Film Crew

Yoav Potash: Producer, Director & Editor

Yoav Potash’s work has often addressed issues of race and justice. Yoav recently co-directed the one-hour documentary FOOD STAMPED in collaboration with his wife, nutrition educator Shira Potash. His half-hour documentary LIFE ON THE INSIDE, about the nation’s largest prison for women, began airing on PBS stations in 2007. His 35mm film MINUTE MATRIMONY earned a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and a Grand Festival Award at the Berkeley Video & Film Festival. CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Yoav’s short on racial profiling, won a documentary competition judged by HBO and The Learning Channel. He collaborated with PBS station KQED to complete his first documentary, FROM THE GROUND UP, about a multicultural group of UC Berkeley students who helped rebuild burned-down African-American churches in Alabama. Yoav has also produced short documentaries and videos for many companies and nonprofits, including: Apple Computer, Neutrogena, Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Koret Foundation, and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. He has taught film courses at the Bay Area Video Coalition and Academy of Art University, and is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where he received the university’s top prize in creative writing. CRIME AFTER CRIME is his first feature-length film. In what may now be seen as an ironic twist, the first job Yoav landed behind a camera was as a legal videographer, filming depositions for ongoing legal disputes.

Gail Dolgin: Consulting Producer

Gail Dolgin was a veteran producer/director of several highly regarded documentaries. Her film DAUGHTER FROM DANANG won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary, was nominated for an Academy Award and was broadcast nationally as part of the American Experience series. American Experience subsequently commissioned Gail to direct THE SUMMER OF LOVE, produced in association with KQED. As Consulting Producer for CRIME AFTER CRIME, Gail reviewed and provided feedback on rough cuts and grant proposals, operated camera during film shoots, asked follow-up questions during interviews with Debbie’s attorneys, and provided production consultation on a broad range of topics. She passed away in October 2010 after doing so much to help this film, as well as many other films and filmmakers.

Frank Giraffe: Assistant Editor & Associate Producer

Frank Giraffe brings experience in entertainment software and project management to Crime After Crime. He has edited documentary films for Adoption Connection (a San Francisco non-profit agency) and MedAmerica (a nationally recognized medical practice support company), and collaborated with Yoav Potash on the post-production of his half-hour documentary LIFE ON THE INSIDE. Prior to his work in film and video, Frank worked for eight years as a development director for Electronic Arts, where he gained extensive experience delivering million-selling entertainment titles on time and under tight budgets. In switching to the film industry, Frank brought with him his technical savvy and his ability to collaborate effectively and efficiently. He is a graduate of Drexel University, where he worked as Program Director and Music Director for radio station WKDU. He has augmented his film experience with coursework at Film Arts Foundation, Bay Area Video Coalition, and San Francisco State University.

Ben Ferrer: Director of Photography

Ben Ferrer’s unique cinematography has documented a wide variety of cultures and locations including: the inside of the world’s largest pipe organ, the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, and the temples at Ankor Wat. He was Director of Photography for Yoav Potash’s half-hour women’s prison documentary LIFE ON THE INSIDE, which began airing on PBS in 2007. Ben has also shot footage for many high-profile corporate clients, including Google, A&E, Gap Inc., Pottery Barn, Cisco Systems, and a variety of travel videos. His influences range from Diego Rivera to Jacques Cousteau. Ben received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications from California State University in Sacramento. While at “Sac State” he twice earned the prestigious Kelly Broadcasting Scholarship. He also interned at then NBC affiliate KCRA-TV.

Richard Alvarez: 1st unit Camera, bay area and ccwf prison

Richard Alvarez is an independent media producer with over two decades of experience in professional media. Beginning in television as a cameraman for KHTV in Houston, he then moved into radio as an announcer/newscaster for the #1 station in Houston, KODA. Over the course of his lifetime, he has worked as a theatrical producer, filmmaker, actor and stunt coordinator. His documentary American Jouster premiered at the Breckenridge Festival of Film and screened on PBS. . He has also won numerous screenwriting awards and optioned two feature scripts. Richard has contributed his skills to documentaries with topics as varied as the pets left behind in “MINE:Taken by Katrina” to a personal interview with his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Richard shot second camera and operated sound for Yoav Potash’s half-hour women’s prison documentary LIFE ON THE INSIDE.

