Stateless
Logline
Through the journey of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris, filmmaker Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary STATELESS traces the complex tributaries of history and present-day politics between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, revealing the personal impact of institutionalized racism and oppression.
Michéle Stephenson
Director/Producer
As co-founding member of the Rada Film Group, filmmaker, artist, and author Michéle Stephenson pulls from her Panamanian and Haitian roots and international experience as a human rights attorney to tell provocative stories in a variety of media that speak to personal and systemic liberation. Her work has appeared on a variety of broadcast and web platforms, including PBS, Showtime and MTV. Her most recent film, AMERICAN PROMISE, was nominated for three Emmys including Best Documentary and Best News Coverage of a Contemporary Issue. The film also won the Jury Prize at Sundance, and was selected for the New York Film Festivals’ Main Slate Program. Stephenson was recently awarded the Creative Capital Fellowship, the inaugural Chicken & Egg Pictures Filmmaker Breakthrough Award and is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow. Her current feature documentary work-in-progress is supported by the National Film Board of Canada and the Sundance Documentary Fund. Her community engagement accomplishments include the PUMA BritDoc Impact Award for a Film with the Greatest Impact on Society, a Revere Award Nomination from the American Publishers Association, and she is a fellow of Skoll Storytellers of Change. Her recent book, PROMISES KEPT, written along with co-authors Joe Brewster and Hilary Beard, won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.
Joe Brewster
Producer
Producer and Director, Joe Brewster is a Harvard trained psychiatrist who uses his psychological training as the foundation in approaching the intimate stories he tackles as an artist and filmmaker. Brewster has created stories using installation, narrative, documentary and print mediums that have garnered support from critics and audiences internationally. He is a recipient of fellowships and grants from the Sundance Institute, the Tribeca Film Institute, BAVC, MacArthur Foundation, and most recently the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Brewster is a Spirit Award and three-time Emmy Award nominee. His recent documentary film AMERICAN PROMISE was awarded the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking at Sundance and the African American Film Critics’ Association Award. Brewster’s outreach accomplishments include a Revere Award and the 2013 NAACP Image Award for the best-selling companion book PROMISES KEPT and a BritDoc Prize for developing one of the most innovative outreach campaigns in 2014.
Jennifer Holness
Producer
Jennifer Holness is an award-winning writer and producer of scripted and factual TV and films. Jen recently co-created the TV drama series SHOOT THE MESSENGER for CBC, and co-wrote and produced the two-part CBC miniseries, GUNS, which won five Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Writing. She also co-created, the thirteen-part comedy series SHE’S THE MAYOR for Vision TV. Her documentary credits include; SPEAKERS FOR THE DEAD (CBC), BADGE OF PRIDE (CBC & PBS), BRICK BY BRICK (OMNI), YIN YIN JADE LOVE (TVO), and DOLORES: THE ART OF ART MODELING (Bravo!). Jen’s feature film producing credits include HOME AGAIN with co-writer and director Sudz Sutherland which won the prestigious PAFF–BAFTA Festival Choice Award and was also nominated for two Canadian Screen Academy Awards. Jen also produced the story for the feature LOVE, SEX AND EATING THE BONES that won 9 festival awards including the Best First Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for a trifecta of Genies – Best Feature, Best Writing and Best Directing. She is currently developing several feature projects, including the action comedy, OPERATION RED DOG and is also adapting her highly rated, award winning app THE MUSIC BIZ into an animated series.
Lea Marin
Producer
Lea Marin is an award-winning Toronto based producer with more than 16 years of experience in the film and television industry. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producer’s Lab, Lea joined the National Film Board of Canada as a producer in 2006. Her most recent film credit, UNARMED VERSES directed by Charles Officer, premiered at the Hot Docs International Film Festival in 2017, where it won the jury prize for Best Canadian Feature. Other credits include, MY PRAIRIE HOME which in 2014, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award; THE PORTRAIT, directed by Oscar nominated filmmaker, Hubert Davis, which in 2012 premiered on the BBC, and ASTRA TAYLOR’S EXAMINED LIFE, which launched at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008. Prior to returning to the National Film Board of Canada, Lea Marin produced the CFC short dramatic film, ESCAPE, and worked as a line producer on the Discovery Channel series MEGA BUILDERS.