Esther podemski

Podemski is a visual artist who produced and directed House of the World, a documentary film about the aftermath of the Holocaust. Shot in Poland, it screened in Europe and traveled throughout the United States with the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Discovery Communication purchased the film for national broadcast. The film also screened at Lincoln Center and in the LA International Jewish Film Festival, as well as at numerous colleges.

As a painter, Podemski has exhibited in the Pacific Northwest and in New York City. She is represented in private and public collections and at the Margaret Thatcher Project Gallery in New York City. She has won a painting fellowship from the New York State Council on the Arts and participated in the Yaddo, Ucross and Virginia Center For The Creative Arts residency programs. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Parsons School of Design in New York and at Sarah Lawrence College.

Her second documentary, The Peasant and the Priest, tells the story of two men in their eighties who are engaged in traditional occupations in modern day Italy. Other media projects include 5 Days in July; a two-screen projection that revisits the Newark riots of 1967. This film has exhibited at numerous museums, galleries, and festivals. Her drawings were recently exhibited at the Oregon Jewish Museum in a show entitled “Collecting Forward” New Works by Oregon Jewish Artists”. Her painting will also be included in an exhibition at the Portland Art Museum entitled To Gather Your Leaving, opening in conjunction with the inauguration of the new Rothko Pavilion late 2025. In September 2027 she will exhibit paintings in a two-person show at the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation in New York City.

CHUCK SCHULTZ

Schultz‘s credits include:

Co-Director/Producer: When My Sleeping Dragon Woke, a veteran actor sets out to write a play of her fairytale like childhood living in a NYC public library but revisiting the past brings an unforeseen cost. Winner Best Premiere Feature Documentary at the Heartland International Film Festival. Other festivals included: The Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, Sedona International Film Festival, Chagrin Documentary Film Festival and an International Documentary Association DocuClub selection.

Director/Producer: The Last Crop, an aging farm couple’s struggle to ensure their farm’s future personalizes a story echoed across our nation.

Co-Director/Co-Producer: 5 Days in July presents dueling images and observations of news reels, government officials and black citizens interviews collide during Newark, New Jersey’s 1967 Riot/Rebellion.

Director/Co-Producer: Five Days in July, the NPR drama written by screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson weaves a Black disc jockey playlist with actual events to recapture the near destruction of an American city. A PRX’s Zeitfunk Award Winner.

Director/Producer: The Rural Studio (ITVS and CPB co-production) architect Samuel Mockbee and his Auburn University students build one of a kind homes and community spaces for predominately black clients only a generation or two removed from slavery. Aired on PBS. Exhibited in The Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2002 Biennial, the Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture (2006) and museums worldwide.

Co-Producer: A Day at a Time reveals the enduring strength of parental love as immigrant parents raise twin girls diagnosed with cerebral palsy in New York City. Broadcast in Canada, throughout Europe, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, and the Middle East. Winner: The Heartland Film Festival’s Crystal Heart Award and a Chris Award from the Columbus International Film festival.

Grantors include: ITVS, NEA, New York Foundation for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the New Jersey and Alabama Humanities.

Judah-Lev Dickstein

Judah-Lev Dickstein is a documentary editor whose work has won Emmys, crashed streaming services, and appeared in festivals and theaters across the world. A lifelong non-sports fan who found himself loving his specialty in sports documentaries, Judah always tries to tell stories from the character out, emphasizing personal stakes and emotion. His latest released work—an exciting step away from athletics—was the two episodes he cut on the smash hit series Taylor Swift: The End of an Era, which follows the megastar as she wraps up her history-making concert tour.

Other selected credits include Super League: The War For Football, the Emmy-award-winning Apple+ show about a billion-dollar drama playing out in European Football; ESPN 30 for 30’s Dude Perfect: A Very Long Shot about the international-blockbuster YouTube trick shot stars; Axios on HBO, the Emmy-award-winning news magazine show featuring interviews with kingmakers and titans of industry; and The Art of the Steal, a feature doc about the plundering of the great Barnes Foundation. His very first job was assistant editing for the legendary Barbara Kopple on Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing, and he’s been loving the world of documentaries ever since.

He’s married, has two sons, earned his MFA at Columbia University, and was once on an episode of Project Runway.