired on HBO. Sing Your Song received top honors in festivals around the world, was shortlisted for an Oscar, and garnered the NAACP Image Award and a Gracie for Outstanding Director.
Rostock, an EMMY NOMINATED editor and director, has achieved recognition on a myriad of films that continue to endure and resonate. In addition, her films have earned acknowledgement from multiple national and international festivals, had theatrical distribution, and aired on numerous television and cable platforms – HBO, BBC, PBS, etc. Her 20-year multi-award-winning collaboration as editor with director Michael Apted has produced such richly provocative films as: The Long Way Home; Incident At Oglala; Me & Isaac Newton; Inspirations; The Power of The Game; Moving The Mountain.Rostock is presently engaged in producing, directing, editing the documentary Between Starshine and Clay: The Hidden Diary of Diahann Carroll, co-directed by Suzanne Kay and Executive Produced by Serena and Venus Williams. The very deep, brutally honest passages in the diary not only speak truths to the past but resonate with the inner lives of women today.
Susanne studied anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking with Margaret Mead at Columbia University and received an MFA in Filmmaking from New York University. She resides in New York City. -
Frankie is an award-winning Director and Producer with over 1 Billion views on YouTube for his work with artists including Andrea Bocelli, Beyoncè, Ice-T, Lil Wayne, and RZA. He has directed Academy Award-Nominated and Emmy Award-Winning actors, and his films have earned recognition at the top film festivals in the world, including Berlinale, Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and Venice.
One of his greatest achievements came when Frankie was selected as 2nd Unit Director and Co-Producer for the documentary feature film Sing Your Song, based on the life of entertainer and humanitarian Harry Belafonte. Frankie captured intimate footage of Mr. Belafonte throughout the US and Europe over the course of two years, and he considers it a life-changing experience. The film would go on to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival Opening Night Gala and win the NAACP Image Award for Best Documentary before being acquired by HBO Documentary Films and shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Prior to that he and his team won the highly competitive Spike Lee Babelgum Award in Cannes for the crime/drama short film Officer Down. Frankie’s recent work as an additional cinematographer can be seen in Netflix’s documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.
Today Frankie is in post-production on his first feature-length directorial debut, a documentary on 3-Michelin-Star-Chef Curtis Duffy and his tumultuous past from childhood tragedy to culinary triumph.
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Edward has diverse interests across media, arts and entertainment. In addition to his role as Executive Producer and Producer on Following Harry, he is a co-owner of the prestigious Gallery Milmar with locations in Carmel and New York City.
Mr. Zeng is a serial entrepreneur, venture investor and private equity fund manager based in Silicon Valley with satellite offices in New York City, the Middle East, Europe, and China. The World Economic Forum selected him as a "Global Leader of Tomorrow." He has been profiled by Forbes, Time Magazine, Red Herring, and the South China Morning Post. Most recently, Mr. Zeng was recognized at the 2023 APEC Summit for his leadership in sustainable technology investing.
He holds academic degrees from Tsinghua University, where he was a recipient of the Annual University Top Prize, and the University of Toronto. Mr. Zeng formerly served as an Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University's Schwarzman College. He has published 50 academic papers and five books on economics, e-commerce, mathematics, and philosophy.
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Mimi Polk Gitlin produced one of the most talked about films of its decade, Thelma and Louise, which was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and 5 Golden Globes and won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. She has over 30 years of experience as a Producer and Film Production/Finance Executive. Her company Gaia Entertainment develops, produces and partially finances impactful scripted and non-scripted series and features. Gitlin produced the documentary Freak Power about Hunter Thompson's run for Sheriff of Aspen in 1970. Gaia's animated film, The Breadwinner was nominated for an Academy Award and went on to win 19 prestigious awards around the world.
Gaia has a number of scripted features in development including In Amber's Wake with Christine Leunens (Jojo Rabbit) and Enemy of the People with Andy Black (Narcos). Prior to Gaia, Gitlin served for three years as an Executive at the financing company Grosvenor Park Media working on films that include PS I Love You, Penelope, Miss Potter and Academy Award winning The Hurtlocker. Prior to Grosvenor Park, Gitlin was partnered for thirteen years with acclaimed directors Ridley and Tony Scott overseeing the companies financing, and film and television production. Some of the films she served as a producer or an executive on include The Browning Version, Someone to Watch Over Me, Black Rain, White Squall, Crimson Tide and True Romance.
During Gitlin’s Tenure she was instrumental in bringing the Scott brother’s together to form Scott Free as well as securing production deals with Paramount, 20th Century Fox/RCS and Disney/Largo.
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David Dinerstein won an Academy Award for producing the Best Documentary Summer Of Soul. He served as President at Paramount Pictures and was a senior studio executive at 20th Century Fox and Miramax Films. He has been involved in the production, marketing or distribution on over 200 movies including Pulp Fiction,American Hustle, Her, The Illusionist, The Full Monty, Paris Is Burning, You Can Count On Me, Mad Hot Ballroom, and Hustle & Flow.
Dinerstein has won numerous other awards including the Grammy, BAFTA, Independent Spirit Award, PGA, AFI, Critics Choice Documentary Award and the 2021 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Sundance Audience Award. He helped launch the filmmaking careers of many iconic directors including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderberg, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Paul Greengrass, Justin Lin, Sofia Coppola, Baz Luhrman, Jane Campion and Kevin Smith. His films have garnered over 100 Academy Award Nominations and 15 Academy Awards. In 2014 his films received 17 Academy Award nominations including 2 for Best Picture.
