Team

THE SMALL WORLD FILMS TEAM

DR. ISABELLA ALEXANDER-NATHANI
Founder & Executive Director, SMALL WORLD FILMS | Director, Writer & Producer, THE BURNING

An award-winning writer, filmmaker, educator, and human rights activist, Isabella is the Founder and Executive Director of SMALL WORLD FILMS. Since 2015, she has been working to bring THE BURNING to life. Trained as an anthropologist, her work is motivated by her belief that storytelling has the power to humanize complex political issues and create positive social change. Her latest documentary film and related book, Burning at Europe’s Borders (Oxford University Press, 2020), uncover the human side of our global migrant and refugee crisis.

Isabella's work has been featured on BBC, CNN, NPR, PRI, and Al Jazeera, and she is a regular contributor to SAPIENS, where she writes a monthly column called “Borders.” Her recent speaking programs have brought her to stages around the world, including the United Nations General Assembly and the Parliament of the World’s Religions, where she has delivered keynote addresses on human rights to audiences of more than 10,000. In 2016, The American Anthropological Association presented her with the “Emerging Leader in Anthropology” award, and her latest projects have been supported by grants from The National Science Foundation. She is proud to serve on the Advisory Board for several non-profit organizations, including The Global Village Project, the first school designed specifically for refugee girls; Stories Found, an organization equipping African youth with filmmaking skills and technology; and SAPIENS, a digital journal focused on connecting social science research to the public. Isabella earned her degrees from New York University (BA), the University of Chicago (MA), Emory University (MA, PhD), and the Spéos Institute in France (MFA), and has held a faculty positions in the Departments of Anthropology and Film Studies at Emory University and the Department of Social Sciences at Morocco’s National University, Université Mohammed V. She has spent the past decade living and working between the U.S. and Africa. You can learn more about Isabella here.

JOE BERLINGER | Executive Producer, THE BURNING

A seven-time Emmy and Academy Award-nominated and Emmy and Peabody-winning director, Joe has been one of the leading voices in documentary film and television for over two decades. Known for pursuing stories that uncover social justice issues, his films include the genre-making documentary Brother's Keeper, the Paradise Lost Trilogy, which led to the release of the wrongfully-convicted West Memphis Three, and Crude, which exposed oil pollution in the Amazon Rainforest, winning 22 human rights, environmental, and festival awards and recently triggering a high-profile First Amendment battle with oil-giant Chevron. Five of Joe's films, including his Emmy-nominated 2012 documentary Under African Skies, have premiered at Sundance Film Festival, earning three Grand Jury Prize nominations. He has won multiple awards from the Directors Guild of America, the National Board of Review, and the Independent Spirit Awards. According to Joe, "Isabella brings a courage, determination, and natural storytelling ability that remind me of myself when I was beginning my career. This film is set to expose an unseen side of the largest humanitarian crisis our world has ever seen." You can learn more about Joe here.

FACT: Joe's films are so powerful that one led to the release of two men from life sentences in prison and a third man from death row. What will the next one do?

REGINA SCULLY | Executive Producer, THE BURNING

A three-time Emmy Award-winning and Academy-nominated producer, Regina is the Founder and CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting media that educates, inspires, and positively transforms our culture. Throughout her career, she has produced an astounding slate of 100-plus films, including some of the most impactful documentaries of the past decade from The Hunting Ground and The Invisible War to Miss Representation and Won't You Be My Neighbor? She sits on the boards of Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy & Civil Society, Harvard Women’s Leadership Board, and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security. She is also the Founding Sponsor of the Athena Film Festival (NYC), which highlights women in filmmaking, and is committed to developing a diverse new generation of American storytellers. You can learn more about Regina and her organization here.

FACT: Regina built her career supporting women and other marginalized voices in the film industry. If there's a female filmmaker who you love, we're willing to bet she played a role in their success.