Kara Stephens: 1st unit Camera, Los Angeles

Kara’s shooting career has run the gamut of projects from traditional film narratives (including Thirteen directed by Catherine Hardwicke) to documentaries, music videos, and commercials (most recently for SanDisk). She has shot for Bravo, Discovery, Fine Living Network, and A&E, while also shooting and operating on commercials and for artist Mike Kelley’s Day is Done installation, featured on PBS. Her sixth feature, DROOL premiered at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival. After graduating film school at the University of California at Santa Cruz, she began her career by making copies and fetching coffee on the set of the James Cameron film TRUE LIES, where she learned, among other things, that where she really wanted to be was behind the camera. Since then she has climbed the ranks of various camera departments and had the opportunity to work with such luminaries as John Frankenheimer, Kathyrn Bigalow, Kevin Spacey and Catherine Hardwicke. www.karastephens.com

WANGUHU ROY KIIRU: 1st unit Camera, bay area

Wanguhu Roy Kiiru began his film career as a teenager in his native Kenya, where he filmed a variety of live events, including concerts with Nonini and Juakali, two of Kenya’s most popular music artists. When he was eighteen years old he emigrated to America, and soon began working with Emerge Media Group, a video production company specializing in music videos and documentary-based African-American content, including a production for the NAACP at Stanford University. Wanguhu then began working for City Center Digital, a video production company based in Oakland, California, where he filmed projects for clients including the Oakland Symphony Orchestra and Wells Fargo. As an independent producer, he has created productions for The Lend a Hand Foundation and other companies and nonprofits. His credits also include Shira & Yoav Potash’s documentary FOOD STAMPED.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, LIVE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

The two-time Grammy award winning hip-hop group Arrested Development are true trailblazers who bring balance to hip-hop. Since 1991 they have championed advancement, equality, and spreading unique hip-hop around the world. As recipients of an NAACP image award, they represent black America with pride and dignity.  www.ArrestedDevelopmentMusic.com 

JAYMEE CARPENTER, MUSIC COMPOSER

LA-based songwriter, music composer & record producer Jaymee Carpenter has over a decade of experience composing music for television shows ranging from Fox’s THAT 70’S SHOW to Bravo’s TOP CHEF. Jaymee most recently was sought out to write and perform original music for Paramount Pictures THE FIGHTER, directed by David O. Russell, starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams.  www.JaymeeCarpenter.com

Melissa Schulman, Associate Producer & Outreach Coordinator

Melissa spent over a decade with BRC Imagination Arts, an award-winning global design company specializing in media production and attraction design for projects including the Arizona Science Center, the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam, and the Shuttle Launch Experience at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At BRC, Melissa worked as a Production Manager, Project Coordinator, and Rights & Clearances Manager. Melissa first worked as an Associate Producer for CRIME AFTER CRIME during the film’s production, and subsequently has returned to work as the film’s Outreach Coordinator, managing communications and collaborations with theaters and outreach partners for the film’s box office release. Melissa received her degree in Radio-TV-Film with an emphasis on Multimedia Management from Cal State University, Northridge in 1998.

Additional Camera
Joe Aguirre
Marjorie Alexander
David Bouza
Matt Chapman
Kristine Enea
Ben Greenwood
Joe Kocsis
Terren Lin
Eri Magara
Dan Moses
Beth Pielert
May Rigler
Ben Staley
Glenn Starry
Ben Youngerman

Post Audio Supervision Hear Kitty Studios
Sound Designer Kathleen Edwards
Re-recording Mixer Tor Kingdon

music supervision
Jaymee Carpenter
Yoav Potash
Brooke Wentz, The Rights Workshop

High Defnition Mastering
HalfLife Digital*

Colorist
David Garcia

Motion Graphics
Yoav Potash
Adam Shaening-Pokrasso

Post-Production Interns
Edgardo Cervano-Soto
Sarah Gilson
Adam Teschel
Elizabeth Parks
Levi Welton