One of the IDA’s primary goals is to develop a robust community of documentary filmmakers and supporters. To further this effort, each month we’ll be spotlighting a group of new(ish) members in the Welcome New Members column.

If you’re a new member and would like to be included (or an “old” member who hasn’t been featured yet), please send your bio (250 words max) to associate editor Tamara Krinsky at krinskydoc@ca.rr.com. You must include “Welcome New Members” and your name in the subject line of the e-mail. Bios should focus on your filmmaking background, interests, experiences, education, accomplishments, etc. If you’re a student, tell us about where you’re studying. If you’re a film fan, tell us what you love about documentaries. Please also include the city, state and country in which you currently reside.

Susan Johnston (Santa Monica, CA) is a seven-time published playwright who completed her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she received the Harry Kondoleon Playwriting Award. Her plays have been produced and/or read all over the country. She’s received a MacDowell Colony residency, a Jerome Fellowship and was a Fulbright nominee. She has been the recipient of an NEA grant, a Minnesota State Arts Board Career Opportunity Grant, a West Virginia State Arts Grant and The Pilgrim Project Grant. She recently won the LA Weekly Annual Theatre Award for Playwriting for her play How Cissy Grew, which ran at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles last fall, was published by Dramatic Publishing in July and was presented as part of Charleston, West Virginia’s FestivALL in June. In addition, Johnston has worked as a film industry reporter for Interview magazine and was an interstitial writer for A&E’s popular Biography series. Her first novel, Party Favors, co-authored with Nicole Sexton, is on the shelves now, and the authors are currently in negotiations for a feature film deal. Johnston is represented by Abrams Artists Agency in New York and by Principal Entertainment in LA. She originally hails from Charleston, West Virginia, and is just beginning work on her first documentary film/multi-media theatre project, BHOPAL, WV, exploring the Union Carbide explosion that forever linked Bhopal, India to the fate of Charleston, WV.

Jim Long first ventured into the media realm, while still in high school, at KNEL Radio in Brady, Texas. For the next ten years, he worked in a variety of broadcast markets as a disc jockey, newsman, copywriter and program director. In 1979, he got a taste for documentary work when asked to shoot 16mm footage in Ecuador. He returned to broadcasting in 1990 as program director for KGBS/Dallas and later served as producer for the popular Mark Davis Show at WBAP/Dallas Ft.Worth. Long then joined Vendyl Jones Research Institutes in 1993, writing and directing Digging Up the Future. His got his first television credit as producer for Fox-Lorber’s Quest: Search for the Ark of the Covenant. Long and his wife, Carol, formed Lightcatcher Productions in 1996 to produce their own documentaries, including On the Wings of Ezekiel, Riddle of the Exodus and Treasures of the Copper Scroll. The latter was an Official Entry at the 2007 Monaco Charity Film Festival and the 2008 Beverly Hills Hi Def Festival. History Channel’s Gold!, National Geographic Explorer, Hallmark Channel’s Marco Polo and the CBS series The Unit have all featured Middle East location footage from Lightcatcher Productions. The Longs moved to rural Northwest Arkansas, near Fayetteville, in 2001, where they share a home with pets, Fuzzy and Dibbs. Long is currently developing a feature film from his screenplay Soldier of the Heart. He is also preparing to shoot his latest documentary,Waiting for Moshiach, in Israel.

Viviana Madronero-Rivero is a Denver-based filmmaker with over 10 years of experience in the film and video production industry in Colombia and the United States. She participated in the production of 100+ TV commercials for the Colombian and other Latin markets, all shot in 35mm format, for clients such as Coca-Cola, Diners Club, Speed Stick and Colgate, among others. Recently, she’s been directing, producing, shooting and editing commercials, short documentaries (Chasing Tail – Independence Film Festival, Colorado 2008), music videos and corporate videos, and has won competitions for commercial contests for clients such as Bud Light. She earned her associate's degree in video production at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver, where she received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Producing/Directing, and her BA in advertising at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá, Colombia, her hometown. Madronero-Rivero is currently working on a documentary she’ll be directing, False Positives, which will tell the story of civilians abducted and murdered by the military forces in Colombia. This “practice” is known as extrajudicial executions, or False Positives. The film is currently seeking funding and other participation; for more information please contact Madronero-Rivero at viviana@gatoproductions.com, or Mark Fox at markfox@diggnity.org.

