Film Team

Director

Director | Editor
Olga Lvoff is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a member of The European Film Academy. Her recent feature documentary, BUSY INSIDE aired on PBS (“America Reframed” slot) and was featured in The New York Times. It premiered at Moscow International Film Festival and won the Audience Award for the Best Feature at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. It was theatrically released in over 30 theaters in Russia: in a few theaters the release lasted for over 3 months. Olga’s previous full-length documentary film, WHEN PEOPLE DIE THEY SING SONGS was broadcast on NHK (Japan), theatrically released in Russia (Documentary Film Center in Moscow), participated in festivals around the world including DOC NYC (New York) and Message to Man (St.-Petersburg). It was nominated for Student Oscar and won CINE Golden Eagle Award. The film was also featured in The New York Times. Olga’s editing work has been shown at ARTE channel, Tribeca Film Festival and Lincoln Center. Olga leads film workshops in Columbia University and Hunter College in New York, her recent presentations include Yale University and Georgetown University. Olga Lvoff received an MFA in Social Documentary from the School of Visual Arts in 2013. 


Producers

Producer

Amy Sewell, American writer, artist and filmmaker, is best known for the award-winning and audience-favorite MAD HOT BALLROOM (Paramount Classics, 2005) – which is currently in development as a Broadway musical. Amy’s directorial debut was WHAT'S YOUR POINT, HONEY? (NYC-TV Ch.25, iTunes, Amazon.com, 2008) followed by documentary short BLINDSPOT (U.S. Dept. of Education/Association for the Blind/YouTube, 2010) and then documentary short, GOOD MUSLIM GIRLS, about two young defiant Iraqi women which only went to festivals (2015; live audiences only, no filming) and purposefully, not released (to never endanger the subjects’ lives). A published author, her books include The Mad Hot Adventures of a Documentary Filmmaker (Hyperion, 2007) and She's Out There!  The Next Generation of Presidential Candidates (LifeTime Media, 2009). Her debut fiction novel, Pocket8s launched January 2022. Her second, The Hole in the Rabbit, will be published early 2024. Sewell is a member of NYWIFT, The Girls Club and The Gotham (formerly IFP).

 

Producer

Stephanie Troise Walter, Reel Works Co-Founder, Executive Producer @The Studio @ Reel Works - a unique non-profit that trains the next generation of filmmakers, is an award-winning writer, producer and director whose credits include television, film, radio and theater.  Stephanie holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University, where she  has won numerous grants in investigating new modes  of theater -  including the Environments Project, and the Rogue Reading Series, as well as American Narratives of Race and Justice.  She is also an Emmy  nominated writer/producer.   Stephanie  is currently the Executive Producer and Director of The Studio@Reel Works.  The Studio@ Reel Works first feature film, 72 HOURS A BROOKLYN LOVE STORY, was a jury selection at The New Orleans  Film Festival, and their first feature documentary, NATIONAL PARK DIARIES, screened at film festivals and National Parks across the country. She has been directing and producing two independent films -one of which is her first narrative short.

Executive Producers

Executive Producer

Bethany Menzies, co-founder of The Ready Foundation ("Ready"), is a hands-on philanthropist based in Manhattan. Since 2012, Ready has worked across the 5 boroughs improving the lives of at-risk youth, adults in need, and those who move them forward. Having been formally partnered with Gibney since 2016 and Reel Works since 2020, she is honored to support the transformative work of this documentary. Bethany earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The Pennsylvania State University, and an Executive Development Program Sponsored Certificate from Columbia Business School. 


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Executive Producer

John C. Williams, Reel Works Co-Founder & Executive Director, is an award-winning film and television writer, producer and director whose credits include independent shorts, features, documentaries, television programming and corporate communications. Prior to founding Reel Works, John created original television for WNET/Thirteen, Oxygen, WE: Women’s Television and Metro Channels. John has produced numerous major market television commercials and independent films. John holds an MFA in Film & Television from New York University and a BA in English from Boston University.  He is currently writing his first novel.  


Associate Producer

Associate Producer

Liam Mejia Moran, Deputy Director of Digital Media at Gibney Company (Former Studio Manager, The Studio at Reel Works). He got his first taste of filmmaking at the age of 15, directing a coming-of-age short Journey to the Unknown with Reel Works. The film screened at Tribeca Film Festival’s 2006 Our City, My Story. Liam was featured in Latina Magazine as an influential young filmmaker to watch. Liam’s personal focus is on highlighting stories about the Latinx and LGBTQ communities in NYC. He is currently working on two LGBTQ+ Documentaries called Not So Different and Vivo Por Yo. He is a member of the first LGBTQ+ group to be created in Staten Island L’unicorns:  a Latinx LGBTQ+ community whose aim is to create a safe space for the LGBTQ+ Latinx community centered on the voices of Trans women in Staten Island.

