Asako Ushio
Director / producer / Editor
Asako Ushio was born in Tokyo, Japan. After moving to the United States to attend San Francisco State University, she earned a degree in cinema and began a career in film editing. Her credits include numerous feature documentaries and TV series, such as Nat Geo “Breakthrough,” “Origins: The Journey of Humankind” “Sea of Hope: America’s Underwater Treasure” and AMC “History of Horror.” She received her first Emmy nomination in 2014 for the PBS series “American Masters- Make a Noise” featuring Mel Brooks. Her hobbies include rock climbing, unicycling and making cat videos.
Ceiri Torjussen
Music Composer
Multi award-winning composer Ceiri Torjussen’s music was described by the Los Angeles Times as a “sudden bolt of creative lightning.” Welsh-born, but based mainly in Los Angeles, his credits run the gamut of independent films, documentaries, network TV, animation and numerous large-budget studio films.
Among Torjussen’s recent projects is the dark drama All Creatures, starring Karen Gillian (just wrapped), and the horror film Primal Rage (released theatrically in February 2018). Other recent projects include the psychological thriller Jack Goes Home (starring Rory Culkin and Lin Shaye) which premiered at SXSW 2016. The Canal, which premiered at Tribeca 2014 features a terrifying, experimental score to a critically-acclaimed horror film (now on Netflix). His extensive documentary work includes such award-winning films as Mr. Calzaghe, about boxing legend Joe Calzaghe (BBC/eOne). Becoming Bulletproof, about some disabled filmmakers making a Western, premiered on Showtime in 2015. In 2013 Ceiri scored two award-winning films: Test (winner of Outfest and featured at the 2014 Berlinale) is a drama set in the 1980s, and features a moodily ambient electronic score; and on the other end of the stylistic spectrum, Big Ass Spider! (premiered at SXSW 2013), a bombastic, action romp featuring full orchestra with a hard-rock edge, and a nod back to the classic monster-movie scores of the 1950s. He composed additional, heart-thumping action music for Hitman: Agent 47, Repo Men, Live Free or Die Hard and Underworld Evolution, and orchestral action-comedy music for Scary Movie II. He is currently completing his score to the documentary film Pistorius about famed Paralympic athlete and murder convict Oscar Pistorius.
Being an accomplished composer of concert music, he has been commissioned by groups such as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, The Vale of Glamorgan Festival and the Henry Mancini Institute. In 2016 his BBC commission Blodeuwedd, for full orchestra, was given its US premier as part of the Hear Now Festival, Los Angeles. His work has been recorded and released commercially and performed worldwide, including the USA, UK, Germany, France and India.
Cynthia Fraser
Haiku Cats Artist
Cynthia Fraser is a self-taught artist living and working in Los Angeles. She has a graduate degree in communication disorders and language development, but has spent the better part of the last two decades pursuing her art, and teaching yoga.
Her most current art endeavor is HAIKU CATS, a self-published book and stationery line. Much of her current original art is cat-centric, and includes totems, collages, line-drawings or combinations thereof. Prior to this she has worked with water colors, pen and ink, mixed media and papier-mâché sculpture.
My Tran
Motion Graphics Designer
Tran was awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship and earned her graduate degree at Grand Valley State University. Since 2007, she has designed for such clients as Toyota, Nike, ESPN, Hyundai, Sony, and Apple. Her first short documentary film, 40 Years Young, was featured in the 2014 Asian American International Film Festival NYC. She was also a participant in the Adventure Filmmaker’s Workshop at the Banff Mountain Film Festival that same year.
In the world of title sequence design, Tran has worked on the title sequences for films The Lego Movie for Alma Mater as well as Pacific Rim and for TV series Stranger Things for Imaginary Forces.
Jeff Consiglio
Consulting Producer
Jeff Consiglio has worked as a director, producer, editor and creative consultant on films for over 30 years. Jeff edited the Academy Award Winning documentary film INOCENTE (Best Documentary Short Subject, 2013), the Oscar-nominated and Emmy winning feature documentary WAR/DANCE and the Emmy and Peabody Award winning film LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM for HBO. He was Producer and Editor on the 2016 NY Times Critics’ Pick documentary feature film BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS, the documentary feature TWINSTERS which received the Special Jury Award for Editing at SXSW, the multiple award-winning documentary feature OUT OF STATE and the 2018 Best Feature Award winner at Big Sky Film Festival MY COUNTRY NO MORE. He is currently executive producer of a documentary feature on the topic of police-in-schools, producer and co-director of a documentary feature on the legendary band leader Doc Severinsen, and an active consultant on additional productions.