crew
Director/Co-Writer — Réi Talas ( also known as Justin R. Ching) is a Forbes 30 Under 30 award-winning filmmaker making his narrative directorial debut with the short film Shutter Bird. Previously, he has directed documentary series episodes for Amazon and Complex. Most recently, he worked on the Netflix series HEIST. Talas is currently developing a feature documentary with Michel Gondry's Partizan Entertainment.
When not on set, he is also an Adjunct Professor at University of Southern California.
Co-Writer — Adriana Santos is a Colombian-American screenwriter, playwright, actor and director from Miami. She has a BFA in Drama and minor in Creative Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Playwriting from The Writer’s Foundry at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn. Original plays by Adriana, including full lengths ELENA, Catholic All Girls School and Cris Leaves Queens, have been read, workshopped and produced as staged readings in New York, LA and regionally. A TV pilot adaptation of Catholic All Girls School is in development with Gina Rodriguez’s I Can & I Will Productions and was an official selection of The Gotham Film and Media Institute’s Project Week. Adriana co-wrote LA-based IAMA Theatre Company’s main stage play, Celestial Events, in which she also acted and which ran to rave reviews. Recently, she wrote the narrative short, The End of the Party, directed by Kate Sullivan and completed her film directorial debut with her original short, Hey You Guys, in which she also acted. As an actor, Adriana has worked extensively across film, TV and theatre.
Director of Photography — Dawn Suhyun Shim was born in South Korea, where her passion for photography took root at a young age. Growing up, she had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Southeast Asia and Europe, which ultimately led her to embark on a journey to Los Angeles, pursuing her dream of working in the film industry. Her immersion in both Eastern and Western cultures strongly influenced her life, shaping her cultural interactions and developing her visual senses. After earning her master's degree in cinematography from the American Film Institute's conservatory, Dawn delved into a wide range of projects as a freelance cinematographer.
Editor — Kristin Valentine is a Hoosier mathematician turned LA film editor. Before entertainment, she worked as a data analyst for the DOD while completing her M.S. in Theoretical Mathematics.
Kristin now works in television and film with credits that include Dune, Euphoria, Malcolm & Marie, Stronger and most recently, HBO’s The Idol.
Kristin loves all things film, fashion, math, and Jay-Z. She spends her free time playing with other people’s kids & dogs and planning her next vacation. Her only vices are hot cheetos and karaoke.
Composer — Amanda Jones is an Emmy award-winning Composer who is rapidly becoming a standout voice amongst a new generation of television and film composers.
Jones’ original music can be heard on the episode “Maine” from Apple TV+’s documentary series Home for which she received her first Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score). Jones has the distinction of being the first African American female to be nominated in the Primetime Emmy score category.
Jones’ television credits also include HBO's Duplass Bros. comedy Somebody Somewhere, CW's series Naomi, the Ba'al Episode of Ryan Murphy's American Horror Stories on FX, Nat Geo’s series, Nat Geo Presents Impact with Gal Gadot, Freeform’s Good Trouble, HBO Max's Adventure Time Distant Lands: Obsidian and Together Again, OWN’s anthology series Cherish the Day, produced by Ava DuVernay, Showtime’s Twenties, produced by Lena Waithe, HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, produced by Robin Thede and Issa Rae, Adult Swim comedy series Beef House, for which she wrote the main title theme and the upcoming Nat Geo / Disney + Docu-series Supernatural Planet and HBO Max & Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming series, Young Love.
In addition to her television credits, Jones has experience scoring both short and feature films. Jones is scoring the upcoming feature film Moving On, directed by Oscar winning director Paul Weitz starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin and Netflix’s Perfect Find.
Her past film credits include the HBO Max Documentary Feature Dreamland: The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street, Duplass Bros’ produced feature 7 Days, the Netflix feature Definition Please, starring Levar Burton directed by Sujata Day, Menelek Lumumba’s award-winning drama 1 Angry Black Man, Andre Hormann’s documentary feature Ringside and Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s Oscar-nominated documentary short St. Louis Superman.
Jones has a BA in music from Vassar College where she studied music composition, production and classical guitar under Terry Champlin. She also has certificates in both film scoring and orchestration from Berklee College of Music.