The Filmmakers
Husband and wife team, MARCIA JARMEL and KEN SCHNEIDER founded PatchWorks Films in 1994 and have since made award-winning films for public television, film festivals, museums, community centers, public libraries, and educational institutions worldwide. Their collaborations include: the Kroll funded, THE RETURN OF SARAH’S DAUGHTERS (American Public Television), and BORN IN THE U.S.A. (Independent Lens, PBS) and several shorts. Their most recent project, SPEAKING IN TONGUES, (Audience Award, San Francisco International) played in festivals from Mumbai to Guangzhou, New York to San Francisco, on a city wall in Oakland, and on PBS.
In addition to co-directing, co-producing, and editing PatchWorks’ films, Schneider has edited 30 feature‐length documentaries for other filmmakers that have been recognized by an Emmy, a Peabody, a Columbia-Dupont, an Indie Spirit, top awards at Sundance and other major festival awards, and been nominated for an Oscar and additional Emmys. Noteworthy projects include: SOFT VENGEANCE, HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG, A FIERCE GREEN FIRE, THE GOOD WAR AND THOSE WHO REFUSED TO FIGHT IT, RALPH ELLISON: AN AMERICAN JOURNEY, STORE WARS, SCHOOL COLORS, and BOLINAO 52.
Jarmel also consults with social issue filmmakers on their engagement and outreach campaigns, both independently and for Working Films.
Jarmel and Schneider have two sons and live in San Francisco. Their older son, Mica, is featured in HAVANA CURVEBALL, their fourth feature documentary collaboration.
Creative Team
MARC SMOLOWITZ (Executive Producer): An Academy Award® nominated film, TV & new media producer, and executive producer with 20+ years of experience with powerful social issue filmmaking. Marc spearheaded the successful engagement campaign with the film, “Power of Two.”
RICHARD BEGGS (Sound Design & Mix Consultant) a sound designer and mixer for more than 60 feature films, has worked with Francis Coppola, Barry Levinson, Sophia Coppola, Alfonso Cuarón and other major directors. He won an Academy Award for sound for Apocalypse Now and has received five Golden Reel sound nominations. He designed and mixed Avon Kirkland’s Ralph Ellison, which Ken edited, and consulted on several of PatchWorks’ previous films.
ROBERTO CHILE (Principal Cinematographer, Cuba) is Cuba’s pre-eminent documentary cinematographer, working on hundreds of films for ABC, CBS, NBC, and the Discovery Channel in the U.S.; NHK and TV Asahi in Japan; and Canal Arte in France; along with producing internationally acclaimed films for Cuban TV.
ANDY BLACK (Principal Cinematographer, U.S.) is an award-winning cinematographer who has been shooting documentary, short, and feature films for the past fifteen years. His work has been broadcast on AMC, PBS, MTV, BBC, ARD, Channel 4, and Discovery and honored at the Sundance, San Francisco, and Berlin International film festivals. Recent credits include Sicko, The Weather Underground, Scout’s Honor, and Self-Made Man.
BILL WEBER (Co-Editor) cut his editing teeth with a broadcast Emmy, an MTV Music Video of the Year, and a successful career in commercial work. He edited The Cockettes, and We Were Here: The AIDS years in San Francisco, of which the New York Times said, “Of all the cinematic explorations of the AIDS crisis, not one is more heartbreaking and inspiring.” Other recent work includes the Academy Award nominated documentary, The Final Inch, the Emmy nominated films Last Letter Home and Alzheimer’s Caregivers for HBO, and the Telluride premiering documentary feature Hats Off.
NATHANIEL DORSKY (Consulting Editor) is a world-renowned experimental filmmaker who has served as editing consultant on many acclaimed documentaries. Of recent note, Ballets Russes, Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America, Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles, and Regret to Inform. Nathaniel worked with PatchWorks on The Return of Sarah’s Daughters, Born in the U.S.A., and Speaking in Tongues.
LAURIE COYLE (Writer) is a filmmaker and writer whose documentary OROZCO: Man of Fire aired on the PBS American Masters series. Laurie has consulted on dozens of documentaries, including the PBS broadcast Mr. Cao Goes to Washington, The Bonesetter's Daughter, Jake Shimabukuro-Life on Four Strings and The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers’ Struggle, as well as PatchWorks Films’ Speaking in Tongues.
WILL STORKSON (Sound Mix & Design, Composer) a musician, composer, and jack of many sound trades. Will has foley and sound editor credits on more than 100 feature and documentary films, including Lost in Translation, Adaptation, and King's Point.
VICENTE FRANCO (Cinematographer) was a 2003 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary and Emmy nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Daughter from Danang, winner of the Sundance Film Festival 2002 Grand Jury Prize. Vicente is a veteran Director of Photography with credits on numerous films including 3 Academy Award nominees: The Barber of Birmingham (2012), The Most Dangerous Man in America (2010), and Freedom on my Mind (1994).
VIVIEN HILLGROVE (Consulting Editor) in addition to her noteworthy credits on feature films such as Blue Velvet, Henry and June, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Hillgrove has brought her artful touch to the editing of some of the most critically-acclaimed documentaries of the past decades, including In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee, The Devil Never Sleeps, and Ella es el Matador.
Support Team
Executive Producer
Marc Smolowitz
Fiscal Sponsors
Center for Independent Documentary
San Francisco Film Society
Accounting
Marlena Weinstein
Bookkeeping
Denise Donovan
Distribution Manager
Andy Moore
Fundraising Consultant
Morrie Warshawski
Writing Consultant
Laurie Coyle
Graphics
Matthew Baldwin
Signal Studios
Festival Coordinator & Administrative Support
Laura McCormick
Social Media
Yu Ling Wu
Webmaster
Sage Brucia