Recovering Irma

An award-winning writer, Sandra Salas's talents earned her the invitation to write for Instant Films. Her short Guru Singh Cinderelli, directed by Ben Rock, screened on awards night at the festival. This led to co-writing, producing and directing the documentary-style pilot, Inside Cinema, which features film composer, Aaron Zigman, (The Notebook), and journeys through his early training, personal experience and creative collaboration with Nick Cassavetes, Peter Max, among others. She has worked behind the scenes on commercials, promos, films, television shows, and print ads. The breadth of her creative talent is exemplified in her work as the casting director at The Blackwell Files where she cast for a diverse cross-section of ad campaigns. She lived and worked in Singapore teaching screenwriting and script consulting for the Singapore Film Commission and in 2001 received her MFA in Screenwriting at the American Film Institute (AFI), earning countless honors and accolades for her work. Sandra is the Program Director of Script Frenzy, the largest screenwriting annual competition in the world.

Stephanie Watanabe began her career in L.A. at Creative Artists Agency, where she worked for a senior agent and a long list of celebrity clientele. She then segued into development at the formerly Disney based, FP Productions. After relocating to Northern California, Stephanie honed her entrepreneurial skills and production chops and co-founded Atelier Joya, a boutique event design and production studio. She has produced large-scale events for Lucasfilm, Yahoo, and Google, along with hundreds of weddings and high-end social events. She got her start in filmmaking by Directing, Writing and Producing the short film Lunchbox Blues, while an undergraduate student, which helped earn her a coveted seat at the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2000. While at AFI she produced The Yard Sale, a 35mm short film, starring Anne Meara and received the Stan Margulies Producing Award. Currently, she develops & produces feature films, shorts and music videos, while also teaching, coaching and advising artists and entrepreneurs and will launch her own branded lifestyle blog in Summer 2011.

David's work in HD earned him the International Cinematographers Guild 2005 & 2006 Emerging Cinematographer Award for the films, Embryo and June and Orlando. Embryo also earned him a Best Cinematography award at the 2005 HDFest. David worked with Director John Landis on the Emmy Award winning, Mr. Warmth:

The Don Rickles Project and shot Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg! for Peabody Award-winning Director Aviva Kempner. He shot the feature film, Beach Kings for MGM and was the DP on the Starz Network series, Head Case. He has also shot numerous commercials and music videos throughout the US and Japan. David received his MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute in 2001.

Andrew began his technical career mixing sound for live bands at festivals and concerts. He cut his teeth doing rough edits of commercials on set. He often used a technique he calls "live editing" that could assemble 3 or 4 shots, without a computer, into an organic edit that was never the same twice.

In 2007 he traveled with 1500 cyclists from San Francisco to Los Angeles on the AIDS Life/Cycle, the largest AIDS fundraiser in the world. He shot and edited video along the way that documented their journey. He has enjoyed working on a range of projects including: an internet news show, recruitment videos for charity events, promos, commercials and a video documentary that looked behind the scenes at the film industry. Andrew and Sandra have collaborated previously on other projects but this will be their first full-length documentary. Last year he was married to actress Caroline Fogarty and they live in the San Fernando Valley.

Eric Hsu has been the lead singer, lyricist and songwriter of Johnny Hi-Fi since 1992. Johnny Hi-Fi is one of the hardest working indie bands out there, booking countless shows, festivals and tours on a global scale. The band has toured Asia, aired on MTV and been lauded by the NY Times. Their haunting melodies and poignant lyrics have earned lead singer Hsu, enviable comparison's to bands like Radiohead and Coldplay. Eric has recently branched out into music for film, creating original songs that will be featured in RECOVERING IRMA. He will supervise the selection of additional musicians and composers, aiding in the creation of the film's soundtrack. He is lending his library of tunes to a variety of short films and promo's that are in-the-works as well. Eric is honored to be meging his lifetime passion for music with the exciting visual medium of filmmaking. For information on Johnny Hi-Fi, check out www.johnnyhi-fi.com.

