ANDREA KALIN - Producer and Director

Award-winning director and producer Andrea Kalin's films bring to life stories of courage, perseverance and dignity in the face of grinding injustice. Some, like "Prince Among Slaves," dramatize lives that have until now been lost to history; others address contemporary social issues. As president and founder of Spark Media, Kalin has employed trailblazing methods of communication to promote social change. Her multimedia firm specializes in creating programs that increase awareness among cultures. Kalin has received critical acclaim for her stylized approach, garnering more than 50 major awards for her work: including a Primetime Emmy, Paul Robeson Award, Erik Barnouw Award, EdPress Awards of Distinction, Gold and Silver UNESCO medals, and numerous Chris, CINE, Gracie Awards.

Kalin's recently completed projects include: Partners of the Heart, narrated by Morgan Freeman, and winner of the 2004 Erik Barnouw Award for Best History Documentary; The Pact, which won Best Documentary at the Boston International Film Festival, and was acquired by NBPC for APTV distribution; and Prince Among Slaves, narrated by Mos Def, and winner of numerous industry awards including Best Documentary Feature at the American Black Film Festival, the Paul Robeson Award, a Gold Medal at the World Media Festival, CINE and Telly Awards, and others. Prince Among Slaves recently aired on PBS. In the fall, her first comedy special, Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert will be theatrically released in 17 cities. She is currently the Executive Producer and Director of the NEH-funded feature-length documentary, Soul of a People: WPA Writers Uncover Depression America.
[ Back to top ]

BILL DUKE - Executive Producer

Bill Duke, also known as an actor, has been acclaimed for his direction of a variety of feature films, including A Rage in Harlem, The Cemetery Club, Sister Act 2, and the crime drama Hoodlum, starring Laurence Fishburne. For television, Duke directed the CableAce winner, The Boy Who Painted Christ Black, as well as episodes of New York Undercover, Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Miami Vice, and Dallas. He was nominated for an Emmy for his direction of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun on PBS. Other public television projects include Deacons for Defense for Showtime and The Killing Floor for American Playhouse, and The Meeting, nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Bill Duke is now producing and directing independent projects and content for multiple platforms. These projects serve to focus on morality and redemption and emphasize cultural history and family values.
[ Back to top ]

PAULA HEREDIA - Editor

Paula Heredia is a New York-based editor and director. She won an Emmy Award for her work on the HBO documentary In Memoriam, NYC 9/11/01, and the American Cinema Editors Artistic Achievement Award for the celebrated Miramax documentary, Unzipped. Heredia's documentary The Couple in the Cage staring Guillermo Gomez- was selected for the 1994 Lincoln Center's New York Film Festival. She also directed the documentaries George Plimpton and the Paris Review and Ralph Gibson-Photographer and Bookmaker. Her editorial credits include: Finding Christa, winner of the 1992 Sundance Jury Award for best documentary was selected for the New Films/New Directors at the Museum of Modern Art New York; The American Heroes Series created by fashion photographer Arthur Elgort; Colorado Cowboy, winner of the cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994; Modulations Cinema for the Ear, a Sundance Film Festival premier; and I Remember Me, winner at the 2000 Hamptons Film Festival; and for HBO, Life After Life, The Vagina Monologues, and The Best of America Undercover. Heredia teaches workshops on filmmaking throughout the Americas and serves on the board of directors of New York Women in Film and Television. In 2004, Heredia launched Cinema Digital, a program that educates emerging filmmakers in Central America on the aesthetics and technology of making films with digital video.
[ Back to top ]

BRYAN SARKINEN - Director of Photography

Bryan Sarkinen is a New York-based Director of Photography. In addition to his duties on The Pact, Sarkinen was the lead cinematographer on Too Brief a Child: Voices of Married Adolescents, a United Nations Population Fund project that took him and producers to Bangladesh, Yemen, and Burkina Faso. A double major in Film and Journalism from New York University, Sarkinen evolved his first television show called The Final Cut". The program aired on colleges all over the United States and featured interviews with actors and directors such as Robert Duvall, Dario Argento, Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris.
[ Back to top ]

MARCUS MILLER - Composer, Original Score

Acclaimed composer and music producer Marcus Miller has been a fixture on the music scene for over twenty years, composing feature film scores for movies as varied as Breakin All the Rules, Head of State, Above the Rim, and Boomerang. Miller was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction for his work on "Black Sunday". Very early in his career, Miller became a fixture in the New York jazz clubs at a very young age and gained steady work with several veteran musicians such as David Grusin, Earl Klugh, Chaka Kahn, and one his personal heroes, Miles Davis. Over the years, Miller has also had much success as a music producer and writer, including a long relationship with R&B legend, Luther Vandross, which included the songs, "Over Now" and the Grammy Award winning The Power of Love". Miller's solo work, featuring fusions of R&B, funk, and jazz has been just as well received. Most recently, his M2 album won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.
[ Back to top ]

