Lynn Hershman-Leeson 's first feature film, Conceiving Ada, starring Tilda
Swinton, Karen Black, and Timothy Leary was shown at the 1998 Sundance Film
Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival, The Berlin International Film Festival, Montreal Festival of New Cinema, Riocinne and 35 other festivals worldwide. It received the award of "Outstanding Achievement in Drama" from the Festival of Electronic Cinema in Japan as well as the Iomega Award for Technical Innovation and the National Education Media Festival award for Outstanding Technical Innovation. Pioneering digital processes were used to create virtual sets for this film. Conceiving Ada was released by Fox Lorber in February, 1999 and on DVD in February 2000 She was the first woman to receive a tribute and retrospective at the San Francisco International Film Festival (1994) and was awarded the ZKM/Seimens Media Arts Award in 1995. In 1998 she was a Sundance Screenwriter Fellow and was also honored with the Flintridge Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts. In 1999 she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award, and she received the prestigious Golden Nica Prix Ars Electronica in Austria. Her artwork is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Canada, The ZKM Mediammuseum, The Hess Collection and others.
While in Europe until the late 1980s, Youssef Vahabzadeh had a diverse international business career. His business activities have included a position as Director/Administrator for AFIWA S.A., a family-owned import/export finance and management concern previously in business with Caterpillar Tractor Company, Philips N.V. and ABN/Amro Bank. He was a Shareholder/Director of Exaquo S.A., a book publishing and wristwatch manufacturer. He also founded and served as the Administrator of Ecole des Technologies Musicales, the sole Geneva-based Contemporary School of Music. In 1986 he formed Blue Turtle, Inc., a US based film and television company, which became active in 1989 when he moved to Los Angeles. From 1990-5, Blue Turtle was partnered with Robert Schaffel to form Eclectic Films, during which time they produced Diggstown, starring James Woods and Louis Gosset, Jr., released by MGM in 1992, and Pontiac Moon, starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, released in 1994 by Paramount Pictures. Currently, He has three projects close to production: The Thought Gang, to be directed by Richard Loncraine (Richard III), The Red Cross Project written by Ron Bass and David Field, and Oil and Water, a romantic comedy written and to be directed by Terence Gross (Hotel Splendide).
Brad King is a seasoned entrepreneur with significant experience in creating and marketing innovative technologies. He has focused his career over the past 12 years on the real-time information business playing an integral role in developing four different companies. King was an early pioneer in the World Wide Web having launched in 1994 one of the first Internet technology companies, Presence Information Design. He was also a founder of the highly successful Net Effect, Inc sold to Ask Jeeves in 1999.
Having recently launched Epiphany Entertainment, he is also experienced in producing feature length independent films. His expertise in creating and building innovative concepts in media and technology lends itself to producing such films as TEKNOLUST. As a producer, King provides creative visionary skills, strategic planning skills, and expertise in organizing, leading, and delivering a concept from inception to a finished product. He recently completed the romantic comedy, Falling For It starring Sean Barnes and Jennifer Loto.
Amy Sommer - Executive Producer
Sommer began her career in 1989 with Maury Povich at “A Current Affair,’ then followed him to his eponymous talk show as an associate producer. She moved to Los Angeles in 1993 where she worked at ICM and then as director of development for Alexander/Enright Productions.
In 1995, she co-founded SomFord Entertainment. Their first feature documentary, “Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” examined the 1993 tragedy in Waco, Texas was nominated for an Oscar and earned an Emmy. Her second documentary, the critically acclaimed “The Jaundiced Eye” is about a wrongfully convicted child abuser. Her latest film, “Mama/M.A.M.A.,” questions the validity of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, arguing that in many cases doctors’ over medication of infants may be the real cause of their infirmity rather than the mother's mental illness.
In addition, Sommer served as the co-executive producer of “Unprecedented: the 2000 Presidential Election,” an investigation into Florida voting irregularities. She is the Executive Producer, along with Andy Vajna, of “Freedom’s Fury” an exploration of the Hungarian Water Polo Team and the political backdrop against which they competed in the 1956 Olympics. Documentaries in the works include one on gay subcultures in sports and another on the US Disabled Olympic Ski Team.
Narrative films include “Blue
Car” (Miramax) starring Agnes Nixon; “Teknolust” (Think
Films) starring Tilda Swinton; “Food for the Heart,” (Creative
Light Worldwide/Razor Digital) starring Jorja Fox and “Deadly
Little Secrets,” (Think Films/Main Line Releasing) starring Craig
Sheffer, Dylan Walsh, Dina Meyer, and Michele Hicks.
Sommer holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, and a M.A. from Teachers College,
Columbia Univesity. She serves on the board of The ACLU of Southern California,
The Pacific Hills School and is founder and head of Wellesley Women in Entertainment.
