EDITOR
Hugh Williams

Hugh Williams is a London based veteran of the film industry having edited over 60 films, including documentaries covering diverse international topics. Many of his films have been shown at international film festivals and on the BBC.

His works include award winning documentaries, such as “When China Met Africa,” which won best film award at the Margret Mead Film Festival, and “The Undertaking,” winner of the silver award at the New York Film Festival. He also edited “After The Apocalypse” which was recently aired on More4 and nominated for a One World Media Award.

Hugh generally seeks to edit works that have social significance or have elements that are cutting edge.

COMPOSER
Danny Kuperberg

Danny Kuperberg is a musician with broad experience and skills in the areas of composition, performance, education and consulting.

He is currently Head of Music Technology at Woodhouse College in addition to continuing work performing and composing. He has taught music, music technology and audio production at various universities, including Hertfordshire University and De Montfort University.

Danny has also written original music for short film, film & television advertising as well as animated films. He holds a BA(Hons) in Performance Arts and an MA in Audio Production.

PRODUCER
Sophia Luvara

Sophia Luvara received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Torino, where she also studied for a PhD in Cancer Research, but in 2007 she discontinued her studies to move to London to follow her passion for documentary film production and direction.

Sophia began her film career in London working as a freelance researcher, camera operator and editor for advertising production companies. She then moved onto directing two documentaries, one on artificial insemination in animal husbandry , and a second, “The Great Mafia Orange Squeeze”, about African immigrant agricultural workers in a small southern Italy town who revolted against their employers, members of the “Ndrangheta” mafia family.

Sophia recently completed a trailer for her first feature documentary regarding the gay community in China. In addition to her work with The Media Ed Foundation, Sophia is editing a short film that she directed with a group of Arab and Jewish women in Israel about women in conflict areas. This film project was designed to train the participating women in media skills to increase their self-confidence and develop employment opportunities.

Sophia recently completed the Berlin based Masterschool program on documentary film production and direction.

PUBLICATIONS EDITOR
Tony Grenville

Anthony Grenville, son of Jewish refugees from Vienna who fled to London in 1938, was born in 1944. He has been a career academic since 1971. Educated at Oxford University (B.A., D.Phil.), he lectured in German at the universities of Reading, Bristol and Westminster until 1996. Since then, he has been the historian of the Association of Jewish Refugees, the organization that has represented the Jewish refugees from Nazism in Britain since 1941, and has been Consultant Editor of its monthly, AJR Journal, since 2006.

Anthony has published widely on the Jewish refugees from Hitler, including Jewish Refugees from Germany and Austria in Britain, 1933-1970 (London, 2010) and Osterreichische Emigration nach Grossbritannien ab 1938 (Vienna, 2011). He was responsible (with Dr Bea Lewkowicz) for creating the exhibition Continental Britons: Jewish Refugees from Nazi Europe (London, 2002), the collection of filmed interviews Refugee Voices (2008) and the exhibition Double Exposure: Jewish Refugees from Austria in Britain (London and Vienna, 2011). He has made a number of appearances on television.

DIRECTOR
Barbara J. Weber

Barbara J. Weber is an award winning film composer, sound designer and violinist. Barbara has scored the music to over 30 films since she began composing for film just five years ago. Several of these films have been selected at major film festivals (Cannes Film Festival). Presently, she is being nominated for “Best Soundtrack” for her score of “Baggage” at the Macabre Film Festival in NYC this January 2014.

Barbara attended the high school of Performing Arts in New York City and the Juilliard School. She was a student of the esteemed violin pedagogue, Ivan Galamian who is credited for teaching a roster of today’s leading violinists such as Itzhak Perlman and Pincus Zuckerman amongst others.

DIRECTOR
Sunil Mahtani

Sunil Mahtani is the founder and President of Kingfisher Investors LLC, an investment manager based in the USA, which manages investment funds and separately managed accounts for various clients. Previously, he worked as a credit analyst in New York for FGIC Inc., a financial guarantor which was a subsidiary of GE Capital, and for Capital Guaranty Insurance Company in San Francisco.

Sunil is a director of the India Business Excellence Fund I, a $125 million private equity fund investing in India since 2007. He is also a director of India Business Excellence Fund II, a $150 million private equity fund, and Athena India Fund, a public markets fund also focused on India.

Sunil received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics with First Class Honors, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He lives in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife and daughter.

PHOTOGRAPHER
Diana Baylis

Diana Baylis studied Photography & Digital Imaging at Westminster University, followed by Audio & Film Production at London College of Music & Media.

After completing university she further studied Film and Editing before beginning a successful career in photography, focusing on Fine Art Photography, Portraiture and Fashion.

Diana continues to work on her own projects while taking on still and motion picture creation with The Media Ed Foundation. She has been with the foundation since its conception and has now also moved onto working in general production.

DIRECTOR
Charles Silberstein

Charles Silberstein is a former investment banker who is now dedicating his efforts to the production of documentaries, with the exception of the time he spends in India as a member of the Board of IFMR Capital, a Chennai based company focused on the improvement of the rural Indian economy. As an investment banker, Charles worked in the area of international infrastructure finance focusing on railroads, toll roads, airports, power, water, hospitals and schools. He was active in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

Charles left full time financial work in 2008 and has since then spent most of his time researching the topics that are now a focus of The Media Ed Foundation. Charles’ working group includes academics, film producers and directors, and he is working in conjunction with Indian media production companies that can be used to outsource elements of film production, including animation.

Charles is a US citizen, but has lived in London since 1996, though he also spends time in New York and India. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian Studies from UCLA (1975) and an MBA in finance from New York University (1979). Charles is an amateur but enthusiastic musician and photographer.