Delacroix Productions

Anthony is an award-winning filmmaker but he came to film late after a hectic twenty year corporate career that left him feeling lucky but spent and lacking.

He says that it was when he started seeing 'Film' through the eyes of a student that the desire to live and tell an adventure took hold.

He was born in Madrid and raised in Paris. His father was English, mother French and is now an American national. He says that he thinks of himself as 'Euro-mutt', only with a blue passport. When talking about his multi-cultural formative years, he says "For 11 years at an international school, I sat next to the children of those who shot down and killed my uncle over Dunkirk and amongst the offspring of those who'd looked the other way as their Jewish neighbours were taken. But we were not there to judge or seek revenge. Casting out the 'others’, nourishing resentment never made sense; we were taught early that this was self-defeating. Compassion and understanding, even for one's tormentors, was the right thing. This wasn't specifically Christian or Jewish or even religiously motivated, it was just right."

His career in investment services began as an analyst, collecting information, collating and then communicating his research. These results were published in specialist journals; in excess of 90 publications over 10 years. A few bits and bobs appeared in the Financial Times and Le Monde and then, much later, in London School of Economics and University College London papers. He says ' It was then that I developed a taste for meeting and interviewing people and getting them to tell me stories that I would organise, synthesize and then pass on, albeit in a rather dry language. I acquired a deep connection to the art of imparting understanding.'

When his father died quite suddenly, Colin Haden West had just finished writing a book, 'Living Without God'. Although it was his own story of wrestling with religious authority, the text itself was actually full of unquenched spiritual curiosity. Anthony says "Dad’s own interest in 'God' and what it means to humankind was something he passed on to me."

"When New York's twin towers were destroyed, as I saw countless colleagues loose their lives, and then as US foreign policy plumbed new depths, with religiously fuelled rage often in the background, the stage was set for me to break from my comfy bourgeois existence and start my own adventure in deeper understanding. Film, rather than prose, has turned out to be my medium."

Greg Grano is a director, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles. Greg's feature documentary American Bear: An Adventure in the Kindness of Strangers explores trust and fear across the US and was released on a national educational screening tour as well as on DVD and digital platforms. In 2016, Greg spent ten months traveling in Asia, Africa, and Europe, developing a multimedia project on global connections and colonial legacies.

Greg has served as producer, director, and/or editor on more than thirty short films and several feature films for festivals and web-based audiences. In addition to creative roles, Greg teaches filmmaking with several non-profits in Los Angeles, mentoring students in their emerging storytelling experiences. Greg has a BFA in Film and Television from New York University and an MS in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University.

Greg is currently editing Delacroix Productions' second feature film.

www.gregorygrano.com

Paula began her career in the film industry in 1992 as a documentary director with Northern Visions in Belfast, making films for Channel Four and WNET 13 in NY . Since then she has worked in the film industry in a variety of roles from script to screen including documentary & drama director, art department and material acquisitions for Wild Bunch Sales. Paula has worked in several territories including US for independent production companies Killer Films in NYC and Palomar Pictures in LA.

Most recently Paula was the DI producer on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and produced a feature documentary XV Beyond the Tryline about rugby for Universal Pictures. She was nominated for a BIFA for her role as Producer on Winter (2015) and other credits include producer La Boheme Live at Soho Theatre (2015) and Calloused Hands (2013).

Nathaniel is a documentary filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. He received the Chancellor’s International Scholarship to complete his Masters in Journalism and Documentary at The University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. In 2016 he was selected as one of eight emerging filmmakers from across Canada to participate in the Hot Docs Documentary Channel Doc Accelerator Program.

During his time in the United Kingdom he interned on the BBC documentary series ‘BBC Scotland Investigates’ before working as a Freelance Floor Manager for ITV News in London.

His short documentary Days in the Quarter had it's North American premier at the DOCUTAH film festival where it was nominated for best cinematography. He is currently developing new projects in Vancouver, BC, New Mexico, and Alabama.

