Digital Filmmaking

Programs

Student Work

Faculty

Faculty

Robin Mudge
Program Co-Director

Robin Mudge is an internationally-based producer and consultant specializing in the conceptual development, origination and production of TV and interactive media projects for alternative distribution networks and mobile viewing devices.

Robin has had a distinguished 20-year career at the BBC as an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer of new media projects and teacher. His extensive experience in traditional television production and deep understanding of network media also gave him a special insight into new service opportunities: Robin was the chief architect and creative director for the BBC Learning Station, a suite of sophisticated online TV and interactive learning services for children, parents and teachers.

Since leaving the BBC, Robin has produced many industry-leading, award-winning projects. These include a nationwide, online-distributed educational TV project for the UK Government and envisioning a global broadband television service for Pearson PLC. Robin was invited to the US as a consultant to develop new kinds of IP/TV services for PBS and to build a new IP/ TV-based music TV station in Washington, DC.

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Federico Muchnik
Program Co-Director

Federico Muchnik has spent most of his career as a producer, director, actor and educator; his work has been screened at the Sundance, New York and Toronto Film Festivals. His first short film, You’re Not Telling Me Everything, Mrs. Malloy (1982), was licensed and aired on HBO. As producer of Destinos (1990) at PBS/WGBH-TV, Federico traveled throughout Europe and South America filming this acclaimed television series. He co-wrote and played the male lead in Raul Ruiz’s cult film comedy The Golden Boat (1992), which won the Audience Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival and was shown at the Sundance and New York Film Festivals.

Federico also directed Secret Courage: The Walter Suskind Story (2004), a documentary about the Jewish resistance movement in Holland during World War II. His other films include Touching History: Harvard Square, The Bank and The Tasty Diner (2005) and One Brick At A Time: Building People At An Inner City Youth Center (2007). Most recently he created a trio of shorts for Enterprise Media destined for the business community and led CDIA’s first filmmaking workshop abroad in Prague in 2007. Federico earned a BFA in Film and Television from the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and speaks four languages.

Associate Director, Washington, DC Campus: Ralph Fasano

Ralph is a film and video producer, editor and digital media instructor. With more than 10 years in broadcast television, his experience encompasses all aspects of production, from story development to final edit. Specializing in postproduction, his editing experience includes long form documentary, short form, reality, independent film, corporate, advertising, promo and large format multimedia projects. Ralph’s broadcast television credits include postproducer and editor on projects for networks including The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, HGTV, Court TV, PBS, The History Channel and Lifetime Television. He has an MA in Producing Film and Video from American University and BA in Film from Emerson College.

Associate Director,
Waltham, MA Campus: Howard Phillips

Howard has been involved in film and video work for over 20 years. His first venture was a business specializing in corporate and music video productions, earning a slot on MTV’s Basement Tapes with his production of Fools for Fashion by The Talk. In 1988, after working as a freelance cameraperson in the US and in Europe, he moved to Boston and founded The Edit House, Avid’s first dedicated 24fps beta site which provided film editorial and postproduction services to over 80 feature films. Over an eight-year period, Howard made significant contributions to Avid’s Film Composer quality assurance team and was invited to share in Avid’s second Technical Oscar® (SciTech Award) in 1998. Howard currently teaches and provides testing/ consulting services to companies such as Aaton, Arriflex, Avid and Panasonic. He studied film and television at Montana State University and is fluent in French. Recent projects include assistant editing, camera and translation for the Jon Fauer ASC’s Cinematographer Style, and postproduction manager on independent and CDIA film and digital video projects.

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Assistant Director of Education, Filmmaking:
Greg Croteau

Greg has directed for clients including Dunkin Donuts, Saucony/Hind, Washington Mutual, Life is Good and Grand Slam Tennis Tours. In 2007 his boutique production company, Three Times, moved into broadcast commercials and created their first feature film, The Aristocrat. Greg is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication.

