Filmmaker Bios

SARA TERRY – DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
This is Terry’s second feature-length documentary. Her first documentary, Fambul Tok, about a groundbreaking grass-roots forgiveness program in Sierra Leone, had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2011 and is currently on the festival circuit. She won a 2009 Sundance grant for Fambul Tok and was also a fellow at the 2010 IFP Doc Lab. Terry began making documentaries after a long, award-winning career in journalism – first in print, then in public radio, and more recently as a photojournalist.

GRETCHEN LANDAU - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Landau is a media and marketing professional with a knack for developing and managing creative and non-traditional advertising campaigns. Entrepreneurial by nature, she broke new ground by starting the country’s first nationally syndicated spanish talk radio network. She then spent over a decade in New York and Los Angeles racking up ratings and ad sales for Disney/ABC/ESPN. While at ABC Landau headed national rock radio promotions for major record labels including Arista Record’s campaign for Carlos Santana’s mega-platinum album, “Supernatural.” At ESPN, she was a team leader on numerous accounts managing seven figure sales goals while developing a client list that included: Mazda, Hotwire, Charles Schwab, Chevron, Major League Baseball Player's Association, Hisamitsu America-Salonpas, Ebay, Bushnell, Nestle, Warner Brothers, New Line Cinema and Universal Vivendi. Along with her instinct for business, Landau has had a lifelong passion for music and documentary film and is thrilled to be working with Sara Terry and her team on FOLK.

HENRY JACOBSON – DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY/PRODUCER
This is Jacobson’s second collaboration with Terry; he worked closely with her as DP to create the visual style and content of Fambul Tok, shot entirely in Sierra Leone. Jacobson began working in documentary film after graduating from Hampshire College with a project called Bilwas, a film about the lingering effects and public health disaster following twenty years of war in a small Miskito village in eastern Nicaragua. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked for Steven Bernstein, ASC, who became his mentor in cinematography.

DIANA O’DONNELL – PRODUCER
O’Donnell’s filmmaking background includes directing a short film and an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California. She honed her producing skills by working as an Assistant to Producers on both independent films and commercials in New York City. This is her first time producing a feature-length film.