Abby Ginzberg
DIRECTOR
Abby Ginzberg, a Peabody Award-winning director and Emmys® Silver Circle inductee, has been producing compelling documentaries about race and social justice for over 35 years. Recently honored with induction into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) in recognition of her 25 years of commitment to the film and TV community, Abby has created an impressive portfolio of award-winning films.
Abby’s film BARBARA LEE: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary and premiered on STARZ® and was distributed by Lionsgate® Entertainment. The feature length documentary tells the complex story of Representative Barbara Lee, a steadfast voice for human rights, peace and economic and racial justice in the US Congress. This intimate film features prominent voices including Alice Walker, Van Jones, Rep. John Lewis, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Cory Booker, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Danny Glover.
Her short film JUDGING JURIES, highlights the urgent need to address inequities in jury service that undermine the fundamental right to be judged by a diverse and representative jury, premiered at the Pan African Film Festival and has garnered recognition with awards such as Best Documentary Short at the Cal Film Festival and Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Shorts from the Accolade Global Awards.
Her current film, co-directed with Christy Carpenter, SHAKING IT UP: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LIZ CARPENTER, premiered at SXSW, receiving accolades including Best Feature Documentary at the Hill Country Film Festival and Best Biographical Film at the Toronto International Women Film Festival and will be broadcast on public television in 2025.
Abby also produced A DOUBLE LIFE, directed by Catherine Masud, which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival, earning an Audience Favorite award. This compelling documentary focuses on activism in the 1960s and the role of activists and lawyers in the prison reform movement of the early 1970s, introducing educational institutions and future generations to this pivotal era.
She served as the Consulting Producer on THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM, directed by Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin. This poignant documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award® in the Short Documentary category, highlighting its significant impact and relevance in exploring social justice through the experience of foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama.
Abby directed and produced SOFT VENGEANCE: ALBIE SACHS AND THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA, which won a Peabody Award and has screened at numerous film festivals worldwide. The film, narrated by Emmy® Award-Winning actress Alfre Woodard, tells the powerful story of Albie Sachs, a prominent anti-apartheid activist and former Constitutional Court judge, exploring his journey and contributions to South Africa's post-apartheid landscape.
Abby’s film, WAGING CHANGE, examines the challenges faced by tipped restaurant servers, forced to live off tips. The documentary highlights the struggles surrounding the federal tipped minimum wage, which remains at $2.13 per hour, and was broadcast on public television.
The film features award-winning actor and activist Jane Fonda, recognized with multiple Academy Awards®, Primetime Emmy Awards®, and Golden Globe Awards® for her contributions to film and television. It also features award-winning actor and activist Lily Tomlin, who has received multiple Academy Awards®, Primetime Emmy Awards®, and Golden Globe Awards® for her work in the industry.
AND THEN THEY CAME FOR US (2017), featuring George Takei, explores the connection between the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban, raising critical questions about civil liberties. The film was broadcast on public television.
AGENTS OF CHANGE (2016), co-directed with Frank Dawson, tells the untold story of the Black student movement of the late 1960s on college campuses. Actor and activist, Danny Glover, is featured in the film. It won both the Jury and Audience awards for Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival and was broadcast on public television as part of America ReFramed.
Currently, Abby is in production on several new films,.including SHE DARED TO DREAM (a docu-series in development), which features Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat representing Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District. This project brings together the same women-led team from the NAACP Image Award-winning film BARBARA LEE: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER, with Barbara Lee serving as a consulting producer. The film will explore Pressley’s vision, challenges, and aspirations as a trailblazer in American politics, alongside Abby’s broader documentary series about women of color serving in the House of Representatives.
LABORS OF LOVE: HENRIETTA SZOLD’S LIFE AND LEGACY. This documentary delves into the remarkable life of Szold, founder of Hadassah in 1912, a key figure in establishing healthcare and social services in early twentieth-century Palestine. The film explores her efforts in rescuing Jewish children during the 1930s and her lasting legacy in public health and social work.
Her films are distributed for educational use through Women Make Movies, Good Docs and California Newsreel and for personal use through Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Vimeo. This distribution network not only enhances accessibility to her powerful narratives but also aligns with Abby's commitment to fostering dialogue around critical social issues. Through these partnerships, her films educate, inspire, and continue to make an impact, while provoking meaningful discussions across diverse audiences and educational institutions.
Shola Lynch
CONSULTING PRODUCER
Award-winning American Filmmaker best known for the feature documentary FREE ANGELA & All Political Prisoners and the Peabody Award winning documentary CHISHOLM ’72: Unbought & Unbossed. Her independent film body of work and her other collaborative projects feed her passion to bring history alive with captivating stories of people, places and events.
Her feature documentary FREE ANGELA & All Political Prisoners is a first hand account of the events that thrust Angela Davis into the national spotlight from a young college professor to a fugitive on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. The film received critical acclaim and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Excellence for Best Documentary.