Artist in Residence:
Franco Sacchi

Franco is an independent director/editor/producer and senior Avid-certified instructor. He directed, produced and edited American Eunuchs, a feature length documentary that aired on the Sundance Channel in 2004 and was an official selection at several national and international film festivals, including the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. In collaboration with CDIA he co-produced and directed the feature length documentary This is Nollywood about the Nigerian film industry. Franco has collaborated with two news magazines of RAI International as a broadcast journalist/producer/editor. In 2007 he was the recipient of a grant from the Sundance Documentary Institute to co-direct Waiting for Armageddon, a feature length documentary about the growing number of evangelical Christians in the US who believe the Apocalypse is imminent. Franco graduated from the University of Bologna with a degree in political science and holds an MA in Mass Communication from Emerson College.

Pruitt Allen

Pruitt began his professional life in the non-profit world managing homeless shelters and after-school care programs. He began selling computer networking equipment, eventually ending up in a top-tier sales position in New York City. After deciding to make a career change, the independent film community in New York provided an ideal training ground for a new start. Originally Pruitt came up as a field audio engineer, lighting grip, gaffer and lighting designer for CBS/Viacom, Fox, ABC, PBS and a variety of corporate and non-profit clients. He soon began working as a cameraman and then Director of Photography with occasional forays into directing and producing work. He has served as DP on two low-budget independent features (Come What May and another still-untitled drama), several documentaries, many short films, corporate and non-profit videos and music videos.

Christopher Bowen

Christopher is a freelance editor and cinematographer currently based in Boston. As an Avid Certified Instructor and Avid Certified User, he brings years of editing experience to the classroom. He has also been teaching film production, cinematography and digital non-linear editing at Boston University’s College of Communication for the past eight years.

Nikki Bramley

Nikki has a passion for telling compelling stories with vivid imagery. As technical director at Uncommon Productions, she was associate producer on the PBS documentary A Life Among Whales and assistant editor on the award-winning films Racing Against the Clock and The Price of Sugar. Nikki was a videographer/editor/producer for Syracuse University and Coffey Productions. In Boston, she freelanced for Red Tree Productions, WGBH Greater Boston Arts, Nick Kauffman Productions, MHT productions, Grazioso Pictures, Conservatory Lab Charter School, and The Freedom to Marry Coalition. She is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University.

Mark Chesak

Mark is an editor specializing in long format documentaries, with more than 24 years of experience in broadcast, promo production, independent film and experimental television. His credits include Crash of Flight 11 for NOVA, Drugs on Trial for Frontline, Surviving Mars for the Discovery Channel and Hitler’s Lost Plan for the History Channel. Clients include Providence Pictures, Resolute Films, Pinball Productions, Smash Advertising, Northern Light Productions and Context Media. He is an Avid Certified Instructor and has worked with various groups including the CNN Middle East office, members of the US military and members of the White House Communications staff. Mark graduated cum laude with a BA in Mass Media from UMass-Amherst.

Frank DeAngelis

Frank has been in the film industry for over 20 years. He started his journey as evening production manager for WBUR-FM radio, moved to Hollywood and worked on sound for projects such as Big Brother, Celebrity Mole, ESPN’s Sports Century and many other documentaries, reality shows and sporting events. He returned to Boston where he is currently working on various projects. Frank holds both a BA and MA from Emerson College.

Tim Cothren

Tim began as a cameraman for PBS and became an associate producer for 20/20 where he covered a variety subjects from war in Beirut to exploitation of children divers as indentured servants to nomadic fishing companies in Southeast Asia. Tim’s underwater expertise brought him to the attention of French filmmaker Jacques Cousteau; together they worked on TV documentaries covering deforestation and reef destruction in Haiti, aqua-culture in Cuba and whales in the Sea of Cortez. On 9/11, he was the first broadcast cameraman brought into the wreckage of the twin towers by the NYFD and provided ABC News with exclusive footage for broadcast; the effort garnered a second Emmy nomination. In 2003 he was an embedded cameraman with the US Army during the coalition forces’ push to Baghdad in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Tim currently freelances as a documentary and news feature cameraman for clients such as ABC Nightline, 20/20, Dateline NBC, PBS Frontline, Discovery Channel and BBC.

