MEET THE TEAM


Paige Bethmann (Mohawk/Oneida)
Director & Co-Executive Producer
Paige Bethmann is a Haudenosaunee director and producer based in Reno, Nevada. Over the last 10 years, Paige has worked in nonfiction television for various digital and broadcast networks such as Vox Media, Facebook, YouTube Originals, USA and NBC. Her latest project, the Emmy-nominated series “Glad You Asked,” centered around issues of racial injustice and premiered in July 2021.
Paige graduated cum laude from Ithaca College with a bachelor’s degree in Film, Television, and Radio. Paige is a Logan Non-Fiction Fellow and is currently in production on her first feature documentary Remaining Native which follows a young Native American athlete who retraces the footsteps of his great grandfather’s escape from Indian Boarding Schools.

Judd Ehrlich
Producer
Judd Ehrlich is a Grand Clio, Cannes Lion, and Emmy Award-winning producer and director who “clearly knows his craft” (The New York Times) and “has mastered the art of exposing compelling and honest stories” (AOL). He has premiered five features at the Tribeca Film Festival including, most recently, The Price of Freedom, which was acquired by CNN Films and is now on HBO Max. Ehrlich produced and directed the New York Times Critic's Pick Keepers of the Game, following an all-Native girls lacrosse team from the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, and executive produced Ainu Mosir, the story of an indigenous teen coming-of-age in rural Japan, distributed by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY and now on Netflix. Ehrlich heads Flatbush Pictures, an award-winning content, film, and television studio based in Brooklyn.

Jess Epstein
Producer
Jess has been working in documentary film and unscripted television for over 10 years. She has worked in the U.S. and abroad and has produced both long and short format content. Her work abroad demonstrates her capacity for collaborating across cultures. She has worked with documentary filmmakers and producers with a project recently premiering as part of DOC NYC. She joins this project in the midst of producing a forthcoming two-part PBS special about life at the US-Mexico border.

Shai Ben Dor
Cinematographer
Shai Ben-Dor is a cinematographer and director who specializes in creating intimate narratives of individuals pursuing lofty emotional and physical goals. This past fall he followed NYC native Michael Ortiz as he completed a 100 mile run, every weekend, for 100 consecutive weeks in his brother's memory. More often than not, you can find Shai running alongside his subjects capturing the narrative as closely as possible to their perspective. Additionally, Shai has worked in commercial, broadcast, and narrative productions domestically and internationally. He is constantly working to shrink the divide between the look of high-end commercial productions and intimate documentary narratives.

Zack Kiszka
Line Producer
Zack Kiszka is a line producer and sound recordist based In Reno, Nevada. As a production accountant, Zack has worked across various productions across networks and media organizations such as Vox Media, Hulu, YouTube Originals, Netflix, PBS, and Axios. Zack graduated magna cum laude with dual degrees in accounting and finance from Virginia Tech. Zack has a passion for sound recording and is essential in capturing dynamic audio throughout the project.

Stina Hamlin (Choctaw, Cherokee)
Post Producer
Stina Hamlin, cofounder of STATE of Mind Media & Director of Post Production at East Coast Digital, Inc., is an award-winning VR creator and television producer who has worked with organizations including UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and USA Today. She is of Cherokee, Choctaw and Irish descent, and her focus is creating projects that amplify Indigenous voices and creating media that educates and supports in the fight to protect the water and Mother Earth. She is a member of the Producers Guild Of America, Women Independent Producers, and The Indigenous Kinship Collective in NYC. Currently she is working on immersive media projects, Blood Memory: The Experience and Sonic Occupation.

Charlene SanJenko
Indigenous Impact Producer & Corporate Partnerships Cultural Liaison
Charlene SanJenko, born in the Splatsin Band of the Shuswap Nation, Charlene is an Indigenous Impact Producer + Media Visionary, braiding for better by brokering impact, building brand value using advertising dollars better. In the mid-90’s Charlene worked in a privately owned brokerage firm in the investment services industry. Her day days were spent placing trades on various stock markets and keeping blue-buy tickets and pink-sell tickets straight. She worked her way up to National Marketing Manager, responsible for 18 branches across Canada and surviving a national rebrand post-merger before leaving the firm in 2000. Now, Charlene brokers impact. Her organization, reGEN media, is a new innovative finance and brand partnerships agency focused on brokering impact investments, reciprocal brand partnerships, and regenerative media projects led by Indigenous and non-Indigenous creators. She believes that impact media will follow in the footsteps of impact investing this decade, and leads a team towards this goal, walking beside changemakers and creators who are shifting the narrative to SEE what is possible beyond our blind spots, use our buying power for its highest purpose, and make better decisions to create the relational experience we want for the next 7 generations. PowerHERHouse

Ariana Kruszewski Aftahi
Impact Producer
Ariana Kruszewski Aftahi is an arts administrator, professional organizer, social media strategist, and actor based in Brooklyn. Over the past five years Ariana has worked on theatrical and special event production teams at leading New York and DC performance venues, including The Lucille Lortel Theatre, The Kennedy Center, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Arena Stage. Ariana has also worked as a stage and screen actor in various commercial, industrial, and regional theater productions. Ariana is passionate about storytelling that celebrates diversity and broadens our understanding of the human experience.

Jarette Werk (A'aniiih and Nakoda Tribe)
Associate Producer
Jarrette Werk is as an independent journalist and visual storyteller in Northern Nevada. Originally from Montana, he is a member of the A'aniiih and Nakoda Tribe. In addition to his portrait photography, he is also an associate producer for Nevada Public Radio’s Native Nevada Podcast. A member of the Native American Journalists Association since 2017, Werk was selected as a 2018-19 Generation Indigenous Movement Builders Fellow, co-creating the “Reclaiming Our Narrative” project, which spotlights young Indigenous leaders from around the world. His work aims at providing an in-depth look at Indigenous communities and helping to shape a narrative often set by persons outside of those communities. He has been published in the Associated Press, Indian Country Today, FNX, IJNET, the Center for Native American Youth, First Nation's Focus, Record-Courier, and the Lahontan Valley News. Learn more.

Afton Paulina Lewis (Diné)
Assistant Editor
Afton Paulina Lewis (Diné) - Assistant Editor. Afton is a Gen Z, Navajo Filmmaker originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a member of the Navajo Nation and of the Mud People Clan born for the Coyote Pass Clan. Afton was inspired to join the film industry while taking classes at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is an emerging film editor, cinematographer and producer.
