Matt Osterman – Writer/Director
Matt has written and directed numerous short films, produced a documentary executive produced by Jon Stewart, written a handful of feature scripts, and worked on countless other independent films. His movies have played at festivals all over the country and has been lucky enough to work with Emmy and Academy Award winners. He’s had projects broadcast on SpikeTV and printed in National Geographic Magazine. Phasma Ex Machina will be his feature film directorial debut.
Jennifer Kramer – Producer
Jennifer comes from a documentary film background and has produced corporate, commercial and independent films. Her work ranges from documenting the Inupiat Eskimo in remote regions of Alaska for the National Park Service to producing an independent narrative film aired on Bravo. She is also a Photojournalist and her recent show, Hurricane Katrina: Through the Eyes of a Relief Worker, has been exhibited at local galleries, colleges and universities.
Adam Honzl – Director of Photography
Adam, a graduate of the prestigious American Film Institute in Los Angeles, holds an MFA in Cinematography from AFI as well as a BS in Cinema Production from Ithaca College. His AFI Thesis film, “Wilbur” recently won the Showtime Latin Filmmakers’ Contest (for director Dago Rodriguez) and a subsequent grant to make another film for Showtime. He also recently shot a short film with a grant from HBO, which will be making the rounds in high profile festivals around the country. “Wilbur” will also be screening this April in the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. He currently splits his time between LA and MN.
Xris Frank – Production Designer
Xris (a.k.a. Chris Frank) brings over 15 years of Artistic Filmmaking to the team. He has worked as an Art Director for 2 year on a string of major National TV Commercials and several Paris Fashion Runway Shows. Xris burst into the film world on the 20th Century Fox Feature “The Crucible” with Daniel Day Lewis, Joan Allen and Winona Ryder. Since then Xris has had a wide variety of Film and TV experience from Indie-Features to MTV shows. Besides Production- Designing and Art-Directing, Xris has an Interior Design business based In Santa Monica, CA, his own Production Company in Beverly Hills, and to this day continues to maintain strong relations in the Art world.
Ben van Santen – Production Manager
Ben is a graduate of the London Film School where he worked on many films as Producer, Writer/Director, and Camera Operator (among other things). His senior film “Water Fight” recently won a Best Screenplay award at Cinefest – a local film festival. He’s currently concentrating on revising a feature screenplay or writing a new one (he hasn’t decided yet) while staying busy on local productions.
Matthew Feeney – Casting Director
Matthew Feeney is the owner of Walden Entertainment, which specializes in Principle Casting and Extras Casting/Wrangling for Midwest based independent films. His credits include extras casting for Factotum and Nobody and casting director for Fall Into Me, Icebreaker, Stimulus, and many more. Matthew is also an accomplished actor with well over three hundred movie & television credits, including the title characters in The Hula King and Jim Speedwalker and more recently in the role of Harry Berglund in Factotum with Matt Dillon.
Kerry Armbruster – 2nd Assistant Camera
Kerry will be graduating from the MCTC film program with an emphasis in cinematography this spring. She also works as a production assistant for the local non-profit, TV By Girls and completed an internship with MGM last fall.
Johnathan Mohs – Production Sound
Jonathan is a sound designer/engineer and the co-owner of Seamlessound, a sound production company. He recently graduated from the Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis with an emphasis in audio post production for film and is now active in the local independent film and television community. His credits including location recording, sound design, (broadcast) mixing, and production assistance on a handful of short films and television shows.
Benjamin Allison – Production Sound
Ben got his start as an announcer at KBEM jazz 88.5 in Minneapolis. He has been a DJ for events, live sound engineer and producer. Once deciding to make a career out of it he attended the Institute of Production and Recording. Currently his is the co-owner of Seamlessound and a sound designer/ engineer. He has worked on various film and audio projects covering many different jobs in the world of sound.
Thomas Brighton – Property Master
Under the moniker Joey Diamond, Thomas recorded an album and played a solo acoustic act around Minneapolis. But with a background in painting, drawing, photography, music and writing it was only a matter of time before he went to film school. Music slightly on the back burner, he will be graduating with a focus on “everything I can” from the MCTC film and screenwriting programs next spring. He has written, produced, and directed a few short films in and out of school and recently worked for the art department on the local production “Into Temptation”. Thomas has written several short scripts and is currently working on two feature length screenplays…and another album.
Jon Thomas – Co-Producer/Title Designer
Jon Thomas has worked as a designer and filmmaker for the past ten years. He is Founder and Creative Director of Studio Collective, Inc a motion graphic and new media design company. While employed at Big Fim Design! NYC, Jon worked on notable projects such as Robert Altman’s The Company, Prey for Rock N Roll, Analyze That, Max and Grace, and Chicago. Jon’s work on the main title sequence for Joel & Ethan Coen’s Intolerable Cruelty earned him a 2004 Art Director’s Club, Silver Award. He also was a title designer for the HBO mini-series Angels in America which received an Emmy nomination for Title Design.
Dhruv Hemmady – Intern
Dhruv Hemmady is a recent graduate of the Blake School. He has taken classes in Film Noir and Film Studies at the University of Minnesota and at Yale University this past summer. He is currently working on an independent study on film auteurs. He plans to attend the University of Chicago this fall majoring in economics and cinema studies.
Ryan Thompson – Gaffer
Andrew Melby – Camera Assistant
Julie Scott – Wardrobe
Matthew Larson – Graphic Design
Brooke Lemke – Production Assitant
Sigrid Tornquist – Executive Producer
Christine Zonneveld – Executive Producer
Bob Griffin – Executive Producer
Darin Heinis – Supervising Sound Editor/5.1 Mixer
