Andy Trimlett is a documentary filmmaker with a Master’s degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Washington. He is an Emmy Award-winning producer who has spent his career producing for PBS stations. He has worked on productions in Los Angeles, Budapest, Vienna, the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Amman and Jerusalem, among other places.
Ahlam Muhtaseb, Co-Director/Executive Producer
Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb is a professor of media studies and the graduate coordinator of the Department of Communication Studies at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). She is the recipient of the 2020 CSUSB Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activities Award and the 2019-20 Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Faculty Mentor Awardees. She also won the 2019 Rebuilding Alliance “Story Teller” Award. She has an M.A. in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Memphis, Tennessee. Her research interests include digital communication, digital resistance & decolonization, social justice, and diasporic communities. Her research has appeared in national and international publications, such as the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and Arab Studies Quarterly, and has been presented at national and international conferences. Her documentary 1948: Creation & Catastrophe was screened at over 20 film festivals and at universities and community organizations throughout the world. The film, co-produced and co-directed with Andy Trimlett, focuses on the year 1948 and its catastrophic consequences for the Palestinian nation which has originated from her field work in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. The film won the Jerusalem International Film Festival’s 2019 Special Jury Award in the Feature Documentary category. She is working currently on a study of Palestinian digital resistance and decolonizing digital spaces. She was the producer and lead researcher of the documentary 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime which centered the three young Muslims murdered in Chapel Hill in 2015 in its discussion of the state of hate crimes, Islamophobia and racism in the United States. The film had its global premier at the Doc NYC Film Festival in November of 2023 and won the Subject Matter Grant for Audience Outreach and Impact Efforts.
Mohannad Malas, Executive Producer
Ami Asher, Associate Producer
Ami Asher is a Hebrew-English translator and language editor specializing in the humanities, social sciences and the NGO sector. He is an activist in Zochrot – an NGO dedicated to raise Israeli Jews’ awareness of the Nakba. He guides tours in Jaffa that trace physical evidence of its tragedy in 1948.
Alexis and Sam, Composers
Alexis Marsh and Samuel Jones began collaborating in 2010 after attending USC’s Scoring for Motion Picture & Television program. Sharing a background in jazz, pop, and avant-garde music as well as a passion for cinematic storytelling, the two composers and multi-instrumentalists teamed up to form a studio that has since provided scores and songs to features, short films, documentaries, art installations, and advertising campaigns. Alexis & Sam‘s film work has been heard at major festivals around the world including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Slamdance, Edinburgh Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, AFI Fest, and the Champs Ellysees Film Festival. As collaborators with Los Angeles visual artists such as Alex Israel and Morrisa Maltz, their music has been featured in gallery exhibitions worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara, Peres Projects in Berlin, and Reena Spaulings Fine Art in New York City.
Jorge Contreras, Motion Graphic Designer
Jorge Contreras is a Motion Graphic Designer based in San Diego CA. He was born in Caracas Venezuela, where he studied Graphic Design. After graduating moved to Barcelona Spain to pursue studies in 3D animation and motion design. There he worked for several Agencies as Art Director and Freelance 3D motion Designer. After living 7 years in Europe he got the opportunity to move to the US where he currently works at KPBS and as a Freelancer. He has been nominated two times for the EMMY NATAS Pacific Southwest under the category of Art Direction in 2013 and Graphic Arts Animation in 2014.