Director/Editor/Writer Jan Thompson (Chicago/Carbondale, IL) has produced numerous long-form documentaries across varied subject genres. She is finishing the last program in a series of multi-award winning prime-time specials for PBS, which includes Food for the Ancestors, Hidden Korea and Hidden India. Her latest, Hidden Turkey, will be broadcast in 2005. She recently finished a high-definition documentary, Ties That Bind, which had its premier this summer at the Parliament of World Religions in Barcelona and had its broadcast debut on WTTW-Chicago. Thompson is a recent recipient of an NEH grant, and is working on a two-hour documentary, Master of Modern Music: The Life and Times of Serge Koussevitzky. She holds two university degrees in music (composition) and also composes the music for her PBS programs. She produced and directed The Music Masters, a documentary profile of Daniel Barenboim, the former conductor of the Chicago Symphony. Before moving into documentary work, Thompson was a producer-director for news and live sports events, working with the Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox and several university teams. She is a faculty member in the Radio-Television Department of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

Sarah Vaill (Santa Monica, CA), a writer, filmmaker and former Outward Bound instructor, is currently producing and directing Women with Altitude. How do female climbers respond to violence against women? "Kiss my axe!" is their battle cry. In honor of their mothers and women everywhere turning suffering into strength, these climbers go to extraordinary heights to shift the stories of victims into victors. Vaill's previous documentary credits include Where the Road Ends and the Walking Begins (1998) for the Global Fund for Women, covering the organization's outreach efforts in Africa. As a freelance writer, Sarah works for V-Day, the foundation arm of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. Uniting art and activism to end violence against women, V-Day provides support and partnership to local activists in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. She has also written for publication on behalf of the Women's Funding Network, the Global Fund for Women and the Association for Women's Rights in Development (Canada). Vaill is completing the UCLA Film School's Professional Program in Screenwriting, and has written scripts for film, television and stage. She received her BA in gender and Hispanic cultures from Duke University, and spent six years at the Global Fund for Women serving as the program officer for Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Oceania. She is completing post-production on Women with Altitude and seeking distribution. sarahvaill@yahoo.com

Bobbi Valentine (Santa Fe, NM). Upon receiving her bachelor of fine arts in music from California Institute of the Arts, Valentine spent the next several years gaining experience in production, finance, marketing and distribution. In 1991, she joined an international distribution company as vice president. However, the previous ten-year history of poor management could not be reversed and the company ceased operating in mid-1993. Valentine formed ZIA Film Distribution LLC in 1993, with the basic principle that producers could be assured of payment from completed distribution deals. ZIA is a worldwide distributor of feature film and television programming. Douglas Heller joined ZIA in 1996 as executive vice president in charge of programming acquisitions and sales. Taking additional steps to diversify their distribution business, Valentine and Heller ventured into production in 2001, forming Pony Productions LLC and co-producing a documentary on the statewide New Mexico art-for-charity project, titled The Trail of Painted Ponies. Narrated by Ali MacGraw, the program made its broadcast debut on the WLIW in New York and is currently available on video and DVD. www.ziafilm.com.  

Rodney Vance (Pasadena, CA). It may seem ironic that as a former pastor and teacher, Vance now writes scripts about clubbing in Vegas, serial murders in the Arctic and nano-robots who sterilize men to destroy the human race. Despite the edgy milieus, his work, whether in fiction or non-fiction, always finds the humanity in the underbelly of the beast. Vance has been head writer on two nonfiction television series: Lifestyle Magazine, a health talk show which airs in New York on ABC and is in national and international syndication, and The Evidence, a magazine-style show which explores evidence that God exists. The latter aired on Court TV, the Hallmark Channel and in syndication. Vance received a writing credit on In the Shadow of Bin Laden, which explores the reasons fundamentalist Islam continues to maintain its hold on the Pashtun villagers living in the Tribal Zone. He is currently developing a new series called Soul Searching, which takes a journalistic look at spirituality in America. Vance was recently hired to write two theatrical features: Operation Babylift, about two Iowa housewives who help rescue 500 baby orphans airlifted out of Saigon just before the city fell in 1975; and Under Cover of Darkness, which tells the story of a non-combatant medic who trains as a sniper after the love of his life is murdered. Vance is a member of the Television Academy and both the Independent Writers Caucus and the Non-fiction Writers Caucus of the WGA.

Judith Vogelsang (Los Angeles, CA) is a filmmaker with over 20 years experience in film and television production, working in both fiction and nonfiction. She produced and directed the independent feature film, Heartless, a dark psychological thriller starring Madchen Amick and Louise Fletcher. In 2002, Vogelsang was Coordinating Producer for the annual documentary special, BADGE OF COURAGE: Police Officer of the Year, for Court TV. Vogelsang's prior directing credits include Simon & Simon (multiple episodes), Shades of L.A., Sidekicks and The Oldest Rookie. She won a CINE Golden Eagle Award for the documentary Bucks County, USA. Her recent, short environmental documentary, SUV Taggers, is screening on the festival circuit and has been licensed by Free Speech Television on the DISH satellite network and by the new PBS show, Natural Heroes, which will air it over the next three years. Vogelsang is currently working on a new environmental project, GOINGGREEN-At Home and has two other doc projects in post-production. Originally from New York, Vogelsang holds a BA in English from William Smith College, an MA in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in film and television from University of Iowa. She formed her own company, Stone Harbor Films, Inc., to develop and produce quality fiction and nonfiction projects for features, television and the new media. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Independent Feature Project/West, Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Film Arts Foundation and Cinewomen.