Filmmakers

Alex Karpovsky, Director, Editor, Producer

Alex Karpovsky’s first feature-length film, The Hole Story, was completed in 2006. Described by Indiewire as “Amazing: smart, hilarious and surprisingly profound,” the existential black comedy earned Alex a slot in Filmmaker Magazine’s annual “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a short-listing for the “Someone to Watch” Independent Spirit Award, and the key to a rural city in Northern Minnesota. Alex’s award-winning follow-up, Woodpecker, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival last year and will be released this autumn. Also an actor, Alex most recently played the male lead in Beeswax, a new film by Andrew Bujalski which premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival; the voices of several Russian gangsters in the recently released Grand Theft Auto IV; Mean Man Mike in Robert Byington’sHarmony and Me, which premiered at the 2009 New Directors/New Films Series; Paul Lucas in Bryan Poyser’s Lovers of Hate, which will premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival; and Vlad in Linas Phillips’ Bass Ackwards, which will also premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Rick Edrich, Executive Producer

Rick Edrich has spent the last ten years producing film and video projects from Spot Creative, which he co-founded with John Andres. Among the films he’s produced are Cry Funny Happy, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, The Hole Story, which premiered at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, Woodpecker, which premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival, Creative Nature, which premiered at the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival, and First Person Singular, which premiered in March 2009 at the Cinequest Film Festival.

John Andres, Executive Producer

A Co-founder of Spot Creative, John Andres has brought his extensive experience as director, producer, and editor to create film, television and video programming. John’s projects include ArtsBreak, a documentary series for Bravo, The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story, nominated for an Academy Award. Creative Nature about artist William Morris, which earned “Best of the Fest” at Palm Springs International Film Festival. His first feature film as Executive Producer, Cry Funny Happy, was an Official Selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Together with Rick Edrich and their Spot Creative teams, John has gone on to produce six more feature films. In 2003, John lensed The Art & Soul of Magic: Stories of Black American Magicians, a documentary about black magicians in America which is seeking distribution. In addition to Bravo, his broadcast credits include ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, ESPN, TNT, TBS, IFC and Sundance Channel. His advertising projects have screened internationally at the Asia Pacific and Cannes Lions International Advertising Festivals, and have received numerous recognitions including prizes at the Communication Arts, One Show and London International Advertising Awards. Currently, John and Rick have multiple dramatic feature films in festival submission and two new documentary series in development.

Adam Roffman, Producer

Adam Roffman has worked in props and set decoration on over 30 features with directors such as Robert Altman, Martin Scorcese, David Mamet, and Martin Campbell. In 2001 he wrote and directed the short film The Terror of the Invisible Man, which was acquired by the Independent Film Channel. In 2003 Adam co-founded the Independent Film Festival of Boston and has acted as its Program Director since its inception. In 2008 Adam produced Alex Karpvosky’s feature film Woodpecker which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and went on to great acclaim on the festival circuit.

David Modigliani, Producer

David Modigliani was recently named one of the “next great Texas directors” by Texas Monthly Magazine. His feature-length documentary, Crawford, about the tiny Texas town George Bush turned into the Western White House, was a spotlight premiere at SXSW in 2008. Variety calls it “poignant,” Premiere calls it “richly compelling” and the New York Sun calls it “revelatory.” Modigliani has made national appearances on CNN and MSNBC to discuss his work and was featured in a recent Wall St. Journal article on his groundbreaking distribution model, which involved the first major online film premiere. He has a BA from Harvard University and an MFA from UT Austin.

Jessica Wolfson, Producer

Jessica Wolfson has produced and directed many critically acclaimed documentary films and series. Her current documentaries include Radio Unnameable, about legendary FM Radio DJ Bob Fass and his freeform program Radio Unnameable and A Girl and a Gun about women in America’s relationship with firearms. Her recent projects have included Girltalk, a 16 episode web series for Healthination.com and documentary Crazy Sexy Cancer, which premiered on TLC in August 2007. Through her former position at IFC, Jessica played a key role in developing and producing documentaries and series including This Film is Not Yet Rated by Kirby Dick, The Bridge by Eric Steele, Slasher by John Landis and series Greg the Bunny, Film School, and Dinner for Five, which she produced a Emmy Nominated episode in 2005.

Asaf Ronen, Producer

Asaf Ronen was born in Jerusalem, Israel, but was raised in New York City where he discovered the art of improvisation during college. He has since devoted his life to its production, performance and teaching across the United States and to the far corners of the world. He is the Editor-in-Chief of YESand.com and has written the book Directing Improv: Show the Way by Getting Out of the Way, the only title currently available on the topic. Currently, he resides in Austin, TX where he is the Managing Director of the Austin Improv Collective.

Ari Boles, Director of Photography

James Lavino, Music

This is James’s third collaboration with Alex. His soundtrack album for Alex’s last movie, Woodpecker, features performances by Colin Greenwood (Radiohead) and Lee and Tyler Sargent (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) and was hailed by The Guardian as “stunning… warm… gorgeous”. James has also scored award-winning documentaries for HBO and the BBC, composed choral music for the choirs of Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, and written songs for Disney. You can hear James’s music (including some of his music for Trust Us…), and find out more about his work, at www.jameslavino.com.

Erik Martin, Associate Producer

Erik Martin grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is an online marketer who works with independent films and entertainment communities. He is the “community manager & troublemaker” for social news site reddit.com. An improviser since high school, Erik performs regularly at New York’s Magnet Theater. Erik is also a “senior agent” and videographer for the public pranksters Improv Everywhere, and manages teen Hip-Hop group 308 Boyz.