TEAM

Richard is an independent director whose work is focused on the intersection of art and contemporary American life. Previous film releases include, J. Fred Woell: An American Vision, I Know a Man ... Ashley Bryan, Imber’s Left Hand, and 15 others, all part of the Maine Masters collection, a New England Emmy-nominated series of portraits that airs on public television. With partner Melody Lewis-Kane, their company, Kane-Lewis Productions, has worked for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the White House Office of Technology Policy among many others. Kane-Lewis produced the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s 50th anniversary film Protecting the Nature of Maine, an indie doc ROCK SOLID: The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium and the classic award-winning documentary M.C. Richards: The Fire Within. From 2007-2016 Richard served as chair of the Maine Film & Video Association.

Melody is a potter, arts educator and filmmaker and is the primary consultant on all arts and education films produced by Kane-Lewis Productions. She is the “Lewis” partner in their production company and often acts as producer and interviewer. For Imber’s Left Hand Melody’s role was co-producer, interviewing several subjects and participating in all editing reviews. She was the producer of the documentary M.C. Richards: The Fire Within, selected for 12 film festivals winning Best Film at the Image Gazer Film Festival, and produced a series of arts–in-education teacher training films for the John F. Kennedy Center Education Department. Melody produced and co-wrote Arts & History: Storytelling funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Kennedy Center Education Department. She is the author of four arts-in-education curriculum guides including the guide that accompanies the Maine Masters film Stephen Pace: Maine Master, a film that was nominated for a New England Emmy Award. She is now guiding the development of a Resource Guide for Teachers and Librarians for I Know a Man … Ashley Bryan, in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Judith Dwan Hallet is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has been making films for 50 years. After college, she joined the Peace Corps and went to Tunisia where she made a film on the Berber Villages of Southern Tunisia. In 1986, National Geographic Television hired her as the Senior Producer for EXPLORER. There she oversaw more than 60 documentaries. She also produced and directed 4 of her own films including a documentary on Jane Goodall. In 1991, Judith formed her own company, JUDITH DWAN HALLET PRODUCTIONS. Over her career she has made over 100 documentaries in 17 countries around the world on subjects as diverse as a tribe living in tree houses in the rainforest of New Guinea, to the gauchos in Argentina, and a biography on Pope John Paul II as well as on the return of the buffalo to Yellowstone and the American Indian reservations. She has received many distinguished awards including Woman of Vision Creative Excellence Award from Women in Film and Video in Washington DC and an Emmy from The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition for her significant contributions to the broadcast industry.
Judith has been collaborating with Richard Kane since 1994.

Betty Burkes has been an educator/activist for five decades. She has been a Montessori teacher for children, a peace educator with the United Nations, and educational consultant with Rethinkers in New Orleans. Her activism has been expressed internationally and nationally with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and as a columnist at the Cape Cod Times. She began her meditation practice over 40 years ago with Phiroz Mehta at the Buddhist Society in London, and with Krishnamurti during his residences near London. Since 2001 those seeds of mindfulness and loving kindness have been nourished at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC). Betty has served on the CIMC Board since 2012.

Early in his career, Bob Elfstrom lucked into getting a job as camera operator for two fathers of the American documentary film movement, David and Albert Maysles. He shot three films for them including Gimme Shelter, about the Rolling Stones’ 1969 tour and their fateful Altamont Free Concert. Bob has shot and directed documentaries for half a century and won multiple Emmys and Academy Award nominations. His resume includes the likes of PBS, Frontline and National Geographic and a feature film with Brian De Palma and Robert De Niro. To appreciate Bob’s lengthy career, check out his film credits at www.bobelfstrom.com and imdb.

Marga Varea is the founder of Twin Seas Media, a Boston-based impact distribution boutique agency working with documentary films and documentary film festivals. With over twenty years of experience in film and television, Marga has a deep understanding of the industry and believes in the power of storytelling to engage, educate and transform. Marga has worked with dozens of documentary films and film festivals over the years in a variety of positions from screenwriter and script consultant to line and consulting producer. For the past decade, she has designed and led many exciting impact campaigns for films such as: Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North (2008, official SUNDANCE selection and PBS/POV), Lobster War (2018) Activized (2019) and A Reckoning in Boston (2020). Marga earned her Master’s degree in Journalism and Media Studies from Complutense University, Madrid, Spain; and completed a Film Conservation Ph.D program.