Paige Ruane, Writer/Producer
Paige Ruane is a documentary film and media producer. She has worked on independent short and long form films ranging in topics from social justice, innercity conflict resolution to alternative health and LGBT rights. Recent work includes a film for BeHeard.world about kids in a violent neighborhood who were empowered through art. She was associate producer and human rights campaign manager for the documentary feature film God Loves Uganda, which premiered at Sundance in 2013. She has written, shot and produced documentaries on alternative medicine in Africa, an outgrowth of her work as president and founder of the Integrative Medicine Foundation (2005-2010), a New York City based nonprofit focused on creating sustainable communities through the research and protection of ancient medicine in East Africa. Prior to her film and non-profit work, Paige was a psychotherapist in private practice and an art therapist in the New York City public school system. She holds a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, and is the recipient of the Kenyon College Humanitarian Award for her work in Africa.
Shane Hofeldt, Digital Editor
Shane Hofeldt is a freelance editor and filmmaker working primarily in non-fiction media. He has led production and editing workshops for several years, working with both youth and adults, and served as Director of Post Production at Maine Media Workshops. Shane was invited to The Sundance Institute's Documentary Edit and Story Labs where he assisted on the documentary One Cut, One Life directed by Lucia Small and Ed Pincus. He most recently co-edited This Changes Everything, a feature documentary directed by Avi Lewis based on the book of the same name by Naomi Klein. Shane is currently working on a film documenting the impacts of climate change on indigenous populations in the Andes Mountains of Peru. He is a founding board member of The Baobab Home, a non-profit children’s home and school located on a working organic farm in Tanzania. Shane has degrees in business but left his cubicle ten years ago and hasn’t looked back.
Jack McDonald, Editorial Advisor
Jack McDonald has written, developed, directed and consulted on documentaries for 25 years for many broadcasters and channels, from National Geographic, Discovery and TLC to specials for PBS and the science series NOVA. His recent work includes independent media productions on the environment, racial and economic injustice and other current issues in the US, Central America, South America and Africa. Jack was a reporter for Time magazine in New York and Washington, DC. He began his career as news assistant for CBS News. He has taught documentary film development and writing at the Maine Media Workshops for the past 20 years.
Alison Byrne, Associate Producer
Alison is a radio and video producer, researcher and writer. She received the 2015 Miller Audio Prize from The Missouri Review for her radio essay Leaving Los Angeles, and was Producer of the Working Narratives podcast series Who Are You?. Her resume includes podcasts and radio stories, documentary films, web series, corporate media and reality TV credits for outlets including HBO, PBS, Discovery, HGTV, WCAI and the Journalism Center on Children and Families. Alison is Co-Producer of the documentary film Mommy Dead and Dearest, which airs on HBO in March 2017. She recently started a blog at www.SavedToDraft.com, curating email drafts left unsent. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with a 25-lb cat named Scotty.
Will Lulofs, Researcher
Will's interest in economics began in high school while reading about the history of the American labor movement. A paralegal and musician by trade, Will has a BA in Music Composition and English Literature from Bennington College in Bennington, VT. He lives in Beacon, NY with his girlfriend and their cat, Loretta.
Beth Shewell, Researcher
Beth has worked with Amy Goodman at WBAI-FM, reporting for their daily evening news program. She has also published a zine, Rag Magazine, as part of a women's collective of writers. More recently, she attended an audio workshop at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies. Beth holds a B.A. in Journalism from SUNY New Paltz and an MAT in Literature from Bard College. She lives in the Hudson Valley and is a high school English teacher. Beth tries to bring creativity into her life and escape from the mainstream by listening to and making radio shorts, backpacking, cross-country skiing and reading great literature.
Special thanks to Lynne Melcher, Jimmy Buff, Justin Foy, Kira Henderson and Peter Buffett.