Sam Green (Director, Writer, Editor)
Sam Green is a New York-based documentary filmmaker. Green’s most recent live documentaries include A Thousand Thoughts (with the Kronos Quartet) (2018), The Measure of All Things (2014), The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller (with Yo La Tengo) (2012), and Utopia in Four Movements (2010). With all of these works, Green narrates the film in person while musicians perform a live soundtrack. Green’s 2004 feature-length film, The Weather Underground, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Academy Award, was included in the Whitney Biennial, and has screened widely around the world. Learn more about Green: https://samgreen.to/
Caroline Shaw (Composer)
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She often works in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. This year’s projects include the score to Fleishman is in Trouble (FX/Hulu), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), the score to Josephine Decker’s The Sky Is Everywhere (A24/Apple), music for the National Theatre’s production of The Crucible (dir. Lyndsey Turner), Justin Peck’s Partita with NY City Ballet, a new stage work LIFE (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust), the premiere of Microfictions Vol. 3 for NY Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth, a live orchestral score for Wu Tsang’s silent film Moby Dick co-composed with Andrew Yee, two albums on Nonesuch (Evergreen and The Blue Hour), the score for Helen Simoneau’s dance work Delicate Power, tours of Graveyards & Gardens (co-created immersive theatrical work with Vanessa Goodman), and tours with So Percussion featuring songs from Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part (Nonesuch), amid occasional chamber music appearances as violist (Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, La Jolla Music Society). Caroline has written over 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Phil, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, and the Vail Dance Festival. She has contributed production to albums by Rosalía, Woodkid, and Nas. Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, tv series, and podcasts, including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, Tár, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary. (CS 10/252022)
Rebecca Solnit (Writer)
Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than 25 books, including Orwell’s Roses, Hope in the Dark, Men Explain Things to Me, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster, and A Field Guide to Getting Lost. A longtime climate and human rights activist, she serves on the boards of Oil Change International and Third Act. Her newsletter of essays and analyses can be found at meditationsinanemergency.com.
UAE National Orchestra
The UAE National Orchestra (UAENO) is a groundbreaking cultural initiative, with a mission to build our nation’s orchestra on the foundations of Emirati musical heritage, connected across its diverse community, and exploring connections with musical traditions from around the world.
Under the visionary leadership of Chairperson Her Excellency Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UAE National Orchestra will enrich the nation’s artistic landscape, providing career opportunities for professional musicians. It will honor the UAE’s musical heritage while embracing modern multiculturalism – developing a distinctive style and sound that reflects the country’s cultural diversity of the modern nation.
Through dedicated capacity-building programmes and international partnerships, the orchestra will provide training, support, and mentorship for emerging musicians, enhancing the local musical ecosystem and fostering future generations of artists. Through this orchestra, the UAE reaffirms its dedication to becoming a beacon of cultural excellence on the global stage.
ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann (Producer)
Thomas O. Kriegsmann is a Tony nominated producer specializing in new work development and production worldwide. He was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination and won best picture at the Cinema Eye Awards for Sam Green’s 32 Sounds in 2024, and recently premiered the Tony nominated Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens & Justin Peck on Broadway, following runs at Fisher Center @ Bard, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Park Avenue Armory. Current and past work includes projects with Kaneza Schaal, Yaron Lifschitz, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Brook, Daniel Fish, Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin, Yael Farber, Anna Deavere Smith, Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar, Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen, Peter Sellars, Julie Taymor, and John Cameron Mitchell. Recent premieres include 600 HIGHWAYMEN’s A Thousand Ways, CHRISTEENE’s The Lion, The Witch and The Cobra, nora chipaumire’s Nehanda, Bryce Dessner’s Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), John Cameron Mitchell’s The Origin of Love, Sam Green & Kronos Quartet’s A Thousand Thoughts, Big Dance Theater / Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Man In a Case, and Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theater’s Not By Bread Alone. Ongoing collaborations include Narcissister, Milo Rau, Bryce Dessner, Sophia Brous, Timothy White Eagle, Big Dance Theater, and Compagnia T.P.O. He is the producer of the Under the Radar Festival and is planning the festival’s 22nd Edition for January 2027, and recently opened Jesse Malin’s Silver Manhattan off-Broadway. Upcoming premieres include Bryce Dessner & Kaneza Schaal’s Night Sky With Exit Wounds from the book by Ocean Vuong. He is a founding member of CIPA (The Creative & Independent Producer Alliance). More information at arktype.org
Josh Penn (Producer)
Josh Penn is a producer with the Department of Motion Pictures. He produced Beasts Of The Southern Wild, which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the Cannes Caméra d'Or, and was nominated for four Academy Awards (including Best Picture). In addition, Penn was nominated for Outstanding Producer at the 2013 Producers' Guild Awards. He has produced Monsters And Men (Sundance Special Jury Prize), Philly D.A. (Winner of the 2021 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Nonfiction Series), the live documentary A Thousand Thoughts, Wendy, Users (Sundance Film Festival’s 2021 Best Directors Award), and Farewell Amor, among others. He was an Executive Producer on Patti Cake$, Western (Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize), The Great Invisible (South by Southwest’s Grand Jury Prize), and Bloody Nose Empty Pockets. Penn and the Department of Motion Pictures had three films premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2020, and three more at the Sundance Film Festival 2021. In 2018, Penn became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Outside of his work in film, Penn was previously the Michigan New Media Director for President Obama's 2008 campaign and a Senior Digital Program Manager for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