Reel Works Workforce Junior Producer 

Marvin Hernandez is an aspiring filmmaker that wants to meet new faces, learn new skills and have a blast in the process. Marvin left college with no degree or any marketable skills. As a first generation American, this was suicide. Desperately he began trying to learn marketable skills without a career path in mind. Through the connection of a non-profit organization, Marvin applied to a filmmaking program at Reel Works where a newfound interest sparked. During his fellowship at Reel Works he produced four student films, directed and designed multiple projects as well as made connections with outside movie studios and assisted with their productions. For him this is only the beginning. 

Cinematography

Cinematographer

Daniel Kharlak is a cinematographer from Brooklyn, NY. He is a 2008 graduate of the Reel Works Documentary Lab and received his BFA in film from SUNY Purchase in 2013. His directorial work has been shown in major film festivals and on television. He has shot over a dozen short films in the last decade in both narrative and non-fiction. He is also a full-time camera technician at a major rental house where he provides technical assistance to filmmakers and production companies.  Daniel is a graduate of Reel Works class of 2007.  Additional camera by Mitchell Davis, Bill Lukas Marian, and Charles Reynoso.

Reel Works Workforce Assistant Camera

Greg Joblove is a 16 year old creative based in New York City. Greg creates videos, does VFX, and takes pictures. He became interested in cinematography and photography about five years ago, and since then it has fully occupied his free time. Most of Greg’s time is spent around the city with his friends, taking photos and making movies. He loves helping others tell their stories in a way that is captivating and entertaining and is infinitely rewarding.

Reel Works Workforce Assistant Camera

Sixteen year old Jesus Luna is a 2019 graduate of the Reel Works documentary program where he produced Under the Sun, a film that explores the relationship between religion and science play sleep paralysis. Jesus is currently writing his first narrative short film in the Reel Works Narrative Lab. After enrolling in Reel Works doc lab, Jesus fell in love with the art of storytelling, and continues to expand his passion of filmmaking about an artist who faces physiological traumas. 

Assistant Editor

Assistant Editor

Bronx-born Gerson Legend is currently an editor at Showtime. With a love for giving back to his community, he was also a Reel Works Teaching Artist in the NYC public school system. Gerson jumped into the film industry as a linear editor with music videos and documentaries, after a decade in other industries including sports photography, interior landscape, and butchering. Additionally, Gerson works with non-for-profits like Greyston Bakery and Fathers Forward INC. creating video content to drive awareness to their causes. When Gerson isn’t creating or helping others, he is playing sports and training for the 2024 NYC marathon.

Reel Works Workforce Junior Editor
Xander B, a film editor based in New York, has worked with Reel Works as a student film  fellow for the past two years. Involved in award-winning films about Ridgewood Savings Bank, ABC Get Reel With Your Dreams, and Scholastic, Xander B has been editing film since middle school. Currently a Freshman in college, his passion for film editing and film production has only increased. Xander B intends to continue to focus on film studies in college and pursue his dream to work in the film industry upon graduation.  

Reel Works Workforce Junior Editor

Maya Velazquez is a high school student in Brooklyn, New York. Last year, she participated in the Reel Works Documentary Lab. She created a short documentary called "Normal Family."  The documentary is about her two moms and how she discovered their coming out stories for the first time. This year, she is in the Reel Works Narrative Lab. She is creating a short film that follows a homeless man named Cory. He has to decide what he values in life after having a small interaction with a stranger. In addition, she is currently a Youth Producer at Reel Works. She is responsible for interviewing alumni about their careers after being a part of the Reel Works programs. She likes to edit short videos and she looks forward to learning more about the film industry.  

Sound

Sound
Jonathan Lau is a New York City based Production Sound Mixer and Boom Operator. He has worked on everything from commercials, documentaries, and music videos, to TV shows and movies for the past six years. His last feature was as an additional Boom Operator for the New York Unit on Lulu Wang's The Farewell. 

Post Production Manager
Stephen Czaja is a New York City-based producer, editor, and educator, and currently works as the Studio Producer at Reel Works. During his five years as a public school film teacher, Stephen developed a robust film curriculum spanning grades 3-8 that involved students in the creation of projects like traditional cel animations, stop-motion films, music videos, and narrative short films. He has been editing professionally since 2015 and his work includes The Short Goodbye, which was screened at the 2019 New York Shorts International Film Festival. In 2017, Stephen co-founded the nonprofit REÍR, with the aim of bringing extracurricular opportunities to underserved youth both domestically and abroad - in particular, children in Guatemala. Stephen graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Ethics from Emory University and he received an M.A. in Media Studies from The New School. 

Post Production Mixing / Sound Design
Garret Harkawik is a documentary filmmaker and composer living in southern Vermont. Since 2010 he has made over two dozen short documentaries which have been screened at festivals such DOC NYC, Rooftop Films and selected as Vimeo Staff Picks. His most recent film is "This Temporal World" which is about Khalil Abu-Rayyan, a muslim American who repeatedly fell in love with FBI agents sent to surveil him. 

Still photographer: Lauren Menzies