FILMMAKERS
RIAN BROWN, DIRECTOR
Rian Brown is an award-winning filmmaker, visual artist, and Chair of Cinema and Media at Oberlin College. Her work blends documentary, hand-painted animation, and experimental filmmaking to explore identity, memory, women's lives, and social justice. For the past two decades she has written, produced and directed many short films including INTO THE SCRUM, PRESENCE OF WATER, and BLUE DESERT which have screened at the L.A. Hammer Museum of Art, Harvard Film Archive, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Anchorage Museum of Art and MOCA Cleveland. She was an Associate Producer for feature documentary, RAISE THE ROOF, which appeared on PBS in 2017. She co-directed and produced the feature documentary, THE FOREIGNER’S HOME - TONI MORRISON AT THE LOUVRE which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and screened internationally at the British Film Institute, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the National Gallery of Art, the Hammer Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and other museums and festivals worldwide. Brown continues to create films that transform intimate personal stories into broader cultural conversations. ALL BOUND UP is her second feature documentary.
MARIE BROWN, assistant Director and writer
Marie Brown, is a director, maker, and performer. Brown’s work spans theatre, film, writing, movement, music, and making. She is drawn to collaborations that invite innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches to asking challenging questions, building connections, cultivating curiosity, and empowering the voice, body, hands, and heart.
Brown is currently the Executive Director of Handshouse Studio, a non-profit educational organization that creates innovative hands-on experiences with partners around the world as a way to illuminate history, understand science, and perpetuate the arts. She has previously taught at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Montserrat College of Art, Chester College of New England, the University of Texas at Austin, Williston Northampton School, Northampton High School, and directed works in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington State, Washington, DC, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Poland, Thailand, and Czech. Brown received her Master of Fine Arts in Directing Theatre from the University of Texas (Austin, TX), and her Bachelor of Art in Music and Theatre from the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA.)
You can see more of Brown’s work at www.mariesbrown.com and www.handshouse.org.
YARI WOLINSKY, EDITOR
Yari Wolinsky is a director, editor, and cinematographer whose work in film has taken him into the worlds of science, history, architecture, and culture.
Wolinsky began his career at John Rubin Productions, where he worked on PBS documentaries including Raptor Force, The Living Weapon, and Ape Genius. He founded Trillium Studios Film to produce documentary, educational, editorial, and commercial films for organizations including National Geographic, PBS, ServiceTitan, MIT, Viant, McLean Hospital, and Helping Hands Monkey Helpers.
Wolinsky directed Raise the Roof, a feature documentary made with his father, Cary Wolinsky. The film follows a ten-year effort to reconstruct the elaborate wooden roof and painted ceiling of an 18th-century Polish synagogue—a project involving craftsmanship, history, international travel, and enormous amounts of wood. The film went on to screen at Jewish film festivals around the world and received several awards.
Wolinsky has contributed his editorial expertise to several acclaimed documentary projects, including The Foreigner’s Home, a feature exploring Toni Morrison’s artistic and intellectual vision; Fireboys, which follows incarcerated young men training to fight California wildfires; and The Return of Elder Pingree, a personal documentary about a former Mormon missionary confronting his past and departure from the faith.
In 2021, Yari created Turnaround Films. The project tells short, accessible stories about people and communities working to adapt to a changing environment—from restoring rivers and managing drought to reducing urban heat, improving stormwater management, and rethinking winter road salt. Its films are designed for broad public and educational use, with the goal of turning complex environmental issues into compelling stories that inspire people to take action.
Wolinsky’s work reflects a longstanding interest in people, places, ideas, and the compelling stories that emerge when they are brought together.
ANNALISE CURL, ANIMATOR
Annalisa Curl is a filmmaker, animator and illustrator from Hopkinton, Massachusetts. She studied Film, Dance, Gender, and Africana studies at Oberlin College, and is now exploring a career in visual storytelling. Her work, whether 2D, 3D, or a mix of the two, blends sociological research with fantasy driven illustrations. She can be found outside sketching neighborhood squirrels or running around with her dog in Western MA.
ARIANA GARFINKEL, ARCHIVAL PRODUCER
Ariana Garfinkel served as lead Producer on seven award-winning feature documentaries with wide distribution across platforms, including IT'S DOROTHY! (Tribeca, Peacock), ON THESE GROUNDS (SXSW, Starz), NEVER TOO LATE: THE DOC SEVERINSEN STORY (PBS American Masters), YOU DON'T NOMI (Tribeca, AMC+), I AM MARIS (Netflix), BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS (SXSW, PBS Independent Lens) and BOYS OF SUMMER (ESPN, PBS AfroPoP). As an Archival Producer and Associate Producer, Ariana has also contributed to acclaimed films such as WRENCHED, SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL, and TRUMBO. Other credits include Consulting Producer on several recent documentaries as well as producing two narrative short films. Ariana previously held development and production positions at Miramax Films, Tribeca Productions, Reno Productions, and Bright Productions. A graduate of Stanford University, Ariana is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.