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Profiles of the FilmmakersPhil Cox Phil produced and directed his first films in Scotland whilst based at the Edinburgh Film and Video Centre, also completing an honours degree in languages and literature at the University of Edinburgh. With a primary interest in documentary he created Native Voice Films with his brother in 1998. For the last 6 years he has worked both as a director and producer of broadcast and Indy documentaries as well as an award winning freelance news cameraman. Phil also teaches the Brunel University MA in Documentary and the MA in Visual Anthropology at Manchester University for DFG (www.dfglondon.com). He is fluent in Spanish and has lived and worked for a considerable period in Latin America. He has recently been filming at length in Iraq and Sudan. In 2004 he was the first filmmaker to film the Darfur conflict traveling with the SLA rebels and was awarded the 2004 Rory Peck Award for this work. Phil has a passion for his bicycle and chocolate cake.    Phil, Lisa, Ben
Rupert is the lecturer in Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester and Director of the MA programme at the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology. He has worked at length in the anthropology of visual culture, an area that was developed whilst working for the Royal Anthropological Institute. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Social Anthropology at Edinburgh University. His doctoral thesis on 'The Zen Arts - an anthropological study of the culture of aesthetic form' is published by Routledge Curzon Press. Rupert has worked extensively in Japan and apart from overseeing Native Voice projects is currently engaged in writing a history of the idea in the West that Japan is a 'copying culture' and a book about Orientalist Automata. Katia Saleh Katia Saleh has worked as a producer for the both UK terrestrial and
leading Arabic Satellite Channels and also for news organizations such
as APTN. Her interview list includes Jack Straw, James Baker, Arab League
Secretary General Amr Moussa, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq El Sharaa
and members of Hezbollah. Originally from Lebanon, Katia Saleh is now
based in London making film predominantly on the Middle East. She has
recently completed a film for BBC World Service on young girls in Saudi
Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Syria and their aspirations to the future.
She has co- produced and shot the critically acclaimed Channel 4 documentary,
Return to Basra and ITV's John McCarthy's Return to Lebanon. She was
an Associate Producer on the 2003 series ITV / Al-Arabia on the life
of Saddam Hussein. Katia's PHD is on the representation of Islam in
the Western media and she is currently in postproduction on her film
Blood and Beauty: 21st Century South Lebanon. Katia is fluent in Arabic,
English and French and has a passionate desire to become a Marseillaise
fisher-woman.   Katia, Christian
Lisa works as a producer camerawoman for Native Voice. Over the last four years, Lisa has worked with both video and film, producing acclaimed experimental and broadcast documentary films. Born in Lecce, Southern Italy, she came to London to study and work in photography. Lisa's background is extensive in the fashion and commercial photography industry, assisting various established photographers. In 2003 she has completed an MA in Fine Arts at S.Martins College of Arts and her photographic work, supported by grants from the Arts Council and awards, has been shown in London galleries as well as internationally. Lisa 'La Bella' is well known for an individual and unknown dance floor style that she has been perfecting for the last few years.
Sara has produced news and documentary films for broadcasters such as BBC, Channel 4 UK and PBS America. Her work includes the award winning films: The Runner, War Feels Like War, and Crisis in Darfur. She is the producer for Uyarra Films (www.uyarrafilms.co.uk) but over the last year produced Native Voice Films acclaimed reports from Sudan. Sara will be producing in 2005 the Native Voice Films / Uyarra Films co production of A Meeting With Death. She also works in the creative industries as a project manager and recently produced a major book and exhibition at the V&A on the history of advertising and design. Sara's secret passion is the history and culture of Yorkshire.    Esteban, Sarah, Shuti
Esteban is an award-winning director, editor and cinematographer of documentary films who has worked for several UK television channels, including the BBC. In 2002 he won Best International Documentary and Best Directorial Debut at the New York International Independent Film & Television Festival for his first documentary, The Runner. More recently his second documentary, War Feels Like War, has screened in festivals and on TV channels across the world and was nominated for the prestigious Grierson Awards. http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/warfeelslikewar/ Esteban also teaches with DFG for the Brunel University MA in Documentary Practice, and the MA in Visual Anthropology at Manchester University. He has been known to smoke over 200 cigarettes a day. Shruti Sharma Native Voicers are delighted to welcome Shruti Sharma, a filmmaker from New Delhi in India. Shruti is our talented producer in India. With a background in film studies and cinematography, Shruti is also graduate in English Literature, She has made numerous short films - which have won awards at Delhi film festivals and is now working in the fields of dpcumentary and educational films. She has a wealth of talents, from copywriting, scriptwriting for radio & stage shows. Shruti is soon to become a world famous musician, we often wonder if we can hear her singing and drumming here in London! Valeria Mapelman Valeria studied at the ‘Instituto de Artes y Communicacion’ (ARCOS) in Chile before moving to work in commercials and independent films. A highly experienced producer and cinematographer, she has worked extensively both in Chile and Argentina on numerous film and video projects. She has over five feature film credits as assistant director and her own works have regularly been part of the Latin American film festival circuit. Together with Philip, Valeria is living and working with the Mbya community, concentrating on developing stories with the women of the community.    Valeria, Diego and Lisa, Katia Ben Stark Ben Stark Ben has worked for the last 12 years across many creative fields from theatre, music, photography and film - often incorporating all into a single project. Over the past 5 years Ben has primarily been a freelance film and television editor based in London with occasional forays into the world of commercial photography and directing. Ben has been working editing long form premier strand documentaries for various leading UK and international broadcasters. He was the producer/editor for the 4 year work of We Are the Indians. Diego Haase Diego from Buenos Aires represents the New Wave of young directors to emerge from Argentina's invigorated and highly acclaimed social cinema. He comes to Native Voice primarily to work on experimental projects and strengthen our ties with Latin America and its filmmakers. After directing A Place for Siegmar with Native Voice Films in London, Diego is now in Brazil directing Modernity Brazilian Style for completion in 2005. Christian Bitsch Christian studied photography at l'I.N.S.A.V, The National School of Visual Arts in Brussels, Belgium. Interested primarily in photography as a social and individual portrait, his work has concentrated on the personal and the image as a glimpse into the human condition. His four exhibitions are 'Age', portraits from an 'old people's home', 'Misha's Ukraine', an intimate insight into the life of a Ukrainian shoemaker and his family, 'Refuge Liban', highlighting the plight of Palestinian refugees and 'The Fishermen', a series of written and photographic stories of the lives of young Cuban fishermen with text written by Philip Cox. Christian has worked extensively in the documentary world, both with the still and the moving image. He has worked as an editor in France and Belgium and recently finished a short fiction film in Japan. He most recent work was the documentary Borsch in Buenos Aires, produced by Native Voice Films. Christian's other interests include Napoleon, and Lebanese cooking. |