FILMMAKERS
Jason A. Schmidt: Director/Producer/Writer/Editor
Jason A. Schmidt is an award-winning international documentary filmmaker. Schmidt co-directed and co-produced Franz Jaegersaetter: A Man of Conscience, a short documentary that won the Redemptive Storytelling Award. Schmidt also co-directed and edited the award-winning feature documentary, On the Line, which features Martin Sheen and Susan Sarandon; and he was film editor and music editor on the award-winning feature documentary In Spite of Darkness: A Spiritual Encounter with Auschwitz. He is the winner of three Silver Telly Awards. After several years directing industrial and educational videos, Jason founded December 2nd Productions in 2004 to develop and produce documentaries in collaboration with his father and producer, Fr. Ron Schmidt. Schmidt has directed several PSA’s featuring Martin Sheen, worked as a videographer on numerous documentaries, edited four films and directed and edited a music video. (IMDB)
Ron Schmidt, SJ: Producer/Writer
Ron Schmidt is a Jesuit priest and award-winning international documentary filmmaker whose films include: Franz Jaegerstaetter: A Man of Conscience, a short documentary that won the Redemptive Storytelling Award; On The Line, a feature length documentary on the protest against the U.S. School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA; In Spite of Darkness, a film on the annual non-denominational Auschwitz Retreat; as well as numerous other short documentaries. Two of his films were awarded Silver Telly’s for best in their categories and all three films have secured international distribution. Schmidt was previously vice-president of two Catholic non-profit production companies. He was executive producer on numerous video projects. He also produced a project on the American Zen Buddhist Bernie Glassman, Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Recipe for Living a Life that Matters. Schmidt was producer of the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals annual Gabriel Awards in Los Angeles and he has co-produced the Film Showcase at the L.A. Religious Education Congress. After receiving the Silver Telly Awards, he was selected to be a judge for the Telly Awards. He is a script reader for the Humanitas Prize, as well as a chair of the Gabriel Awards Documentary Jury. He is co-author of a study guide on the acclaimed documentary Into Great Silence and gives film seminars and film retreats. Schmidt, along with his director son, Jason, is partnered in December 2nd Productions to develop and produce documentaries. IMDB
Gregory J. Schmidt, SOC: Director of Photography
Gregory J. Schmidt, SOC most recently wrapped production on Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Thor, John Carter of Mars and Water for Elephants, He has served as first assistant cameraman, scorpio head operator or camera operator for some of Hollywood’s top-grossing films over the past three decades including: Star Trek: The Future Begins, Mission Impossible 3, Valkyrie, Three Kings, Deep Blue Sea, Seven, Mission Impossible II, Crimson Tide, The Specialist, Curly Sue, Days of Thunder, Revenge, Beverly Hills Cop II, Top Gun, True Romance and White Nights. Greg served as director of photography on the most recent Schmidt Family documentary film collaboration, Franz Jaegerstaetter: A Man of Conscience. IMDB
Arthur Schmidt: Executive Producer
Arthur Schmidt is a 2-time Oscar and Emmy Award-winning Film Editor who recently received the 2009 American Cinema Editors (A.C.E.) Career Achievement Award. He has had an extended collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis that includes two films for which Schmidt received the Academy Award for Film Editing: Forrest Gump and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Schmidt also collaborated with Zemeckis on the Back to the Future trilogy, Death Becomes Her, What Lies Beneath and Cast Away. In addition to his Oscars, Schmidt has won several "Eddies" from the American Cinema Editors for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Forrest Gump, and for a television special The Jericho Mile, for which he also received an Emmy Award. In addition to these awards, he has been nominated for major editing awards (including the BAFTA Award for Best Editing) for Coal Miner's Daughter, Back to the Future, The Last of the Mohicans, and Cast Away. (IMDB)
Marek Zebrowski: Original Music / Composer
Marek Żebrowski is a celebrated composer who was born in Poznań, Poland and began studying piano at the age of five. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. For the past several years he has collaborated with director David Lynch and their album of free improvisations, Polish Night Music, was released in April of 2008. Recognized as a composer with a catalog of orchestral and chamber works, piano compositions and transcriptions, and film and stage scores, Mr. Żebrowski has received commissions from Meet the Composer and The New England String Quartet, among others, as well as composition prizes in the Netherlands. Mr. Żebrowski has lectured for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Harvard University, and The New England Conservatory of Music, and for several years was a contributing writer for the Boston Book Review. He has given master classes and has coached various chamber music ensembles and chamber orchestras. His academic career included teaching at the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and UCLA. Currently, Mr. Żebrowski resides in Los Angeles and serves as the Program Director for the Polish Music Center at USC and the Artistic Director of the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, California. Mr. Żebrowski is a Steinway Artist. His two books, Paderewski in California and Celebrating Chopin and Paderewski, will be published in 2010.
