Film Team

Sara Truebridge, Ed.D. , Education Consultant

Sara Truebridge is a Research Associate with WestEd researching, authoring, and presenting best practices in the field of prevention and resilience as it relates to education, school climate, and youth development theory, policy, and practice.

After 20 years of credentialed classroom experience ranging from pre-kindergarten to high school, Truebridge was Founder and President of Sincerely, Kids Inc.®, a child-centered consulting firm providing Educational C.A.R.E. — Consulting, Advocacy, Resources, and Education. Prior to teaching, she was the Legislative Analyst for education in the New York State Senate. Truebridge earned her Ed.D. and M.A. from Mills College and B.A. from Denison University. She holds certificates from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s program, Closing the Achievement Gap and UC Berkeley’s program, Children and the Changing Family. Truebridge is one of two international recipients of the 2005 Howard M. Soule Fellowship for Doctoral Studies: a Phi Delta Kappa Graduate Fellowship in Educational Leadership.

Vicki Abeles , Producer and Co-Director

Vicki Abeles, began her career as a corporate attorney in 1986 at the prestigious New York law firm of Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, where she represented clients in a wide range of transactions. In 1989 she joined the gold desk at Goldman Sachs. By 1996 she was advising the media firm Outdoor Systems, (now part of Viacom), as it prepared to launch its IPO. For the past 10 years, she has advised clients on investments, legal and tax needs. Through bold and insightful works on film, Vicki intends to bring to center stage critical issues, such as the impact on young people of run-away family stress and the need for workable solutions to issues surrounding America’s troubled educational system.

Jessica Congdon , Editor and Co-Director

Jessica has worked as a film editor for the last 12 years. Her latest documentary feature films 'Speed and Angels,' directed by Peyton Wilson and ‘Motherland,’ directed by Jennifer Steinman have been screening at film festivals nationally. Her latest narrative feature film ‘Baby-O,’ directed by Charles Matthau, is due for release in fall 2009. The feature film 'Her Minor Thing,' also directed by Charlie Matthau, premiered at the Seattle Film Festival in June, 2005. She edited the feature film 'Dopamine,' directed by Mark Decena, an award-winning film at Sundance 2003. As a commercial editor, she is a founding editor of Umlaut Films in San Francisco. She has edited national and international television campaigns for clients including Budweiser, Isuzu, Nike, Saturn, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Adidas, Bugaboo, AT&T, and Hilton. The NBC11 'Illuminating' campaign, directed by Ron Fricke, won an Emmy in 2005. She also edited a TV pilot entitled ‘Brilliant Green’ for the Ovation Network.

Mark Adler , Composer

Composer Mark Adler’s recent projects include “Food, Inc.” produced by Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser, and “Bottle Shock,” starring Alan Rickman and Chris Pine. He won a Primetime Emmy for his work on HBO’s “The Rat Pack” and was nominated for “Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone,” starring Nigel Hawthorne. Other projects include scores for over 40 documentaries (including numerous National Geographic Specials) and numerous TV movies (among them two for Hallmark Hall of Fame). He also composed the theme for the PBS series, “American Experience.” Feature film scores include Paramount Classics’ “Focus,” based on Arthur Miller’s novel and starring William H. Macy and Laura Dern, the Miramax film "Picture Bride,” Wayne Wang’s “Eat A Bowl of Tea” and three Oscar-nominated feature documentaries. Mark attended elementary school in Mill Valley, where he first fell in love with movies at the Sequoia Theater.

Sophia Constantinou , Consulting Director/Cinematographer

Sophia’s work has earned international acclaim for tackling difficult topics with artistry and sensitivity. She has produced, directed and photographed several award-winning documentaries, including "Divided Loyalties ," an intensely personal, feature-length exploration of the conflict in Cyprus (Golden Gate Award, 1999); "Between the Lines ," about women and self-injury (Golden Gate Award, 1998); and "Impact Zone" (Best Experimental Film, NY Underground Film Festival, 1997.) Her cinematography credits include HBO’s "Unchained Memories, PBS’ “Presumed Guilty”, and KQED’S Emmy Award winning "Home Front." She received her BA in Film Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s from San Francisco State University. She teaches cinematography and directing at the City College of San Francisco and has been mentoring at-risk youth in filmmaking and cinematography for much of the past decade.

Maimone Attia , Writer and Cinematographer

Drawn to storytelling since he was 7, Maimone Attia studied creative writing, film production and critical studies at USC, from which he received a B.A. in Cinema-Television. He now works as a children's entertainer, freelance videographer, and writer. Maimone writes, shoots, directs and edits short films independently. His narrative films are expressionistic stories, often psychological thrillers which use fantasy as a metaphor for complex emotional states.

Kira Lancaster , Consultant

Kira Dahlgren Lancaster has spent much of her career on the stage and in front of the camera. Most recently, Kira’s work has been focused behind the camera, on RACE TO NOWHERE as well as on her documentary film, MAKING MOLLY, in which she is acting, as well as writing, and directing. Her educational experiences combined with recent motherhood have made her passionate about improving education and contributing to the well being of young people. Kira Dahlgren Lancaster lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and two year old daughter, Lara Grace.

Steve Relova , Development Director

Steve Relova is the Creative Director of a San Francisco Bay Area Television Station where he has worked for over 20 years. In his tenure there, he’s produced and written for news, sports, travel, special and live programming and documentaries. He’s received awards from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Radio Television News Director’s Association for documentary and special programming featuring stories ranging from the struggle of disenfranchised students to animal rights. He’s worked on projects with hundreds of local and national non-profit organizations and has served on several non-profit boards. He has a Masters degree in Film and is the father of 8 and 11 year old daughters.

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