Stephanie Mechura
EDITOR
Stephanie Mechura is editing the Barbara Lee documentary and has collaborated with Abby on a number of other films. A freelance editor for more than a decade, her films have appeared on multiple broadcast specials and series, most notably PBS Frontline and Independent Lens, as well as The New York Times OpDocs. Stephanie's Emmy-nominated films have received many of journalism's highest awards, including the DuPont Columbia Award, the Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking, and the Daniel Pearl Award for Excellence in Journalism. Her most recent film, The Game Changers, is directed by Oscar-Winning filmmaker Louis Psihoyos, and premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Stephanie edited the recent documentary, The Push-Outs, directed by Katie Galloway and Dawn Valadez.
Joslyn Rose Lyons
IMPACT PRODUCER
Joslyn Rose Lyons is an EMMY® Nominated director, award winning filmmaker, impact producer, and writer, whose films have been featured on Showtime, Paramount, Starz, Lionsgate, streaming platforms, and at film festivals nationally and throughout the world. Joslyn is a finalist in the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, under the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (OSCARS® / ACADEMY AWARDS®). She has served as a guest speaker for the Academy Gold program (OSCARS® / ACADEMY AWARDS®), furthering the Academy’s commitment to talent development and inclusion in the film industry. Additionally, Joslyn has collaborated with STARZ on the #TakeTheLead initiative, which aims to amplify narratives by, about, and for women and underrepresented audiences.
Joslyn's feature-length directorial debut, "Stand", (Showtime/Paramount), is an examination of the extraordinary journey of pioneer activist and basketball prodigy Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. The documentary features Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, Shaquille O'Neal, Jalen Rose, Mahershala Ali, Ice Cube and more. Additionally, “Stand” has been nominated for a Sports Emmy® Award for Outstanding Documentary.
Her work as an impact producer for Social Action Media extends to a number of award winning social justice documentaries including "Waging Change", "Agents of Change", "And Then They Came For Us", and "Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power" (Lionsgate/STARZ), featuring Barbara Lee, with Alice Walker, Ayanna Pressley, Van Jones, Danny Glover, Cory Booker, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The film won the 53rd NAACP Image Awards for outstanding documentary.
Joslyn directed a documentary short film for Grammy, Emmy and Academy Award Winning artist Common and his Imagine Justice organization - dedicated to empowering communities and fighting injustice. She is the producer of "Tale of the Tape", which takes an unabashed look at the role The Mixtape played during the growth of Hip Hop with Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, and J. Cole. Her short film "Looking Glass" was invited to premiere at Sundance London, picking up Best Short at The American Film Awards, and TopShorts Best Female Director. She picked up Best Director Award at the 7th edition of LA Independent Women Film Awards for her short "Butterfly Boxing", which premiered at Essence Film Festival, and stars Hill Harper and J. Alphonse Nicholson. Joslyn Rose Lyons is an esteemed Academy Gold Fellowship for Women Finalist from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, demonstrating her commitment to excellence in filmmaking.
Joslyn's short film Looking Glass premiered at Sundance London, and picked up Best Short at The American Film Awards, and TopShorts Best Female Director. Lyons picked up a Best Director award at the 7th edition of LA Independent Women Film Awards for her short film Butterfly Boxing, starring Hill Harper and J. Alphonse Nicholson.
Joslyn Rose is an Academy Gold Fellowship for Women Finalist, from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences/Oscars. She is a member of the Alliance of Women Directors and she is by represented by Creative Artists Agency.
Osei Essed
COMPOSER
Osei Essed is a multi-platform artist, performing and writing for screen and stage. Recent film composition credits include True Justice (2020 Peabody Award Winner), Farewell Amor (2020 Sundance Selection), Always in Season (2019 Sundance Special Jury Award), Period End of Sentence (2019 Academy Award winner) and TOWER (2018 Emmy winner). Essed performs with the Brooklyn-based bands The Woes and Big Hands Rhythm and Blues Band, was born to Surinamese parents in Utrecht (The Netherlands) and his early years were spent moving between The Netherlands and Suriname.
Vicente Franco
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Vicente Franco has been a Director of Photography all over the world for more than twenty-five years. He 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. He was Director of Photography on 3 other Academy Award nominees: The Barber of Birmingham (2012), The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2010), and Freedom On My Mind (1994). He won the Silver Apple/Latin American Studies Association for Cuba Va: the Challenge of the Next Generation. He is an accomplished cinematographer of documentaries, drama, news and public affairs who won a Peabody for coverage of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. His recent credits include the PBS series Latino Americans, and Latin Music USA, He also shot The Storm That Swept Mexico, Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey, Botany of Desire, Orozco Man of Fire, Archeology of Memory: Villa Grimaldi, The Fight in the Fields, The Good War as well as Summer of Love, which he co-produced and co-directed for the PBS/American Experience series, about the SF Haight Ashbury hippie community in 1967.