Jason A. Schmidt is an award-winning international documentary filmmaker. Schmidt co-directed and co-produced Franz Jaegersaetter: A Man of Conscience, a short documentary that won the Redemptive Storytelling Award. Schmidt also co-directed and edited the award-winning feature documentary, On the Line, which features Martin Sheen and Susan Sarandon; and he was film editor and music editor on the award-winning feature documentary In Spite of Darkness: A Spiritual Encounter with Auschwitz. He is the winner of three Silver Telly Awards. After several years directing industrial and educational videos, Jason founded December 2nd Productions in 2004 to develop and produce documentaries in collaboration with his father and producer, Fr. Ron Schmidt. Schmidt has directed several PSA’s featuring Martin Sheen, worked as a videographer on numerous documentaries, edited four films and directed and edited a music video. (IMDB)
Ron Schmidt, SJ: Producer/Writer
Ron Schmidt is a Jesuit priest and award-winning international documentary filmmaker whose films include: Franz Jaegerstaetter: A Man of Conscience, a short documentary that won the Redemptive Storytelling Award; On The Line, a feature length documentary on the protest against the U.S. School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA; In Spite of Darkness, a film on the annual non-denominational Auschwitz Retreat; as well as numerous other short documentaries. Two of his films were awarded Silver Telly’s for best in their categories and all three films have secured international distribution. Schmidt was previously vice-president of two Catholic non-profit production companies. He was executive producer on numerous video projects. He also produced a project on the American Zen Buddhist Bernie Glassman, Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Recipe for Living a Life that Matters. Schmidt was producer of the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals annual Gabriel Awards in Los Angeles and he has co-produced the Film Showcase at the L.A. Religious Education Congress. After receiving the Silver Telly Awards, he was selected to be a judge for the Telly Awards. He is a script reader for the Humanitas Prize, as well as a chair of the Gabriel Awards Documentary Jury. He is co-author of a study guide on the acclaimed documentary Into Great Silence and gives film seminars and film retreats. Schmidt, along with his director son, Jason, is partnered in December 2nd Productions to develop and produce documentaries. IMDB
Gregory J. Schmidt, SOC: Director of Photography
Gregory J. Schmidt, SOC most recently wrapped production on Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Thor, John Carter of Mars and Water for Elephants, He has served as first assistant cameraman, scorpio head operator or camera operator for some of Hollywood’s top-grossing films over the past three decades including: Star Trek: The Future Begins, Mission Impossible 3, Valkyrie, Three Kings, Deep Blue Sea, Seven, Mission Impossible II, Crimson Tide, The Specialist, Curly Sue, Days of Thunder, Revenge, Beverly Hills Cop II, Top Gun, True Romance and White Nights. Greg served as director of photography on the most recent Schmidt Family documentary film collaboration, Franz Jaegerstaetter: A Man of Conscience. IMDB
Arthur Schmidt: Executive Producer
Arthur Schmidt is a 2-time Oscar and Emmy Award-winning Film Editor who recently received the 2009 American Cinema Editors (A.C.E.) Career Achievement Award. He has had an extended collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis that includes two films for which Schmidt received the Academy Award for Film Editing: Forrest Gump and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Schmidt also collaborated with Zemeckis on the Back to the Future trilogy, Death Becomes Her, What Lies Beneath and Cast Away. In addition to his Oscars, Schmidt has won several "Eddies" from the American Cinema Editors for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Forrest Gump, and for a television special The Jericho Mile, for which he also received an Emmy Award. In addition to these awards, he has been nominated for major editing awards (including the BAFTA Award for Best Editing) for Coal Miner's Daughter, Back to the Future, The Last of the Mohicans, and Cast Away. (IMDB)
Marek Zebrowski: Original Music / Composer
Marek Żebrowski is a celebrated composer who was born in Poznań, Poland and began studying piano at the age of five. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. For the past several years he has collaborated with director David Lynch and their album of free improvisations, Polish Night Music, was released in April of 2008. Recognized as a composer with a catalog of orchestral and chamber works, piano compositions and transcriptions, and film and stage scores, Mr. Żebrowski has received commissions from Meet the Composer and The New England String Quartet, among others, as well as composition prizes in the Netherlands. Mr. Żebrowski has lectured for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Harvard University, and The New England Conservatory of Music, and for several years was a contributing writer for the Boston Book Review. He has given master classes and has coached various chamber music ensembles and chamber orchestras. His academic career included teaching at the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and UCLA. Currently, Mr. Żebrowski resides in Los Angeles and serves as the Program Director for the Polish Music Center at USC and the Artistic Director of the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, California. Mr. Żebrowski is a Steinway Artist. His two books, Paderewski in California and Celebrating Chopin and Paderewski, will be published in 2010.
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