DAVID ISAAC - Co-composer, Original Score

Veteran music producer and composer David Isaac has partnered with Marcus Miller on numerous projects over the years, including the Grammy-Award winning M2 album and the Grammy-nominated Marcus Miller's Tales". As an associate producer and/or mix consultant, Isaac has worked on Two Can Play That Game, The Great White Hype, Ladies Man, The Brothers, and Deliver Us From Eva. Isaac is versed in almost every genre, from pop music to hip hop, R&B, gospel, and jazz, and has worked as a programmer and engineer for artists as varied as Eric Clapton, Madonna, R. Kelly, Bette Midler, Luther Vandross, Puff Daddy, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, and Wayne Shorter. He won Grammy's for co-producing David Sanborn's Inside" and Wayne Shorter's Highlife".
[ Back to top ]

ASHLEY CULP - Executive Music Producer

Music Supervisor Ashley Culp is the Senior Director of Strategic Marketing at the Universal Music Group of Vivendi Universal. During his time at Universal, Culp helped to create strategic marketing plans for internationally acclaimed artists such as Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, B.B. King, Rob Zombie, Donna Summer, and Prince. His work on the Motown Brand at Universal included cross-promotional specials with major networks such as ABC, NBC, and USA, and a vast brand licensing strategy that extended the brand into a vast number of consumer products and platforms. Culp's work with Motown also led to the creation of Motown's Webby-nominated website. Ashley is also a veteran songwriter, pianist, and composer, having created scores for The District" on CBS and the feature, Thirteen Moons, starring Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Beals.
[ Back to top ]

DONDI BASTONE - Music Supervisor

Having first cut his teeth on Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty over a decade ago, Bastone has since supervised music for more than thirty film and television projects, including Sideways and Election for director Alexander Payne, Ed Harris's decade-long labor of love and directorial debut, Pollack, writer-director-star Matt Dillon's City of Ghosts and The Human Stain for Oscar winning writer/director Robert Benton. His other credits include the films Home Fries, The Big Empty, The Crew, No Vacancy, The Sex Monster, Pornucopia for HBO, and the Emmy-winning documentary series American High and its follow-up Freshman Diaries.
[ Back to top ]

SILVIA R. HOLMES - Producer

Silvia Holmes is an experienced field producer with over twenty years experience in radio and television. After graduating from Howard University, Silvia went on to work with Spark Media on Partners of the Heart. As an independent producer, she has worked on award-winning productions with PBS, Discovery, and Discovery Health. She is also a member of the non-denomination Family Life Christian Church, where she has been a staple of the choir for several years.
[ Back to top ]

KAYLYN DINES - Field Producer

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Kaylyn Kendall Dines joined the Spark team as field producer and coordinator for The Pact. Currently a publicist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), she has written articles that have been published in local and national publications including: The Courier News, a Gannett Newspaper in Bridgewater, N.J.; The New York Amsterdam News; Black Enterprise magazine; and VIBE magazine. In 2000, Kaylyn completed two fellowship programs: Leadership Newark, Inc., a two-year fellowship designed for civic-minded professionals; and Project Leadership, a personal and professional development fellowship that was launched by the United Way of Essex and West Hudson Counties, in Newark.
[ Back to top ]

LLOYD "RAKI" JONES - Consulting Producer

Raki Jones is an award-winning independent producer and writer who joined the team at Spark Media to work on the The Pact. His other work for Spark Media includes the NEH-funded Prince Among Slaves, which is slated for broadcast in Fall 2006. In addition to winning numerous awards for various projects, Raki was also nominated for an Emmy for his work on The Colored Cyclone in 1995. Raki is also a professor at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia.
[ Back to top ]

DENISE COUTURE - Consulting Producer

Denise Couture has been a creative consultant at Spark Media for several years and worked as development director for Partners of the Heart. Also an independent producer, Denise is co-producing Invisible: Abbott Thayer and the Art of Camouflage with Pamela Peabody for PBS. After earning a master's degree from Columbia University's journalism school, Denise worked as a reporter for 15 years, covering Wall Street and international business before trading the world of print journalism for documentaries. In addition to her film work, Denise spends her time teaching feature writing at The Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
[ Back to top ]