Unification of Wisdom Film Crew
Cassidy Rast (Director/Executive Producer/B camera shooter/Photographer)
Cassidy Rast is a native Californian documentary film maker and auteur. She most recently has been working producing and directing independent media for television and film in southern California. Before she came into working in the film industry professionally, she spent five years studying Theatre and Film in New York and Australia as well as traveling the world and gathering a blue print for the films she wants to make. She graduated from Long Island University C.W.Post with a B.F.A. in Arts Management (emphasizing non-profit management), and a B.A. in Japanese Suzuki Performing Arts. She has an imminent love and passion for documentary filmmaking and has so since she was a child. In April of 2008 she established Outside The Box Media Arts with co-producer Whitney Kear, where she directed/created/ and produced “Iron Snake of the Jungle”. A short documentary film about an indigenous family in the jungle of the Amazon on the Peruvian/ Ecuador border which is in danger of having their land taken over by a near by oil company. Cassidy has been working very hard for the past 3 years to carry out the completion of the film with her team. Through documentary filmmaking her vision is to link the indigenous and foreign communities and in doing this acting as a medium to give people a voice in the ever so changing global population.
Whitney Kear (Producer/ Pre/Post Production Coordinator/Photographer)
Whitney graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Psychology. While attending college, Whitney was involved in human and animal rights organizations including travel to New Orleans post-Katrina as a Racism and Poverty Conference attendee and involved participant in residential renovation. Since a young child, Whitney has engaged in consistent and extensive global travel. In 2004, Whitney traveled to Kangaroo Island, Australia where she photographed and engaged in wildlife conservancy work at Hanson Bay Sanctuary, dedicated to preserving endemic species of Australia. In 2008, Kear continued to invest her time and passion with non-profits. She traveled to Tambillo, Ecuador in March 2008 where she photographed and volunteered with Hacienda Santa Martha, a sanctuary for wild animals that had been victims of animal trafficking.
In April 2008, she co-created and co-produced the documentary “The Iron Snake of the Jungle” in the Amazon of Ecuador, with her film partner in UnityFilms. As a photographer, Kear was in San Marcos, Lago Atitlan, Guatemala in February 2008 with Cassidy and Yeshai when the Mayan Elders first allowed the sacred fire ceremonies of Wyeb to be chronicled. As a featured artist, Whitney’s artwork inspired from Guatemalan travels was displayed at Big Umbrella Art Studios in San Francisco, April 2009. As a passionate and gifted vocalist interested in the power of sound, Kear continued her studies at the Globe Institute of Sound and Consciouness in San Francisco, CA. She currently lives in San Diego, performing, producing, and writing as an authority on natural living, healthy food, and wellness.
Jesse Barber (Line Producer/Production Coordinator/Student of Tata Pedro)
As a scholar of cultural studies, and an independent documentary filmmaker for the organization C.A.S.T. (Calling All Societal Truths). Jesse or also known as Yeshai has been filming cultural truths both nationally and internationally within Guatemala, Mexico, Israel, and in the United States. Jesse has both studied and filmed with Tata Pedro previously during the sacred fire ceremonies of the solar new year in Guatemala in 2008; and most recently has been working as a director of sustainability within the peace corps in Guatemala.
Ben McIntire (Director of Photography)
In May of 2007 Ben McIntire graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, majoring in Theatrical Lighting Design with extensive coursework in Film Studies. Before graduating he also completed an internship with, and began working for, New York City based Production 920, where he worked on countless interviews for ESPN, MTV, HGTV, HBO, ABC and IFC as well as commercials for Hewlett Packard and Pontiac.
In the last two years Ben has worked in New York City shooting high-end programming with such companies as HBO, BET, ESPN, Vice-TV and MTV as well as a number of independent music videos, video installations, short films and documentaries.
Before working as a director of photography, Ben found a well-rounded on-set education as an audio tech., gaffer, grip, set designer and production assistant in the Tri-state area as well as the San Franscisco Bay Area. Ben has lived in England, Scotland, Egypt and Turkey as well as the United States, and loves to travel when possible for shoots. Most recently he worked as the director of photography for a two-week shoot for a documentary on Reggae Music in Antigua and Barbuda.
Scott Jansson (Director of Photography/Still Photographer)
Scott is a New York based Director of Photography and has over seven years experience in professional Film, HD, Video, & Photography production. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production & Photography. He has worked as a camera man with some of the best recording artists in the industry including Beyonce and The Dave Matthews Band. He shoots as a freelance Director of Photography for networks such as BET, CBS, ESPN and HBO.More recently he has been focusing his sights on documentary filmmaking and has worked with channels such as IFC.
Jennifer Monterroso (Translator/Production coordinator/Guide/Line Producer)
Jennifer Monterroso is from the Capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City, and is a professional guide, translator and has been working with the Unification of Wisdom Film Crew for the Past 2.5 years of filming. She has always felt a special relationship and attraction towards the studies of Ancestral Wisdom, starting with the Mayan Culture and later branching out her interest to other cultures around the world. She is a professional tour guide for the Mayan Sacred Route or Sac´be (White sacred road) authorized to guide in the four cardinal directions by the Cosmic Energies and INGUAT ( Guatemalan Tourism Institution) . Through her journeys - both inside and outside of herself - she has realized that there are much greater similarities than separations between people around the world, realizing the way each culture and individual relates to a greater whole. She has found her spiritual path through her own transformation and through the Mayan Cosmovision, as well as through her friendship and study with Mayan elders. She knows it´s her mission to share her understanding of the Maya cosmovision with the rest of the world. She strongly believes that if we every day choose to become the best version of ourselves, we will also reflect our efforts, our true commitment and our honest beauty in everything that comes our way through life. She is currently leading tours in Guatemaya which are very unique and based in celebrating the culture and wisdom of the Maya. To learn more about the Mayan Cosmic Tours and Jennifer please visit:
http://www.mayancosmictours.com/
Inlakesh - I´m another you, and you are another me!