Matthew Gossage: Director/Writer/Editor – Matthew Gossage is a director and producer of documentaries and commercials living in Austin, Texas. Matt has worked as a director, producer, editor, cinematographer, sound mixer and as a media advisor to non-profit organizations. In the past ten years, Matt has edited and produced over 100 short films, including the recent documentary series “District Docs for Austin’s African American Cultural Heritage District, “Breaking Down the Box” on solitary confinement in prison, “No Sanctuary” about refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S.
Jeffrey Da’Shade Johnson: Producer/Director of Photography – Jeffrey Da’Shade Johnson is a director, cinematographer, actor, stuntman and producer who worked with Matt Gossage on Six Square’s District Docs.
Dr. Eric Tang, Ph.D.: Research consultant/advisor – A former community organizer, Professor Eric Tang of UT Austin has published numerous essays on race and urban social movements, including award-winning writing on post-Katrina New Orleans and his first book, “Unsettled: Cambodian Refugees in the NYC Hyperghetto”. His research and scholarship on Austin and its modern racial dynamics have been critically acclaimed.
Erik Tillmans: Animator – Erik Tillmans is currently an animator and head of compositing for Dreamworks Animation, having worked on such Hollywood films as the Kung Fu Panda and Trolls. In addition to these large-budget animations, Erik has worked with director Matt Gossage for over fifteen years on documentaries and low-budget narratives.
Anne Lewis – Consulting Producer/Editor – Anne Lewis is an independent documentary-maker associated with Appalshop Films, a media arts and cultural center located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the Central Appalachian Coalfields. Her work reveals working class people fighting for social change. Anne was associate director/assistant camera for HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A., the Academy Award-winning documentary about the Brookside strike. After the strike, she moved to the eastern Kentucky coalfields where she lived for 25 years.
Dr. Eliot Tretter, Ph.D.: Research consultant/advisor – Eliot Tretter is a professor of Urban Geography at the University of Calgary, formerly of the University of Texas at Austin. His research has been on racial aspects of public and urban policy. Dr. Tretter has studied and researched Austin’s Master Plan of 1928 extensively and will serve as a consultant and advisor to Matt Gossage during the research phase of the film and has given permission for all of his collection of primary documents to be used in the film.