The Filmmakers
Mia Trachinger: Writer/Director
Singled out by The Hollywood Reporter as one of five "New Talents" to watch, Los Angeles native Mia Trachinger received her Master of Fine Arts in Film Direction from UCLA where she made a number of award-winning short films. BUNNY, Mia's first feature, garnered her a nomination for the IFP "Someone to Watch" award for "most promising up and coming" director as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination for The John Cassavettes Award for Best Low Budget Feature. In addition, Mia won the "Maverick Spirit Award" prize at Cinequest. In 2003, "Bunny" was exhibited in a limited release by Madstone Films.
Since then Justin Lin's (Better Luck Tomorrow, Fast and Furious 3) company Trailing Johnson has worked with Mia producing "The Rising" a J-Horror script Mia has written for her to direct. In addition, Mia is currently writing the thriller, "What Remains" and is attached to direct the comedy, "Scuttlebutt" which is co-written by "Saturday Night Live" scribe John Solomon and LA playright Aldo Velasco.
Rebecca Sonnenshine: Producer
Rebecca Sonnenshine received her Bachelor of Arts from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. After graduating, she spent several years working for Becker Entertainment as a development and acquisitions executive. In 1998, she served as a production executive on the feature film, RHAPSODY IN BLOOM. After leaving the company, she went on to produce the feature film, BUNNY (directed by Mia Trachinger), which earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination (John Cassavetes Award). As a writer, she was awarded a 1999 Nicholl Fellowship for her feature drama, MERMAID DREAMS. Her other writing credits include the short film series, RECONOCER (2002), and the feature film HAPPILY EVEN AFTER (2004), which made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2004, she was selected to participate in the Berlinale Talent Campus, and she has attended the Film Independent (FIND) Director's Lab with her feature project, SEE ME THROUGH. She co-wrote AMERICAN ZOMBIE, which premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival and recently screened at SXSW. Most recently, she wrote the thriller WITHIN, currently in post-production, and SHE LIVED, now in production.
Patti Lee: Director of Photography
Patti Lee is a Cinematographer and Los Angeles native. She first acquired important entertainment industry skills such as strong work ethic and the ability to handle difficult personalities during childhood, when she worked at her family's Chinese restaurant. After earning a Bachelor's Degree at UCLA's Film School, Patti began her career in the Set Lighting Department on movies, commercials and television shows.
Patti Lee's cinematography credits include "The Bernie Mac Show", "Solitary", Maid of Honor (Sundance 2000) and Bunny, which was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Patti has also shot several documentary projects, among them Sundance Channel's "Big Ideas for a Small Planet", Palm Pictures' American Mullet and Where the Girls Are, executive produced by Ethan Coen.
Patti Lee has also served as Lighting Designer for television shows such as David E. Kelley's "The Law Firm", Disney Channel's "Movie Surfers" as well as "The Family" and "The Great Domestic Showdown" for ABC.
Bob Brooks: Editor
Since receiving an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995, Bob Brooks has edited eleven feature films, including BUNNY, and more recently, Shonali Bose's AMU. Mr. Brooks has also edited dramatic and reality-based television programs, such as ABC's series The Bachelor, the award-winning PBS newsmagazine, California Connected, and several feature-length documentaries, including VIEW FROM A GRAIN OF SAND by Meena Nanji, and AGAINST THE GRAIN by Ann Kaneko. He is currently collaborating with writer/director Aidan Hill on a feature script.
Jonathan Segel: Composer
Born September 3rd 1963 in Marseilles, France, grew up in Davis, California (with a year's side trip to Tucson, AZ.), went to college at UCSC in Santa Cruz, CA, studying with Gordon Mumma and Peter Elsea. In Santa Cruz he hooked up with Camper Van Beethoven, apparently for life. He moved up to San Francisco in 1989, moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to work for Dane Davis at Danetracks, a film sound post production facility, then back to Oakland in 2001, where received a Master's Degree in Music Composition at Mills College, studying with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran, and Joelle Leandre.
While in Santa Cruz, he played with Camper Van Beethoven, Eugene Chadbourne and various other semi-musical projects, while in SF with Sideways, Virginia Dare, Granfaloon Bus, Dieselhed and his own bands Hieronymus Firebrain which dissolved and reformed as Jack and Jill, which later led to various records of rock music under his own name. While in Los Angeles, besides doing shows with Eugene Chadbourne, he played with Clyde Wrenn (as Clyde Wrenn and the Container), with Mike Marrt's Beaumont, occaisonal shows with Mark Goodman's group, Magnet, and spent a great deal of time touring the globe with Mark Linkous' group, Sparklehorse.
Upon return to the Bay Area, Jonathan has been playing rock shows with his own eponymous band, as well as a reformed and revitalized Camper Van Beethoven. An all-new Camper Van Beethoven cd, "New Roman Times", came out in the fall of 2004, followed by much touring in the United States and Europe, which continues to this day.
In addition to this, a self-ostracization from Los Angeles and the film and music industries led Jonathan back to the world of improvisation and electronic music, and he has been performing improvised music for instruments and computer around the world for the past few years, including shows in the SF Bay Area, New York, Europe and Japan.
2003 saw the CD release of several improv collaborations with notable artists such as Fred Frith and Joelle Leandre, and with Shoko Hikage, and the first of many electronic music CDs. In 2004, after various shows as both a rock and an improvising duo with Dina Emerson, Chaos Butterfly formed and started recording and touring as well. So far several CDs of their strange brand of electronic/improv music have been produced worldwide, as well as performances in the US and Europe with many collaborators.
He has also been composing music for the Nesting Dolls Dance Company since 1992, and has composed music for Curt Haworth's Dance Company, and Maxine Moerman Dance Theater.
In 2005, the duo of Chaos Butterfly began composing and performing with the Deborah Slater Dance Theater, including the month-long run of the show "Hotel of Memories" in San Francisco in May of 2006, and Jonathan continues to work with the company providing music.
On July 7 2007 the Theatre of Yugen will present an entire cycle of Noh plays, Jonathan is working with Suki O'Kane and Allen Whitman on the music for several, and composing for the center play, "Dark/Silent"