“Cellist and singer Ayanna Witter-Johnson has to be heard to be believed. Her self-assured style blends a honey-sweet vocal delivery with bewitching cello-playing.” Time Out

“… a huge talent … like a young Cassandra Wilson would have sounded if she also happened to be a fine cellist.” Jazzwise

Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a vocalist, cellist, pianist and composer. Nominated for a 2012 MOBO Award, she is an extraordinary performer.

In 2008 she was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme in addition to becoming an Emerging Artist in Residence (EAR) at London’s Southbank Centre and graduated from Trinity College of Music in London with a First Class Degree in Classical Composition. In 2010 she became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC where she completed a Masters of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music.

Since releasing her debut recording ‘Truthfully’, produced by Marc Mac (4Hero) she’s been nominated for a MOBO Award, recorded with the Kronos Quartet, Akala and was invited to join Anoushka Shankar's band for the worldwide tour of her album 'Traces of You' feat. Norah Jones. Following the release of her second EP Black Panther to rave reviews Ayanna has been commissioned by the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company and the LSO Brass Ensemble. Last summer she has supported UK songstress Gabrielle and toured in Laura Mvula's band. Ayanna is now recording her debut album for release in Summer 2017.

www.ayannamusic.com

@AyannaWJ

/AyannaWJ

Though the Icelandic composer, Bjarni Biering Margeirsson was born in Reykjavík his talent has been uniquely influenced and crafted by informative experiences outside the land of ice and fire.

Moving to Mozambique at the age of thirteen he continued his studies of classical piano, but was soon drawn into composition after discovering the freedom of Jazz and building on his childhood explorations of electronic music programming. His early musical heroes were the French Impressionists, and like them he was drawn to harmonic exploration and the creative freedom of improvisation.

In 2003 he transferred to Michaelhouse in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, where he continued competing, giving recitals and also toured the UK in a jazz band with Tandile Mandela, playing a fusion of Big Band and African music. Deconstructing his classical repertoire and keenly sensitised by the repetitive rhythms and melodic sound world of African music, he began the search for his voice as a composer.

Back home playing in gigs and festivals and with tours to northern Europe, he fully immersed himself in the Icelandic music scene. He co-founded Shadow Parade, playing, composing and producing. Then, inspired by the endless creative potential of modern recording technology, he returned to his classical roots and studied composition at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, specializing in music for the screen and other visual media. Here he explored his interest in film composition and found tutelage under Úlfar Ingi Haraldsson and the Oscar nominated Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson.

During this time he enjoyed a six months Erasmus exchange at the Royal Conservatory in Aarhus, Denmark, where he had the opportunity to work with the Danish Institute for Electro-acoustic Music (DIEM). The culmination of his studies was a re-edit and re-score of the seminal 1928 film The Crowd, which was rapturously received by the Icelandic Academy.

On completion of his studies in Iceland, he travelled to the UK for an MA in Composition for Film and Television at the University of Bristol, where he composed music for the Bristol Ensemble and deepened his knowledge of composition, orchestration and film.

Since living in the UK, Bjarni has been involved in numerous musical projects ranging from large orchestral works, to writing and producing popular music and dance tracks. His most recent film project was scoring the feature length 'Having You' starring Anna Friel and Romola Garai, which he composed in collaboration with the award-winning composer Simon Bass.

Not satisfied with involvement in the creative aspect alone, Bjarni recently founded Maven, a music agency specialising in the composition and production of music for film, ads and video games. He met his business partner while living and working on a start up in New York in 2011 and they already have a talented roster of DJs and some exciting upcoming projects.

In addition to his newest business venture, Bjarni is working on a string quartet, the score for a short film and the production of a folk tale operetta. This year he has been busy travelling to New York, Berlin and Reykjavik for work, and has an upcoming trip to LA. The rest of his time, he can be found in London, where he lives with his wife.

www.bbmmusic.com

www.mavensound.com