Reel Peak Films helps magazines and newspapers produce films with journalistic integrity and cinematic quality. Founder Shaul Schwarz partners award-winning still photographers with seasoned film editors and producers to create content for online publication. This process provides legacy media with web films that enrich reader experience and stand up alongside top-quality written journalism. Reel Peak also produces documentary features, commercials and television content.
WHO ARE WE?
Shaul Schwarz
Shaul Schwarz is an Israeli documentary film director, cinematographer and award-wining photojournalist. His feature-length documentary Narco Cultura premiered at Sundance in 2013 and screened at film festivals worldwide including The Berlin International Film Festival and Hot Docs. He has shot and directed content for TNT, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, and CNN. He is also a regular photographic contributor to TIME Magazine and National Geographic. Schwarz is based in Brooklyn, New York and is currently producing short film content for online publications while developing his third feature-length documentary. He is the founder of Reel Peak Films.
Christina Clusiau
Christina Clusiau is a documentary photographer and filmmaker living in Brooklyn, New York. Originally from northern Minnesota, Christina relocated to NY to pursue a photography career after years of working as a human rights educator. In 2007 she studied at the International Center of Photography then went on to work at TIME.com as a national picture editor. As a freelancer she has shot for TIME.com's film division, The Wall Street Journal, Real Simple and the Johnson & Johnson Foundation. Christina has been an artist in Residence at Chunches De Mar in Costa Rica and an Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellow. She is currently co-directing a film about Mississippi's last abortion clinic. She is the co-founder of Reel Peak Films.
Juan Bertrán
Juan Bertrán is a sound recordist, sound designer and producer based in Manhattan. On the feature documentary Narco Cultura, Bertrán served as both a sound man and associate producer; he helped translate, coordinate production and negotiate access on the ground in Ciudad Juarez. He has worked on commercials for Virgin Mobile, Coca Cola, Nike, and Ebay as well as on television shows for networks including The History Channel, TNT, The Discovery Channel, and NBC. He has done feature documentary work on Miracle Rising South Africa, Wisdom of Mandela and Mission Blue.
Kike Arnal
Kike Arnal is a Venezuelan photographer and filmmaker living in the Bay Area. His photographs have been published in the New York Times, Life and Mother Jones amongst others. Arnal’s book projects, In the Shadow of Power, Voladores and Bordered Lives have garnered critical acclaim and he has held solo exhibitions of his work on the dangers of cluster bombs at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. Kike’s commercial and non-profit clients include Discovery Channel Canada, Leo Burnett, Coca-Cola, LAN Airlines, ARCUS Foundation, The World Bank and the United Nations.
Yoni Brook
Yoni Brook is a film director and Independent-Spirit-Award-nominated cinematographer. He shot his first feature film, Valley of Saints, with a makeshift crew under military curfew in Kashmir. It went on to win the Audience Award and Alfred P. Sloan Awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. In total he has directed three documentary films: A Son’s Sacrifice (Tribeca Film Festival, Best Doc Short Award), Bronx Princess (Berlinale), and The Calling (PBS). Prior to making films, Brook worked as a photojournalist at publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post. He was the youngest person to be named one of PDN's 30. Brook is an alumnus of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts' Department of Film & Television.
Bryan Chang
Bryan Chang is an independent documentary filmmaker and editor whose work has been featured by The New York Times, screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and distributed theatrically. He directed the feature documentary Brasslands, edited the award-winning Narco Cultura, and has worked in post-production at The Onion News Network and The Discovery Channel. He is a member-owner of Meerkat Media, a filmmaker collective and documentary production company, and is a regular guest instructor in visual storytelling at the NYU Journalism Institute.
Jessica Dimmock
Jessica Dimmock is a director, cinematographer and photographer. She has worked on the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary series The Weight of the Nation, the Showtime series Years of Living Dangerously, the United Nation's campaign “Too Young to Wed” and the Doctors Without Border's short film series Starved for Attention, which was also nominated for an Emmy. She is the recipient of the Kodak Award for Cinematography from the Hampton's International Film Festival for the feature Without, which she also produced. In 2013 she was commissioned by the artist Moby to direct and shoot the title video for his album Innocents. As a still photographer she has won numerous awards, including the F Award for Concerned Photography. Her work has been exhibited at museums and galleries internationally, including Forma, The International Center of Photography, Foam, The Photography Museum of Amsterdam, and The Centre Pompidou. Her current project, Brick, which she is co-directing and co-shooting with Christopher LaMarca has been accepted into the 2013 IFP Spotlight on Documentary Lab.
Leeor Kaufman
Leeor Kaufman is a filmmaker and photographer. He has worked on independent films and commercial television programs as a cinematographer, film editor and director. His short and feature length films have been screened in film festivals and television channels worldwide including MSNBC and Arte. His photos have been published in numerous magazines including Newsweek, TIME Magazine, Das Magazine, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and Burn Magazine. Currently based in New York, he teaches video and photography as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and as a faculty member at the International Center of Photography. Leeor is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University’s Film department and the International Center of Photography Documentary and Photojournalism Program.