Dinerstein has a broad range of experience in entertainment production, programming, acquisitions, finance, international sales, marketing and distribution. He has built and managed several companies from their inception. Dinerstein co-founded Paramount Vantage, where he supervised all aspects of the business, including co-productions, acquisitions, finance, operations, marketing, and distribution of a full slate of feature films. Dinerstein was one the original architects of Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Dinerstein served as the Executive Producer on the Academy Award nominated, Netflix documentary Winter On Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom, for which he was also nominated for an Emmy Award. Dinerstein also served as the Executive Producer on the HBO documentary Cries From Syria, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. On the narrative side, he served as an Executive Producer on the Golden Globe nominated A Private War, the reboot of the elevated horror film, The Strangers: Prey At Night, and Kidnap starring Halle Berry.
Dinerstein is an invited speaker and panelist around the world on the subject of film production, distribution, financing and marketing. He was elected to the Board Of Governors at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and he is a voting member of AMPAS and the Recording Academy. -
Pamela was born in New York City and grew up outside of Boston. Returning to New York in 1970 after completing her Masters’ degree, Pam established herself as a successful photographer, running a studio on Madison Avenue for families and children, while also raising two of her own. She created photographs for numerous record albums and book jackets before turning her artistic talents to the political scene, working as a photographer for New York City Major John Lindsay and Antonio Olivieri.
The global struggle against Apartheid in South Africa had a profound impact on Pam’s life. She recalls, in the early 1980s, being introduced to township theatre and mesmerized by an anti-apartheid play called ASINIMALI which had come to Harlem for a short run. She urged everyone she knew at the time—including Paul Simon and Harry Belafonte—to support the show, and it was eventually brought to Broadway.
Pam and Harry Belafonte married in 2008. For the next 15 years, Pam was deeply involved in the multifaceted work of music and activism that characterized Harry’s life. As his closest confidant and advisor, Pam played an integral role in managing the work—editing, organizing, writing, and traveling all over the world.
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Martina, a German/Syrian, is an accomplished cinematographer and filmmaker based in New York City. Originally from Berlin, she embarked on her career as an Assistant Camera for fictional films, honing her passion and skills for visual storytelling. After moving to New York City in the mid 90’s, she DP’ed several fiction films before she developed a deep interest in documentaries, particular observational films.
Her body of work includes countless renown, award winning titles like Food And Country, Boys State, Inventing Tomorrow and The Final Year. Saving Face, the 2012 Academy Award Winner for Short Documentary and Emmy winner, earned her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Cinematography in 2013. Continuing to push her own boundaries, Radwan directed two award winning shorts that played on national and international festivals. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow is her first feature-length film as director. In 2025, the Martina-Radwan-lensed The Only Girl in the Orchestra won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.
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Drawing from his background in a wide field of genres including rock, classical, film, theater, improvised, and electronic music – composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist Hahn Rowe has developed a uniquely personal sonic language, fusing disparate musical elements into atmospheric, polymorphic soundscapes. He has harnessed a keen ability to bridge and meld acoustic sounds with the infinite textures available through analog and digital processing to create strangely organic and emotional sonic realms. Equally at home performing on violin, guitar, and digital/electronic studio instruments, Hahn Rowe has retained his unique sensibilities while crossing musical borders.
Arriving to New York City in the early 80's, he was exposed to the cross-pollinating music and art scenes and soon after joined the Glenn Branca ensemble performing on guitar and violin. It was there he met members of the “chamber rock” group Hugo Largo, becoming a full-time member on electric violin and providing engineering and production on two albums released on Brian Eno's Opal label.
His multifaceted approach to music making found him in wildly varying environments ranging from playing guitar with Gnawa musician Hassan Hakmoun in Zahar, violin duties with the recorded and live projects of Jim Thirwell (Foetus), studio work with the likes of Ikue Mori, Tom Cora, Moby, Syd Straw, R.E.M., and Swans, remixes for Yoko Ono, and engineering/mixing recordings for people such as John Zorn, Roy Ayers, Bill Laswell, and Antony and the Johnsons. As a producer, Hahn Rowe has worked with David Byrne on his album “Feelings” and Hugo Largo vocalist Mimi Goese on her solo release “Soak”.
A recipient of three New York Dance and Performance Awards (AKA ‘Bessie’), Hahn Rowe has a long history scoring music for dance and theater, working with Benoît Lachambre, Bebe Miller, John Jasperse (with the International Contemporary Ensemble), Louise Lecavalier, Antonija Livingstone, and Simone Aughterlony. Since 1991, he has been in collaboration with Brussels/Berlin based choreographer Meg Stuart (Damaged Goods) which has resulted in the creation of seven evening length dance/theater works and hundreds of performances worldwide.
Hahn Rowe is currently active as a composer for film and television, creating scores for films such as Clean, Shaven by Lodge Kerrigan, Spring Forward and The Cold Lands by Tom Gilroy, Married in America by Michael Apted and Sing Your Song by Susanne Rostock. Recently, he created a live sound installation for the month-long chain performance, Ghost Telephone, curated by Adrian Heathfield and presented in the Biennale of Sydney (2016), and a live sound score for the light/performance work, A Possibility of an Abstraction by Germaine Kruip.