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Frank DeAngelis

Ted Duvall

Ted is an award-winning independent producer, writer and director, based in the Washington, DC area for nearly 20 years. His work has been featured on the Discovery Channel, TLC, History Channel, ESPN and National Geographic. Ted is a creative storyteller and a strong manager, skilled at crafting compelling programs in various genres including long form documentary, reality and hosted infotainment.

Maureen Foley

Maureen is a director, writer and producer. Her debut feature, Home Before Dark, was named Best American Independent Film at the 1997 Hamptons International Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize. It also appeared at Vancouver, The International Festival of Women’s Cinema and the Nantucket Film Festival. In the US, it was exhibited theatrically and aired on Showtime, Lifetime and PBS. Her second feature film, American Wake, had its world premiere at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. She is the author of four other screenplays: The Mentor, based on the novel by Sebastian Stuart; The Silence in the Garden, based on the novel by William Trevor; Criminals, based on the novel by Margot Livesey; and The Code Breakers, based on the lives and work of John and Elizabeth Friedman. Maureen also wrote and directed the award-winning short film For the Cure for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Justin Francese

Justin is a Boston-based documentary filmmaker and instructor. His work has appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting, NECN, Forbes.com, Bloomberg Television, HGTV, as well as in film festivals and video installations. He is currently working on three non-fiction projects: a long-form documentary about gender that follows the all-female performance troupe All the Kings Men, a social-issue documentary about the human ecology of New Hampshire, and a poetic biography of the minimalist composer Richard Crandell. He holds an MS in media studies from the University of Oregon and has been teaching production for five years.

Jack Harris

Jack is a television producer and editor based in Annapolis, MD. After receiving a history degree from Virginia Tech, he found himself in the multimedia department of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Within a few years he was covering Capitol Hill as a writer/producer for PBS. Jack has worked as a producer, editor (Final Cut and Avid) and shooter for Voice of America, Bloomberg TV, Speed TV, Court TV, HGTV HD, Discovery HD Theater and others. He is currently shooting the high-definition feature Fighting Words for PBS.

Phil Healy

Phil has been in the film and television industry for the past five years working in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. He found his niche authoring DVDs professionally for Quattro Media, a production, marketing and representation company in LA. At Quattro he produced various DVDs for creators and executives for clients such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Marvel Comics and Miramax Films. Phil studied Communications with a concentration in Film at Fitchburg State College.

Gary Henoch

Gary is an award-winning documentary and feature film cinematographer and producer whose documentary credits include NOVA, National Geographic, Frontline and many PBS series, Discovery Channel series and independent documentary projects. Recent documentary credits include Forgotten Genius, a two-hour NOVA about Dr. Percy Julian featuring Ruben Santiago Hudson; NOVA Ape Intelligence; Raptor Force; and Time Warp, a Discovery Channel series using the new Phantom HD high speed camera. He is most proud of producing, directing and filming the award-winning independent documentary, The Puppeteer. Recent feature film projects include The Legend of Lucy Keyes, starring Julie Delpy and Justin Theroux; Made-Up, the directorial debut of actor Tony Shalhoub, starring Shalhoub, Brooke Adams, Gary Sinise and Eva Amurri; and Bluebeard, based on the ancient folk-tale. Gary is a continuing guest teacher at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and also teaches dramatic and documentary filmmaking at CDIA. He is a member and manager of the Carter/Thor Studio, a Los Angeles-based acting studio founded by Cameron Thor, now in Boston.

Eric Hunsaker

Eric is a TV director with a background in feature film art direction and production design. Specializing in recreations and re-enactments, Eric has directed 32 episodes of a dramatic series television, as well as a dozen music videos, commercials and PSAs. Eric combines the visual and aesthetic sensibilities of cinematic style with the production ethos and budgets of independent digital filmmaking.

