Laura Asherman
Director
Laura Asherman is a documentary filmmaker based in North Carolina. Her early childhood obsession with using the family camcorder eventually turned into yearly summer jobs at the local TV station, where, at age 14, she decided to become a documentary filmmaker.
As the owner of Forage Films, Laura has directed and shot documentaries for notable clients like PBS, VICE, and HBO. Laura is drawn to making character-driven films about quirky people, family legacy, and corporate greed. Her recent work includes the award-winning documentaries: American Hasi (2019), The Home Team (2019), and Power Lines (2018). Laura is currently getting an MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University.
Michele Lombardi
Producer
Michele Lombardi is an Atlanta-based film producer and the owner of Ultra Fuchsia Films. Michele started her filmmaking journey in the sci-fi horror genre. Her first feature film, Science Team (2013), play 18+ festivals spanning 6 different countries. The Dread Central label, Epic Pictures, released her second feature Assassinaut in 2019. Over the last few years, Michele has focused on her passion for creating documentaries that explore the intersection of technology, society, and science.
Outside of independent productions, Michele has worked as a producer for NBC Universal, a location manager for Sony PlayStation, and a production coordinator for VH1. When she’s not working on her next big project, you can find her organizing community art events and dishing out home-cooked meals to her neighbors.
Sarah Cohen
Executive Producer
Sarah Fanchon Cohen is a producer, educator and facilitator from Chicago, currently based in Los Angeles. Sarah believes in elevating unheard voices and she is the creator of a storytelling-based model that pairs the production of documentary films with community-led workshops, implemented with communities via multiple U.S. Department of State grants in the U.S., Colombia and Zambia.
She combines her passion for media production with a career in educational equity and inclusion. A previous teacher, Instructional Coach and Fulbright grantee, she is currently supporting Strategy and Innovation at Los Angeles Unified School District as a Policy Fellow. She also facilitates corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) trainings and teaches graduate-level courses in Special Education.