PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Norah Shapiro left a rewarding career as a public defender in 2002 to pursue the adventures and challenges of documentary filmmaking. In 2006, her short film “A Sacred Heart,” profiling Minnesota poet Phebe Hanson, won the Minnesota History Center’s Greatest Generation Film Festival’s “Emerging Filmmaker” Award. In 2009, her documentary “If You Dare” about a Minneapolis Theater Company that works with at-risk children premiered at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. She has been commissioned to make multiple short documentaries, and is producing a documentary about post-war Bosnia, “Hotel Hidajet.” In July, 2008, she was awarded a Jerome Foundation Film/Video grant to support the production of Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile, and was recently awarded a 2011 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant to assist with funding the return to Dharamsala, India for the 10th anniversary of the Miss Tibet Pageant this spring to complete production on Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile.
PRODUCER: Kelly Nathe is a writer/producer who has worked on documentaries for Public Interest Pictures, Michael Moore, Granada UK & USA, as well as docu-series for US cable, including A&E, MTV, VH1, Discovery, and TLC. She is the recipient of several filmmaking grants, including Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board, and the General Mills Foundation. Her short documentary “Hotel Hidajet,” about life in post-war Bosnia, received awards at South by Southwest (SXSW) and Slamdance Film Festivals and was broadcast on PBS. Kelly studied filmmaking at Minneapolis College of Art & Design and is currently in production on a feature-length follow-up to “Hotel Hidajet.”
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ronny Novak, our Dharamsala-based cameraman has focused his work on Tibet through since 1991. His award-winning documentary “Strange Spirit: One Country’s Occupation” has been used in programming with the International Documentary Association and Stanford University’s film program. He founded his own video production company, 10 Directions and traveled to India in 2004 at the request of the Dalai Lama to film stories of exiled Tibetans. He is a regular member of film crews for the Dalai Lama’s teachings and has edited and produced these teachings for the public. Ronny does Dharamsala-based video production, and has produced video on current Tibetan affairs for the BBC and for Nickelodeon.
CO-PRODUCER: Lisa Blackstone, owner of Blackstone Productions is an Emmy-nominated director/producer/writer/editor and documentary maker based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her documentary “Polka Time” aired nationally on the acclaimed PBS/ITVS series Independent Lens. Her television work has been seen nationally on PBS and several cable networks including Animal Planet, HGTV, and MSNBC. Lisa’s new short documentary about girls’ competitive wrestling, “Grappling Girls“, was shown at the prestigious Lunafest in San Francisco. Currently, she is producing a documentary for Twin Cities Public Television about architect Clarence Johnston.