Chi-Ho Lee

Chi-Ho is a freelance editor and an Apple Certified Final Cut Pro trainer. His editing experience includes feature films and documentaries. His previous documentary, The Diary of Sacco and Vanzetti, aired on WGBH in 2004. His recent projects include editing The Bat Women of Panama and The Busker, an HD independent film shot locally in Boston. He has been teaching at various training centers such as Future Media Concepts, Boston Film and Video Foundation, the International Film & Television Workshops at Rockport, ME, Milton Academy and other training and educational institutions. Recent corporate clients include Oxygen Design, the government of Dubai, IBM, Schering-Plough, Springfield College and Center for Advanced Special Technologies.

Steve Maler

Steve’s first feature film, The Autumn Heart, starring Tyne Daly and Ally Sheedy and released in September 2000, was in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Choice award at The Nantucket Film Festival. He is Artistic Director of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC), which presents free productions of Shakespeare on the Boston Common. His CSC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, Small Resident Theatre Company. His production of Suburbia for the SpeakEasy Stage Company also won Best Production, Fringe Theatre Company. Other productions include Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Julius Caesar and The Tempest for CSC; Turn of the Screw for New Repertory Theatre; Santaland Diaries and Porcelain for the SpeakEasy; Top Girls and Weldon Rising for Coyote Theatre; and The LA Plays by Han Ong for the American Repertory Theatre. Steve is a graduate of the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.

Lisa Mozden

Lisa is a film editor who spent the past 11 years in Los Angeles working in postproduction on a variety of feature films. She worked mainly for Miramax Films and Wes Craven as assistant editor on Scream 2 and Scream 3. She also worked on projects with the Coen brothers, Wachowski brothers, David Zucker and John Frankenheimer. She has experience in editing on both film and Avid and was nominated for Best Editing for Hellraiser: Hellseeker. Lisa is currently editing at Powderhouse Productions in Boston, MA. She graduated from Boston University with a BA in Communications.

Theresa Murzyn

Theresa is a freelance film/video editor, graphic designer, writer and artist living in Washington, DC. Prior to her four plus years as a freelancer, she worked at Avid Technology headquarters where she gained her certification as an Avid technical representative and Avid instructor. Theresa also represented Avid for several years as a speaker at events including the annual NAB trade show in Las Vegas and MacWorld. She has a passion for documentary filmmaking and will soon expand her repertoire by providing voiceover for the US version of several international films.

Bob Nesson

Bob is an independent filmmaker and educator whose films cover war and politics, economics, urban issues, culture, history and the environment. His films on cities include Building Boston (PBS), which examines the impact and meaning of the built environment; Waterworks (PBS), a look at the history and features of Boston’s water system; and Off Track, which follows a grassroots effort to improve public transportation. His work as an educator includes development and production of the Jason Project, an effort to bring remote, ecologically sensitive locations such as rainforest canopies, lava fields and underwater cliffs to students in classrooms around the world with real-time, interactive video. Bob teaches documentary filmmaking at Emerson College and is active in grassroots groups working to improve sustainability and livability in local urban areas.

JP Ouellette

JP began filmmaking at the age of 14 and pursued it professionally after completing undergraduate studies in English and Graphic Design when he moved to LA, apprenticing first to filmmaker Russ Meyer, then director Orson Welles, and was also mentored by television directing legend Don Richardson. JP worked in independent films for such companies as Cannon Pictures, New Line Cinema, Orion Pictures and Roger Corman’s New World Cinema. He learned all of the aspects of filmmaking hands-on, including camera from Jan de Bont and Corman DP Gary Graver, lighting from award-winner Bill Klages, and stunt directing from Glenn Wilder. JP directed the second-unit action sequences for the Hemdale/Orion film The Terminator, directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He directed the cult hits H.P. Lovecraft’s The Unnameable and its sequel, writes feature screenplays and produces and directs documentaries and industrial projects.

