CREW
CAROLINE BERLER Director, Editor, Producer
Caroline Berler is a documentary director and editor based in New York City. She has worked as an Associate Producer, Assistant Editor and Sound Recordist on non-fiction projects that have been broadcast nationally, screened in film festivals around the world. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts and a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from New York University. Dykes, Camera, Action! is her first feature film.
REBECCA BENSON Producer
Rebecca Benson is a producer of Dykes, Camera, Action! She is based in Brooklyn, New York. She explores her interests in environmental education, horticulture, musical instruments and early childhood through writing, water-color, photography and video. She earned her MFA in Social Documentary Film at SVA where she pursued her dream of collaborative filmmaking with a 5-year-old for her documentary titled Alice Was Four.
MELANIE MCLEAN BROOKS, Director of Photography
Melanie is an emerging documentary filmmaker, focusing on food politics and gender issues. Her most recent short documentary, Big Hips, Big Dreams, has screened at numerous film festivals around the county, including Big Sky Documentary Film Fest in 2018. Her current production is a food-focused documentary, Eating the Enemy, featuring sushi chef Bun Lai. As a director of photography, she has lensed Dykes, Camera, Action!; The Reign of Sasha Velour; Sincerely, Alaska and field stories for Comedy Central's The Opposition. Melanie and her husband, Ryan Brooks, founded Flying Giant Productions in New York City several years ago to produce branded content and advertisements that skew towards sustainability and social good. She received her Bachelors in Journalism from Rutgers University and a Master of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in social documentary film. Melanie, Ryan, their dog Zoe and Flying Giant Productions recently relocated to sunny Denver, Colorado.
GIL TALMI, Composer
Gil Talmi is a world-renowned EMMY nominated composer, producer and recording artist with a passion for socially conscious projects. Blending his traditional orchestral background with tasteful modular electronics and eclectic world music sensibilities, Talmi has created a signature sound that can be heard in many award-winning productions worldwide.
Some of Gil's most recent work includes the opening theme to CBS News: 50 Years of 60 Minutes, Chavela (Aubin Pictures), Straight/Curve (Epix), Desert Migration (Best Revenge Productions), Remittance (Greenmachine Films) and The Memory of Fish (Reelblue), narrated by Lili Taylor, which had its world premiere at SIFF 2016. In 2017, Gil's score for Chavela was nominated for Best Original Composition - Feature Film Score by the Music & Sound Awards. 3 Documentaries which Gil scored premiered simultaneously at Doc NYC 2015: All Rise, The Lost Arcade (26 Aries) and Love Between The Covers (Blueberry Hill Productions).
Gil has scored the Peabody Award winning documentaries Between The Folds (PBS Independent Lens), Who Killed Chea Vichea? (PBS) and New Year Baby (PBS Independent Lens), winner of the Amnesty International 'Movies That Matter' Award. Other work includes music for Food Chains (Illumine Films), Entre Nos (IndiePix), winner Best Film at the Traverse City film festival, Bill W. (Page 124 Productions), Forgotten Ellis Island (PBS) and Daisy Bates: First Lady Of Little Rock (PBS). Gil was nominated for a National News and Documentary Emmy Award for his work on CBS Evening News and recently won Best Documentary for his score for Tales Of The Waria (PBS).
JENNY BEE, Animator
Jenny Bee is a New York based motion graphic designer and storyteller, making things that move, and things that move you. She aspires to clear communication in all of her work, corporate and personal, and moonlights as a magical girl. Her website is jennybee.design; reach out to her if you’re interested in whimsical work or whacky hijinks.