ERIC ESRAILIAN | Producer, THE BURNING

An Emmy-nominated film producer and human rights activist, Eric is also a professor at UCLA's School of Medicine and appointed member of the Medical Board of California. His passion lies in supporting stories that have the power to bring policy change, and throughout his career, he has produced The Promise, starring Academy Award-winner Christian Bale, Intent to Destroy, nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary, and I Am Not Alone, the recent Audience Award winner at DOC NYC, the largest documentary film festival in the U.S. Eric is on the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation Board of Governors, the Hammer Museum Board of Directors, and the Armenian General Benevolent Union Central Board. In 2017, he founded The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA, which is committed to making Los Angeles the epicenter of human rights education, research, and advocacy in the U.S. You can learn more about Eric and his institute here.

FACT: Eric's film are so impactful that one led the U.S. Senate to pass a resolution officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide for the first time. He believes the next one has the power to bring policy change on an international level.

ELLEN GOLDWASSER | Editor, THE BURNING

An award-winning editor, Ellen is best known for her two Academy Award-nominated documentaries, Artists and Orphans and Speaking in Strings, which was a Grand Jury nominee at Sundance Film Festival. She also edited Mule Skinner Blues, which was the first theatrical release for The Sundance Channel, Anatomy of Hate, which was nominated for Documentary of the Year by The Documentary Channel, and was the lead editing consultant for the popular Netflix documentary Vegucated. In addition to her documentary work, she has edited multiple feature-length dramas, comedies, and programs for networks including HBO, The Discovery Channel, and SHOWTIME. She is an honors graduate of New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, where she was the first woman to win the Best Director award for Undergraduate Narrative Film. You can learn more about Ellen here.

FACT: When not in the editing room, Ellen draws her inspiration from the natural world and can usually be found in the ocean, in the mountains, or on a sailboat.

ANDREW BERENDS | Director of Photography, THE BURNING

Andrew was a highly acclaimed documentary filmmaker with a rich history of work in active war zones from Iraq to Sudan. He was awarded the prestigious “Courage Under Fire” award by the International Documentary Association for his first film, The Blood of My Brother, about an Iraqi family who lost their son during the American invasion. His subsequent films included When Adnan Comes Home, Urk, Delta Boys, and Madina's Dream, which took audiences inside a forgotten war between rebels and refugees fighting to survive in Sudan's Nuba Mountain region. When not directing his own projects, he collaborated with other filmmakers as a cinematographer, including his role on the Academy Award-winning film Free Solo. Behind the camera on THE BURNING, he brought his unique approach to humanizing even the most brutal political crises.

Our team was devastated by Andy's death on March 1, 2019, at the young age of 46. He gave his life to the pursuit of telling the untold stories of our time, and this will be his final film. You can learn more about his legacy of work here.

FACT: When given the choice between a shoot without cold beer or one with a little prison time, Andy didn't hesitate in answering. We tried.

SMALL WORLD FILMS Internship Program

At SMALL WORLD FILMS, we think it's important to give back. We're committed to being active givers in communities around the world, as well as those close to home. One way we give back in our own community is by giving young people from backgrounds that have traditionally been underrepresented in the film industry the chance to develop their technical skills, build out their individual portfolios, and create meaningful relationships with mentors through our internship program. Every semester, we select an exceptional group of interns from a highly competitive group of applicants who all share a passion for work at the intersection of the arts and activism. The ideal candidate believes in the power of stories to create change, brings a high level of motivation to individual and team work, and is ready to make the most of the opportunity. The SMALL WORLD FILMS internship program provides college-aged students and recent college graduates with the chance to work side-by-side with professionals on a variety of teams - Film Production, Community Engagement, Human Rights - and prepares them for careers of socially impactful work. In six months, our interns touch thousands of lives.

Our recent interns have been a global group of young change-makers including individuals from China, Colombia, El Salvador, Guinea, Haiti, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, and the US. We couldn't be prouder to call them part of the SMALL WORLD FILMS team!

If you're interested in applying for our internship program, please send us a message at contact@smallworldfilms.org with the subject line "Internship" and we'll get back to you shortly.