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Film Crew & Contributors

LAURIE SUMIYE
Director, Producer, & Animator

Laurie Sumiye is a Hawai‘i-born artist and documentary filmmaker who investigates environmental tensions between humans and nature. Her background in interactive media and design uniquely informs her drawings, animations, videos, and installations. She has exhibited her artwork in New York, Los Angeles, Hawai‘i and internationally, in the UK, South Africa and Brazil and screened her award-winning films at DOC NYC, BAM cinemaFest and PS1MoMA. She has an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College, BA & BS in Art and Communications from Bradley University, and studied art at Lorenzo De’ Medici in Florence and Pratt Institute. She spent 16 years working in creative and technology industries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and London. She returned to Hawaii to work on her first long-form public television documentary, A PARADISE LOST. Laurie currently works and lives in Mililani, Hawai’i.

MERCI ANDREWS
Co-Producer & Photographer

Sunawin Merci Andrews is a photographer, entrepreneur, and independent documentary filmmaker. Born in Florida and raised in an entertainment industry family in Los Angeles, Merci grew up on sets which informed her passion for filmmaking, cinematography and photography. Attending SVA and graduating from SUNY Purchase in New York and graduating in 2016, Merci has worked on a variety of film sets, in professional photography studios, and had her photography exhibited in New York City. She has since moved to Hawaii to continue her studies in environmental policy and find ways to inform the general public of the very serious extension crisis we are facing, through film making, photography, photo journalism, and volunteer work with homeless families and nature preserves.

VERA ZANBONELLI
Line Producer

Vera Zambonelli is an academic, artist, and activist. Engaged scholarship informs her research interests, which include issues of diversity, social justice and inclusion, community building, and feminist filmmaking. In 2011, Vera founded Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking (HWF) with the mission of using filmmaking to amplify women and girls’ voices and share their own compelling stories. She has been teaching at the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Academy for Creative Media at West Oʻahu. Recently, Vera has produced Reel Wāhine of Hawaiʻi, a series of short docs about the history and accomplishments of Hawaiʻi women filmmakers, distributed by Alexander Street Press. Thanks to a recent NEA grant, Vera is currently co-producing Season II of Reel Wāhine of Hawaiʻi.

JACK JEFFERY,
Wildlife Biologist & Photographer

“As a long time resident of the Big Island of Hawaii, wildlife biologist, photographer and birder, Jack Jeffrey, is intimately familiar with Hawaii’s hidden valleys, remote rainforests and rare birds. He brings to his images the knowledge from over 30 years of observation and study of Hawaii’s endemic birds, as well as those from around the Pacific. He combines a naturalist’s curiosity with a photographer’s patience and technical skill to produce beautiful images. Jack contends’ that “Public awareness is the greatest asset to Hawaii’s imperiled species”. Jack is the recipient of the prestigious National Sierra Club 2002 Ansel Adams’ Award for Conservation Photography, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Recovery Champion Award, Nature Conservancy of Hawaii Kako’o Aina Award, Hawaii Chapter Sierra Club Conservationist of the Year Award, and Hawaii Audubon Society Conservationist of the Year Award. A partial list of publications that have featured his work include; Audubon Magazine, Smithsonian, Life, Natural History, Birders World, National Wildlife, Pacific Discovery, Defenders of Wildlife, Science, National Park, the National Geographic Canon Endangered Species Series, as well as numerous books, text books, and calendars.”

PAUL ATKINS
D.P. & Cinematographer

“Paul Atkins specializing in natural history films. Atkins is known for the footage of killer whales preying on seal pups in the BBC’s The Trials of Life (1990), for which he won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. Atkins also was the director of photography for the Cape Horn unit for the feature film Master and Commander, which won an Academy Award for Cinematography by Russell Boyd, ASC. Atkins has been nominated for an Emmy award numerous times, winning it for his work in Great White Shark (1995) (Cinematography), and Hawaii: Strangers in Paradise (1991) (Cinematography, Outstanding Cultural Programming). Recently he has formed a partnership with Terrence Malick, serving as a second-unit director for The Tree of Life (2011) and Malick’s currently untitled sixth feature, as well as director of photography for Voyage of Time (2016). Atkins’ union affiliation is with IATSE. Atkins resides in Hawaii, where he has also worked locally such as shooting commercials for Hawaiian Electric Company and US Senator Daniel Inouye. He works together with his wife, Grace Atkins, in their company Moana Productions.”