Raechel's first memories were looking at pictures; the book Family of Man and the Vietnam War on TV. Raised on Dektol in her father's darkroom she started shooting Tri-X at the age of 15 and has worked as a freelance photographer for over 20 years. She shares a studio with her father, John Running in Flagstaff, AZ and is an artist in residence with the Center for Casas Grandes Studies in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico. Raechel's work reflects concern for life cycles, people, nature, and the miracles expressed in everyday life. These visual musings celebrate life and death and the spiritual thread that connects us to our human experience and the landscape that exist beyond the current borderlands. Running's documentary and fine art photo based explorations are contemplative and symbolic reflections of her interests in social and environmental concerns. She aspires to show how our backyards are connected in expressions of visual poetry. www.raechelrunning.com

Matt Dick is a designer and creative director. His work in textile and clothing design, fashion branding, and product development has kept him involved in the Japanese market since 1997, although he is based in San Francisco. After eight years working for Tamotsu Yagi Design, he opened Matocreative, continuing to work in the areas of clothing and costume design, space design, and art direction. He is the creative director behind INTERNATIONALORANGE SPA and spent 2 years as guest faculty in the Design and Technology department of the San Francisco Art Institute. Currently he is the creative force behind the staff uniform, hotel shop concept and buyer for Bardessono, a modern luxury hotel, LEED certified at the platinum level for its green construction and sustainable operation. Other clients include Stanlee Gatti Designs, Bar Agricole, Blue Bottle Coffee Co., Various Projects NYC, KOI surf shop in Kobe Japan and French Choreographer Daria Fain of The Prosodic Body in New York. Most recently as of 2010 he is the founder of new company based in the spirit of collaboration, twelve sense media. Developed along a with a growing selection of creative individuals around the world working in the most elemental realm of the senses.

Jewelry designer Stacey Lorinczi began studying metalsmithing at age thirteen. Trained as a fine artist at Brown University, she continued to study jewelry throughout college. Upon graduation in 1995, she worked for Richard Fishman, designer of jewelry collections for Banana Republic, the Gap, Nordstrom and Ralph Lauren. In 2001, Stacey completed a course in jewelry design from London's prestigious Central St. Martins College of Art and Design. Stacey emerged from London with a deep appreciation for the cultural, historical and social significance of jewelry-- as well as for the humor, subversion, and eclecticism characteristic of British style. Upon returning to San Francisco in 2002, Stacey established Lorinczi Jewelry to merge British irreverence with her own refined, organic aesthetic. Stacey says her collections are also informed by her formal training as a fine artist: "In crafting a piece of jewelry, I create a vessel for my innermost aspirations and ideas. These objects then enable the wearer to communicate her own ambitions, observations, and desires. A beloved piece of jewelry serves as a talisman and communicates a personal identity." www.Lorinczi.com

Gilbert Salas :: Consultant

Born in El Paso, Texas, Gilbert's upbringing included a nurturing diet of films and television that culminated in a broad-based film career. Gilbert's work as a cinematographer/filmmaker has taken him all over the world and into many compelling and beautiful stories. In 1986, he began working behind the scenes on feature films, commercials, music videos and documentaries. He has shot various projects, such as Trudell, Sacred Sites, Quatauws and Storytellers of the Pacific (for PBS). This led to directing, where he made his mark on Sailing the Master Home, a documentary about Polynesian navigator Mau Pialung. Today, Gilbert is based in Los Angeles where he works, surfs and sails.

As a filmmaker, Alan has worked as a writer, director, and/or producer on projects ranging from HBO's award-winning, Rebound, starring Don Cheadle, Forrest Whitaker, and James Earl Jones; to, The Buddy Holly Story; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; and his current award-winning documentary, The Spiritual Revolution. He has recently finished two new documentaries, including Leimert Park, about a black cultural mecca in Los Angeles and Beisbol, the definitive look at Latin baseball, with narration by Andy Garcia. Beisbol recently won the Imagen Award for best feature-length documentary. Alan has also directed numerous music videos, commercials and is an esteemed academician and activist.

Originally from Washington, DC, Bunny's career includes years as a program marketing executive at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a national account executive for BBC Worldwide and, since 1989 as head of her own consulting company, TavaresMedia. Working closely with independent producers, her work includes program and project development, project management, contract negotiation, promotion, events management, talent tours, distribution, outreach/community engagement services and station relations. In addition to work in the broadcast industry, Bunny wears many other marketing and project management hats. She's involved with non-profit organizations, arts and cultural institutions and the wine industry. She makes her home on the Central Coast of California with her dog Patty and never gets tired of the coastal beauty.