Douglas Plante

Doug is a picture/sound editor, broadcast designer and multimedia developer specializing in educational and documentary film. Experience as lead rep for Avid’s Nitris support team gave him a unique technical background in high-definition workflows, which has allowed him to educate and inform through video, interactive and museum exhibit projects. He has put these skills to use as online editor, colorist and consultant for over 50 programs for the Discovery HD Theater channel, an episode of NOVA (The Deadliest Plane Crash) and several prime-time History Channel specials (Bible Battle, Aftershock, and Last Stand of the 300). With fluency in Final Cut Pro HD, Douglas has spent the past few years at the Harvard-Smithsonian Science Media Group editing an award-winning educational television series for the Annenberg Channel and serving as lead multimedia developer for several exhibits at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Tom Robotham

A Director of Photography in the International Cinematographers Guild, Tom has worked on feature films, commercials, music videos, documentaries and corporate projects. He has also written, produced, directed and edited commercials, PSAs and narrative shorts. His work has been seen in numerous festivals and has won awards for filmmaking, cinematography and editing. Prior to film and video, Tom was a sculptor; his work is in private and corporate collections and has been commissioned for large scale floating installations in the Charles River.

Mark Scalia

As a comedian and actor, Mark has been entertaining for over 17 years. He has been featured in many commercials for companies such as Nike and Verizon. His resume includes films, documentaries and television, including Law & Order and the Science Channel. His expertise includes emceeing corporate and private events for clients such as Verizon, IBM, Fidelity, Liberty Mutual and Boston Works. Mark also teaches acting, comedy and directing for Boston University, Toastmasters, John Robert Powers and several private clients.

Wendy Smith

Wendy trained in Europe with French New Wave ethnographic filmmaker Jean Rouch and received her PhD in his program. Her films were shown at the Cannes Film Market, the Cinema du Reel and numerous other national and international festivals. She currently teaches at several colleges and is in production on the final part of a three-part trilogy about home, memory and identity, Dwelling in Displacement.

Judith Snyderman

Judith is a Washington, DC-based independent producer, writer and researcher for television and web. She is a frequent contributor to nationally syndicated TV shows and has shot segments on location from Colorado to Capitol Hill. Her work can be seen overseas on Voice of America (VOA) television. She provides archival footage for PBS documentaries, corporate and non-profit clients. Judith gained Internet content development skills while working at National Public Radio and now trains VOA radio reporters to manage web content. As a veteran freelancer, Judith believes a broad range of hands-on experience is invaluable to building a sustainable career in digital media. Judith earned her MS in Radio/TV Broadcasting from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

Hillary Spera

Hillary works in New York City as a cinematographer and camera operator on documentaries, music videos, feature films and commercials. Her work has screened at film festivals including South by Southwest, Tribeca, Slamdance, SilverDocs, HotDocs, Los Angeles International and Doku.Arts in Berlin. Her television and commercial work includes content for the Independent Film Channel, Delta Airlines and Getty Images. Hillary’s recent work includes the award-winning documentaries Darkon (2006) and Alice Neel (2007), currently in distribution, and the dramatic feature, The Aristocrat.

Richard Stack

Richard spent 12 years in banking and financial services before finding his way onto sets for The History Channel, the BBC, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the feature film Gone Baby Gone. He has done on-location sound recording for clients such as AARP, Project Joy and Grand Slam Tennis Tours and various short films. Most recently he co-wrote and recorded sound for the feature film The Aristocrat.

Macaela Vandermost

Macaela earned her BS in Digital Media Production from The New England Institute of Art. A storyteller at heart, she prides herself on her ability to bring tone and aesthetic while staying on brand. As a freelance video editor in the Boston area, Macaela’s clients range from international advertising agencies to major network stations.

Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University • Waltham, MA • Washington, DC
Tel: 800-808-CDIA • Email: info@cdiabu.com