James Michael Marshall (Santa Monica, CA) was born in Kentucky and led the University of Kansas as point guard before the Denver Nuggets drafted him in 1986. Marshall went on to play professional basketball in Belgium and the Netherlands. At 6’1”, he was the shortest American to compete internationally. Drawn by the honesty and vibrant beat of hip-hop, Marshall became one of its earliest pioneers when he directed music videos for Yo! MTV Raps.  He went on to direct a series of award-winning videos with such rap stars as Tha Pharcyde, Tupac Shakur and Tha Alkoholiks. Marshall started in television working on Law and Order SVU, and went on to direct PBS’ animated special Liberty Kids and to overhaul the hit animation pilot Mary-Kate and Ashley for ABC.  Other TV credits include The GirlSite Show, Mummies Alive, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Wacky World of Tex Avery, and the Strawberry Shortcake series. Marshall is currently developing a television pilot, A.D., based on his experience in professional basketball, and the experiences of his teammates who are now coaches for Division One schools. In the feature film realm, Marshall’s horror script Thanksgiving Weekend was commissioned by Renascent Films. Other scripts include Tha Bridge, Choice and his latest, Sampson, a period African-American saga in the spirit of The Godfather. His documentaries include a film on boxer Ray Sanchez, and his current project, Get Lit Players, which follows a teenage poetry troop from Los Angeles across the country. firstwrite@aol.com

Joel Schroeder (Los Angeles, CA), originally from Appleton, Wisconsin, is a hybrid Badger/Trojan who graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in the spring of 2002. He presently works freelance, doing a mix of editing and shooting (not enough of it being on documentaries, however). Schroeder still dreams of Wisconsin winters and snow forts, but has resided in toasty Los Angeles since 2000. He is happily married, with two Prius hybrids and one greyhound. Presently, barely an hour passes without his thoughts turning to his documentary film project about Calvin & Hobbes and Bill Watterson (www.dearmrwatterson.com).

David Swajeski is producer and director of film, TV, documentaries and online videos. He is co-founder, partner and creative director of the multi-faceted design/marketing firm Location 8 and founder and partner of onerock moving pictures. Swajeski is currently directing the documentary Dressed, the story of a young clothing designer, Nary Manivong, who defied the odds of a broken family and homelessness to reach his ultimate dream, a show of his collection at New York fashion week. Dressed will have a multi-platform release including Web, mobile and an educational college tour planned. The Web series will follow the progress of Nary as he plans his next collection, in addition to commentary from the cast of the film and a look at some of New York’s new up-and-coming designers. During his professional career, Swajeski has produced and directed a wide range of videos, commercials and long-form projects including Change the World, the intimate portraits of everyday heroes, whose stories are chosen from winners of the national Jefferson Awards, the highest award for public service in America. He directed the online daytime drama, 4 O’Clock 4 Play, an online, daily five-minute show that combined storytelling, advertising and commerce. His project work includes advertising campaigns, online content, TV projects and live events for clients including BMW, Fila Sports USA, Dupont, J.P. Morgan Chase, The Presidents’ Student Service Awards, GORE-TEX, The Nemours Foundation and Mercedes-Benz.

Kevin Tostado (San Diego, CA) is the founder of Tostie Productions, a high-definition film and video production company based in San Diego, California,. He was a member of the inaugural class at Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts. While in his senior year of college, he co-wrote and directed a full-length independent feature, Yellow Lights. This movie took home awards for Best Feature and Best Cinematography from Indie Fest USA 2007 as well as Telly and DV Awards. Tostado also was a producer for The Olin Experience, a documentary short about student life at Olin College from a student's perspective, which Olin College still regularly shows to prospective students. Recently, Tostado has worked as a camera operator, director of photography and assistant director on music videos, webisodes for NBC's Heroes, police-training videos, webisodes for AT&T featuring paralympic athlete April Holmes, Disney Channel commercials, independent short films, and telenovelas for My Network TV. Tostado is currently producing and directing Under the Boardwalk, a documentary about the game of Monopoly, the people who play it, and how it has become a worldwide phenomenon over the last 75 years. For more information about Under the Boardwalk, please visit MonopolyDocumentary.com or follow MonopolyDoc on Twitter.