Ashley James
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Ashley James holds Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Filmmaking and has national television credits. He is the co-founder (with Kathryn Golden) of Searchlight Films. Former newspaper journalist, The Hartford Times, (Gannett News Service) Hartford, CT; instructor of graduate studies in Department of Cinema, San Francisco State University and station manager of KTOP/Channel 10, Oakland, CA. which won 32 national awards for excellence in television programming during his 12 year tenure.
Recent documentaries include: Director, Kitka and Davka in Concert-Old and New World Jewish Music (PBS); Producer/Director Gordon Parks—The Man and His Music a 90-minute television special featuring Issac Hayes, Danny Glover and the Oakland (CA) Symphony Orchestra; Director/Cinematographer, Bomba – Dancing the Drum, (PBS), a one-hour portrait of the legendary Cepeda Family of Puerto Rico; Producer/Director Home and Almost Free, a one-hour film about ex-convicts in the San Francisco Bay Area; Director of photography for Zen Brush Mind & Kazuaki Tanahashi – Painting Peace for the Buddhist Broadcasting System (Netherlands)
Other films include: Director of Photography for the 2012 Academy Award nomination for Best Short Documentary, The Barber from Birmingham; Producer/Director, We Love You Like A Rock – The Dixie Hummingbirds, the feature-length film about the legendary gospel quartet; And Still We Dance, a one hour portrait of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and the premiere program for KQED’s From San Francisco series; Producer/DP for Zenju’s Path & Moments of Illumination for the Buddhist Broadcasting Network (Netherlands); Producer/Director American Treasure, and Tchuba Means Rain, two ethnographic films about the Cape Verdean-American community of New England. Other Director of Photography credits include: Blacks & Jews by Snitow Kaufman Productions; Street Soldiers by Avon Kirkland; Crumb, a portrait of cartoonist Robert Crumb; Isadora Duncan – Movement From The Soul; I Can’t Believe You’re Forty, Charlie Brown; The Color Of Honor; Booker; Ethnic Notions; Cut Loose; and Ancestors In America, among many other programs for international broadcast, and cable television.
James LeBrecht
SOUND DESIGNER
James LeBrecht is an award-winning sound designer. He honed his postproduction skills at the Saul Zaentz Film Center and Skywalker Sound on projects such as Twin Peaks-Fire Walk With Me, Race the Sun and Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story, The Game, Iron Giant and Pitch Black. LeBrecht oversaw the audio post production and creation of 5.1 mixes for the nine volume Time Life series and the accompanying 60 minute PBS pledge break show Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Live, produced by Ravin’ Films.
Jim has collaborated with Abby as the sound designer on Peabody award winner, Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa, And Then They Came for Us, Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson's American Journey and Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice.
Jim has been the sound designer on numerous recent award-winning documentaries, including Minding the Gap, Audrie and Daisy, Unrest, The Devil and Daniel Johnston and The Force.
Jennifer Petrucelli ARCHIVAL RESEARCHER
Prior to co-founding Sub-Basement Archival, Jennifer worked as a producer in film and television for nearly 20 years. She wrote, produced and conducted extensive archival research on a series of historical documentaries for Lucasfilm. Jennifer also wrote and produced the Lucasfilm feature documentary, Double Victory, about the Tuskegee Airmen, served as co-producer on Manifest Destiny , and co-directed and co-produced Of Rights and Wrongs. Jennifer’s documentary short, Inside/Out, won a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival and screened on PBS stations around the country. In addition to her documentary work, Jennifer has served as Producer on feature projects at Industrial Light + Magic, as well as on commercial productions for Publicis & Hal Riney and Actual Films. Jennifer earned a Masters degree in Documentary Film from Stanford University and a BA in History from Cornell University. (www.sbarchival.com)
Rachel Antell
ARCHIVAL RESEARCHER
Before co-founding Sub-Basement Archival, Rachel served as Co-Producer and Archival Producer for Nancy Kates’ internationally acclaimed documentary Regarding Susan Sontag. The film aired on HBO, and received a FOCAL International award for its archival footage. Rachel has edited several feature documentaries, including Why We Sing, and Occupied Minds, and was the Director and Producer of Death on a Friendly Border which explores the rising number of migrant deaths on the US-Mexico border. This film garnered an Angelus Award and was broadcast on KQED, Link-TV, and RTVE in Spain. Rachel also spent six years conducting research for Harvard University’s Pluralism Project, and was an archival researcher and production manager for Henry Louis Gates’ Encyclopedia Africana. Rachel earned a Masters degree in Documentary Film from Stanford University, an MTS from Harvard University, and a BA from Hamilton College. (www.sbarchival.com)