Gillian Laub
Gillian Laub is a regular contributor to many publications including The New York Times Magazine and TIME Magazine. She was selected for the World Press Photo's Joop Swart Master Class in 2003 and won Nikon's Storyteller Award in 2005. Laub was Aperture's Artist of the year following the publication of her first monograph in 2007. In 2009, her photo essay and multimedia piece about segregated proms in Georgia was published in The New York Times Magazine. Inspired by this body of work, she is currently directing and producing a feature length documentary about race in the American South. Laub currently lives in New York. Her art work is widely exhibited and collected.
Jared Moossy
Jared Moossy is an Austin, Texas based photographer and cinematographer. He has worked as a photojournalist for numerous publications such as TIME Magazine, Stern Magazine, and Harpers. In 2009 he was named one of PDN’s 30 emerging photographers. Most recently, Moossy worked with HBO as the cinematographer for WITNESS, a series produced by Michael Mann, which premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival to rave reviews. Moossy graduated from Parson's School of Design in 2008. His main focus is on the sociopolitical landscapes of countries in conflict.
Nadav Neuhaus
Nadav Neuhaus is a photojournalist and filmmaker living in Jersey City, NJ. He spent a decade in Israel working as a photojournalist before moving to the United States in 2005. Since then he has covered border issues in Juarez and Tijuana, scientists training to go to Mars, Innuit life near the north pole and the aftermath of the Japanese and Haitian earthquakes. His multimedia piece on rape in Haitian refugee camps was named a PDN Photo Annual selection for 2012. His photographs have been published in L’Express, VSD, Paris Match, Le Figaro, The Independent (London), The Times (London), TIME, Newsweek, Stern, The New York Times and National Geographic. He is currently focusing on short film commissions and completing production of The Search for the Golden Cage, a film about electrohypersensitvity.
Alon Schwarz
Alon began working as a video editor in Israel ten years ago and has since also directed short documentaries and produced a few commercial films. In 2013 Alon joined his brother Shaul as script writer and editorial consultant for the film Narco Cultura which was premiered at Sundance 2013 and got theatrical distribution in the United States. Before this Alon and Shaul worked together on other projects including feature length film “The Block” which was produced in 2005. Alon is currently directing and producing the feature documentary ‘Aida`s Secrets’ and producing the feature documentary ‘The Goal.'
Uriel Sinai
Uriel Sinai is an acclaimed photojournalist. In 2005 he earned first place in the “General News” category of the annual World Press Photo competition. He was named the 2008 “Magazine Photographer of the Year” by Picture of the Year International. He was awarded second place at the 2009 Prix Bayeux-Calvados. He has also won recognition from the National Press Photographers Association, the China International Press Photo Contest, and the Days Japan Photojournalism Award. His photos have been published in TIME Magazine, Paris Match, Stern Magazine, The Economist, The New York Times, and Der Spiegel. Sinai also shoots commercials and video clips for leading ad campaigns and companies in Israel. Most recently Sinai co-directed and shot the documentary film Numbered with Dana Doron. Sinai has been awarded for his work as cinematographer and as a co-director on the project.
Jay Arthur Sterrenberg
Jay Arthur Sterrenberg is a New York based filmmaker and editor whose work has appeared in theaters, on HBO, Arte, ESPN, and PBS. Documentary editing credits include Sundance premiere Narco Cultura (Cinedigm, 2013), Academy Award nominated Redemption (HBO, 2013), Emmy Nominated Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery (HBO, 2008), and Wartorn (HBO, 2010). He served as consulting editor for Emmy Nominated Good Fortune (POV, 2009), Slamdance Grand Jury winner Welcome to Pine Hill (Oscilloscope, 2013) and Five Star (winner of the "Best Editing" award at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival). Jay is also founder of the Meerkat Media Collective, an award-winning arts collective and co-operatively run production company that prioritize shared authorship and skillsharing within their creative process. He edited, shot, produced and co-directed the collective's two feature length documentaries: Stages (New Day Films, 2010) and Brasslands (The Orchard, 2013) which have screened around the world including Rotterdam, Los Angeles Film Festival, CPH:DOX and Thessaloniki.
Jeff Sterrenberg
Jeff Sterrenberg is an award winning filmmaker and teacher currently based in Brooklyn, New York. With over 8 years of experience his work has been seen on The Documentary Channel, TIME.com, and on the website of The Atlantic. He was on the editing team of the Oscar-nominated short documentary Sun Come Up. With his colleagues in the Meerkat Media Collective he helped direct, shoot and editBrasslands—which has played in festivals around the world. Jeff is also a proud member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective.
Luke Boelitz
Luke Boelitz is a photographer living in Bushwick. During his time as a student at Tufts University he directed short films, interned at two public radio stations, and studied under VII founder Gary Knight. Upon graduating in 2012, Luke moved to Johannesburg, South Africa to work as a photo intern for The Mail and Guardian. On assignment he photographed the aftermath of the Marikana massacre, covered national politics and climbed the hills of Lesotho. After returning to the states he spent a year building boats. Luke is now working as an Associate Producer at Reel Peak Films.