Creative Team

Meesh is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist working in film, music and theatre. She has screened and performed internationally and has more than a decade of experience working as an actor, writer, director, editor, and cinematographer. Meesh is known as a gifted collaborator and has worked with dozens of artists, most notably Shirin Neshat, Philip Glass, and Dr. Ysaye Barnwell. She is a nationally renowned public speaker who has taught at museums and cultural centers throughout the country, including the Santa Fe Art Institute, University of Minnesota and the Walker Art Center. In 2005, Meesh transitioned to feature screenwriter with the musical comedy My Life as a Terrorist. Early drafts garnered a Jerome Media Arts Grant, Mill Foundation Writing Fellowship, Writer’s Arc Fellowship and was shortlisted for the Sundance, Outfest & Film Independent Screenwriting Labs. She is also the recipient of the 2007 Barbara Boyle Scholarship Award for most promising talent as a filmmaker and outstanding participation in Film Independent's Project:Involve Fellowship program. Most recently, she was awarded The 2009 Ragdale Foundation Fellowship and is currently a finalist for the 2010 Goldwell Foundation Artist Residency.

Angela Salamanca was born and raised in the conservative Catholic society of Panama City during the Noriega Crisis and U.S. invasion of 1989. Determined to follow her dreams of becoming a filmmaker, she attended film school at Florida State University during which time she completed two shorts: Bipolar and Magic. After graduating in 2002, she relocated to Los Angeles and obtained her Masters degree in Arts and Media Teaching at National University. Salamanca has worked on several films since, including Jamie Babbit's Itty Bitty Titty Committee, and at different production and media companies including Baseline StudioSystems. Currently, she is working on her own feature script entitled IMPOSSIBLE LIFE while busy as associate editor at The Hollywood Reporter.

David is an interdisciplinary artist, the Founder and Executive Producer of the Boulder International Fringe Festival and the Technical Director of the MFA and BFA Programs in Contemporary Performance at Naropa University in Colorado. In addition to his own eclectic repertoire of original performance works, Mr. Ortolano has designed, created, directed and performed in hundreds of films, videos and live productions. Working across the US, Europe and South East Asia for over 20 years, David has collaborated with a variety of world-renowned contemporary artists including: PhilipGlass, Meredith Monk, Barbara Dilley, Katsura Kan, Steven Segal, Tin Hat Trio, Steve Wangh, Leigh Fondakowski and Ruth Zaporah. Mr. Ortolano is an accomplished musician with extensive experience in composition, sound acoustics, costume design and lighting design. All of David’s work is influenced by his comprehensive training in Balinese Performance and Culture, Action Theater, Mudra Theater, Dharma Art and Lecoq Physical Theater.

Koji Steven Sakai is a graduate from the University of Southern California’s Masters of Professional Writing program. Koji's first film, Haunted Highway, was directed by Junichi Suzuki and distributed by Lions Gate DVD. He co-wrote it with Naoko Ihara Witmer and the director. He has held several fellowships, starting with the most recent, which include: The Producer’s Guild: Power of Diversity Workshop (2009), Film Independent’s Project: Involve (2007), Visual Communication’s Armed With a Camera (2006), and Screenwriting Expo 4: New Visions Fellowship award (2005). Koji also wrote and produced The People I Slept With, a feature romantic comedy directed by Quentin Lee (Ethan Mao, Shopping for Fangs) and staring Karin Anna Cheung (Better Luck Tomorrow), Wilson Cruz (My So-Called Life, Rent), Archie Kao (Power Rangers, CSI), and James Shigeta (Flower Drum Song, Midway). The People I Slept With will be premiering in the fall of 2009.

Emily Brauer Rogers moved to Los Angeles to get a Masters in Professional Writing with emphasis on dramatic writing from the University of Southern California. She also attended the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. Since then, she’s had two full length plays, Searching for Americana and Hardcore: Women’s Reflections on Iraq produced as well as optioned two screenplays. She’s also been published in a Smith and Kraus anthology, 161 Monologues from Literature. Emily has had several ten minute and one act plays read and produced in San Diego, New York, Orange County, and Indiana. She has written seven full length plays and seven screenplays. Emily also served as the managing director for a small subversive theatre company called the Hunger Artists from 2006-2008. While there she started an international playwriting festival, Beyond Convention, and is now in her third year of producing it. She has worked in theatre and film through internships at DreamWorks, John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. She currently teaches analytical writing at the University of California, Irvine.

Rachel Garza came to Los Angeles 4 years ago after cutting her teeth in production at CMT in Nashville, TN. In that short time, Rachel has amassed over 50 television credits as a Production Coordinator and Production Manager for ABC, CBS, CNN, MTV, VH1 and CMT. Rachel is a completely self-taught producer who is known for her collaborative skills and keen ability to get the job done under any condition and with very few resources. Armed with the singular goal of telling diverse stories, Rachel has lent her producing talents to several award winning short films, including: Long Ago, Dark Yellow, and Unlovable.

Rachel Morrison received her Masters degree in Cinematography from the American Film Institute. Her first feature, “Palo Alto,” starring Tom Arnold, Ben Savage, and Autumn Reeser premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rachel has photographed numerous short films, including “Redemption Maddie”which won AFI Dallas, and “Still Life” which was featured at Camerimage, the prestigious cinematography festival, in Lodz, Poland. In addition to narrative, Rachel has shot for Biography, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NBC, PBS, Showtime, and USA. She was recently nominated for an Emmy in cinematography for her contribution to “Riker's High,” a documentary about a high school within the Rikerʼs Island Prison system. She is currently photographing MTVʼs most successful show to date, The Hills.