Team — SURGE

SURGE was directed, produced, shot & edited by an all-women team.

Hannah R. Rosenzweig, Director & Producer

Hannah is a documentary film director and long-time producer. She is founder and president of Intention Media Inc. Since serving as Hillary Clinton's personal videographer for her 2008 presidential campaign, Hannah has worked as a producer and advisor for women candidates and elected officials. She produced the award-winning PUPPET film, which premiered at the DOC NYC festival and was distributed on Netflix, iTunes, and Sundance Selects. She has produced and filmed documentaries for the History Channel, the Sundance Channel, and PBS including the Peabody Award-winning VOICES OF CIVIL RIGHTS. Hannah was awarded a prestigious JustFilms Fellowship from the Ford Foundation for leaders working at the intersection of film, storytelling, and social justice. Her background is in health communications and she holds a masters in public health from Columbia University. Hannah is a singer with the Resistance Revival Chorus, an all women's chorus based in NYC.

Wendy Sachs, Director & Producer

Wendy is a documentary film director, Emmy-award winning network news television producer (NBC, CNN and FOX), writer, author and sought-after speaker on women’s issues. She is also a former Capitol Hill press secretary, media relations executive, and the author of two critically acclaimed books about women and careers: “Fearless and Free—How Smart Women Pivot and Relaunch their Careers” and “How She Really Does It: Secrets of Successful Stay-at Work Moms.” Wendy has appeared on dozens of radio segments, TV shows and podcasts including: NBC’s TODAY show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN’s Headline News and others. She is a senior columnist for Forbes Women and has written for Fast Company, Time, Business Insider, The New York Times, CNN and others. Wendy has been recognized by MAKERS and was also named in 2017 on Forbes.com as a “40 Over 40 Woman to Watch.”

Tanya Selvaratnam, Executive Producer

Tanya is an Emmy-nominated and Webby-winning producer, who has collaborated with Planned Parenthood, Aubin Pictures, the Vision & Justice Project, and Glamour Women of the Year. Her films have played on HBO, IFC, PBS, Starz, and the Sundance Channel and premiered at the Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, and SXSW festivals. She is the author of The Big Lie and the forthcoming Assume Nothing; and her essays have been published in the New York Times, Vogue, CNN, Glamour, and McSweeney’s. tanyaturnsup.com

Laura Tomaselli, editor

Laura is an award-winning editor and filmmaker living in Brooklyn, NY. Inspired by an academic background in film and mathematics, she enjoys carving order out of chaos. She works in film, television and commercials. Her recent editorial work has premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and the Toronto International Film Festival

Margaret byrne, cinematographer

Margaret Byrne is an award-winning filmmaker who directed and produced Raising Bertie (POV 2017), a feature documentary following the lives of three African-American boys growing up in rural North Carolina. She’s currently in production on ITVS co-production, Any Given Day, a feature documentary following three people that were incarcerated for crimes related to their illness and released into the care of a mental health court. Some of her previous credits include All the Queen’s Horses (Netflix 2017) and Emmy-nominated American Promise (POV 2014). Byrne is an adjunct professor at Columbia College and an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University. She is the founder of Beti Films.

Letty gallegos, cinematographer

Letty is a Director of Photography based in Dallas, Texas. She has traversed the globe shooting documentary, reality, and scripted content. While the majority of Letty’s credits are in television, a few narrative works have made their way into notable festivals. With a career starting off building sets and working as a theatrical lighting technician, she has always found interesting ways to push the envelope through visual storytelling.

contessa gayles, CINEMATOGRAPHER

Contessa is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist, and an Emmy-nominated producer. She tells stories about identity, movement and social change, with a focus on race, ethnicity and gender. From 2014 - 2018, she was a producer at CNN, where she created original series and documentaries, including the feature film, The Feminist on Cellblock Y. She has additionally contributed to VICE, PBS NewsHour, PBS Frontline, CBS, Al Jazeera, Vox and forthcoming documentary features. Contessa is currently creating film and media projects under her production company, Cocomotion Pictures, and has been awarded a 2020 SFFILM FilmHouse artist residency.

doris casap warren, Consulting Producer

Doris Casap is the former senior vice president, Film Programming, for HBO, responsible for managing the Film Programming group and for the following film acquisition activities: major studio output, library deals and independent film acquisition for HBO and Cinemax. She oversaw all content acquisitions for HBO Latino. Casap joined HBO in 1991 as a management associate in the Film Programming area, where she acquired films and other television programming for HBO’s international services in Hungary, Latin America and Asia. In 1998, she was promoted to vice president and her duties expanded to a greater focus on major studio deals for HBO. Doris is now a distribution consultant for women filmmakers and entrepreneurs.

Regina K. Scully, Executive Producer

Regina K. Scully is the Founder and CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to developing and promoting media, education and the arts that transform our culture. A social entrepreneur, media activist, and documentary filmmaker, Ms. Scully is a leading communications and media consultant speaking at schools, conferences, and companies around the world. Ms. Scully is a Emmy Award-winning and Academy-nominated producer of The Invisible War, The Hunting Ground, FED UP, Miss Representation, Wont You Be My Neighbor and The Eagle Huntress. Ms. Scully has produced over 150 documentaries about the most important social justice issues of our time.

ALYSSA MILANO, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Alyssa Milano is an actress, producer, best-selling author and activist who will next be seen in Quibi’s Farrelly Brothers comedy, “The Now.” She also hosts and produces the successful podcast, “Sorry Not Sorry.” Her second middle-grade book, Hope: Project Animal Rescue, was published by Scholastic in April 2020. Milano starred on the long running series “Charmed” and “Who’s the Boss” and has appeared in more than 20 films over the course of her career.

Katie Couric, Advisor

Katie Couric is an American television personality, journalist, and author. From 2013 to 2017, she was Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Couric has been a television host on all Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career she was an Assignment Editor for CNN. She worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014. Couric's 2011 book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, was a New York Times best-seller. In 2004, Couric was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.