Eric Schuman (writer/director)
Eric Schuman is a writer/director/cinematographer. Proxy will be his first feature film as a writer and director. Previously, he co-wrote the story and was the cinematographer of Tim O’Connor’s feature film, The Undiscovered Country. While in Columbia University’s MFA Film program, he received the Emerging Filmmaker award for his short film Smother Me in Hugs. His work as a cinematographer on Tim O’Connor’s thesis film, Five Hard Lessons, garnered him a nomination for the Kodak Student Scholarship Award. His previous shorts have screened internationnaly - including at TIFF Kids. His short film, Idiot, Me, won a Cine Golden Eagle Award. In eighth grade, Mr. Schuman won the intellectual curiosity award from his middle school. To date, this is his proudest achievement.
Birgit Gernböck (producer)
Birgit “Bitz” Gernböck is a producer based in Frankfurt, Germany and New York City. Prior pursuing her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts, she had already worked on more than 30 films and TV shows for German Television Broadcasting.
While based in Germany Gernböck was an executive producer, line producer and UPM for more than 12 years. She has produced mainly TV movies in Europe and South Africa, as well as documentaries and feature films. Well‐versed in international film funds such as MEDIA Desk Europe, CineTirol Austria, Hessen Film Fund, DFFF Germany, and the South African Tax refund, she recently production-‐managed a narrative feature film for a film that is a German co-‐production with Twentieth Century Fox. She concurrently raised German development grant money for the documentary Stair Cases by award-‐winning writer/director Oliver Husain (Hessischer Film Preis)as well as the short film Bakri, shot entirely on location in Delhi, India.
Gernböck received two Katharina Otto-‐Bernstein producing awards, and co-‐produced Sonya Goddy’s award-‐winning short Sundae, which premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2015 and was screened at numerous Film Festivals in the US and Europe.
Four short films produced by Gernböck are screening at the Columbia University Film Festival Showcase in New York and Los Angeles in May and June 2016 including Francisca Alegria’sAnd The Whole Sky Fit in a Dead Cow’s Eye. The film received two jury selects and audience award during the Festival in New York as well as the National Board of Review Award 2016.
The film will celebrated its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, screened at The New York Film Festival, Telluride, Sundance, and Warsaw International Film Festival 2016.
Andrew K Li (co-producer)
Andrew is from Hong Kong and is based in New York. He has produced features and shorts that have screened at international film festivals, including the prestigious New Directors/New Films series presented by MoMA and the Cannes Film Festival. He also produced a TV movie, 5 States of Fear (2014), which was backed by NBCUniversal, and a number of commercial spots. Li recently graduated with an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University's Graduate School of the Arts. He also served as a jury member for the Asian American International Film Festival and as Assistant Director of the Columbia University Film Festival. Recently, he produced Tim O'Connor's feature film The Undiscovered Country.
Alan Scott Neal (casting director)
A native of Virginia, I have been shooting film since I could hold a camera. Through a working apprenticeship, I have developed a strong visual aesthetic coupled with a firm grasp of story- telling mechanics, directing award winning short-films, online content and music videos.
While completing an MFA in directing/screenwriting at Columbia University, I started working full- time with renowned casting director Avy Kaufman (Lincoln, Life of Pi, Prometheus). Here I worked closely with acclaimed filmmakers Ang Lee, Steve Zaillian and Ira Sachs and on such projects as HBO’s The Night Of and Netflix’s The OA.
Last year I edited the feature film I’m Obsessed With You starring Emmy-nominated actor Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards, Beautiful Creatures) and Jason Ralph (The Magicians). A film festival hit, it was released by FilmBuff on various streaming platforms.
Currently I’m developing and producing the feature film Jack On The Rocks written by Pete Jones (screenwriter of the Farrelly brother’s film Hall Pass).
Tim O'Connor (assistant director)
Tim is a writer, director and actor living in New York City. He began his professional work in production departments on films such as Men in Black 3, The Dark Knight Rises and Frances Ha. His short films as a writer-director include Jesus Talk, which premiered on PBS Channel 13 in 2014, and Five Hard Lessons, which was included in the Student Selects program and won the IFP Audience Award at the Columbia University Film Festival. As an actor, he has played lead roles in Till The Cows Come Home and Getting In, which recently won First Place at the Ha! Fest Comedy Festival. He graduated from Vassar College and is currently an MFA Candidate for Film Directing at Columbia University. He recently completed his first feature.
Tenement (composers)
Tenement is a DIY punk band from Appleton, Wisconsin. Rolling Stone named them on the ten great modern punk band. Their two-disc album Predatory Highlights was named a top ten album by numerous publications and was written up by the New York Times, who wrote, “Amos Pitsch, Tenement’s singer, guitarist and songwriter, has a hyper-sophisticated interest in the mechanics of music in general.” They’ve been profiled by publications and online magazines such as Grantland and Noisey. Previously, they scored the short of film of Proxy.