Joel Fendelman
Director, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
Joel Fendelman is an award-winning narrative and documentary filmmaker. He has premiered his films at prestigious film festivals across the globe and has won many recognitions such as the David L. Wolper IDA Documentary Award for “Man on Fire” and the Ecumenical Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival for his first narrative feature film “David”. His further achievements include premiering his short film “Game Night” at the Tribeca Film Festival and winning numerous awards for his second narrative feature film “Remittance,” including “Best Screenplay” at the Brooklyn Film Festival.
Joel strives to embrace socially conscious stories that deal with religion, social class, minorities and communicates the underlying connection between us all. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Texas, Austin.
“Director Joel Fendelman, a bold voice in documentary filmmaking”
James Chase Sanchez
Producer
James Chase Sanchez is an Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Middlebury College. His research interests are in cultural and racial rhetorics, public memory, and writing assessment, and his research has appeared or is forthcoming in College Composition and Communication, Pedagogy, Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, Present Tense, and Writing Program Administration.
Sanchez has long been fascinated with the stories of his hometown, Grand Saline, TX, and will be completing an academic manuscript about his hometown in the next years.
We offer workshops!
Together, James and Joel are able to combine their unique skill sets to create a workshop for students or employees that has strong academic roots and is yet still inviting and accessible to all. With stark honesty and humor, they create a comfortable space for dialogue and reflexivity. Whether it is a workshop on ethics in documentary filmmaking or a dive into implicit bias in everyday life, the filmmakers are able to use both personal experience and experiences in filmmaking to spark poignant and introspective dialogue that not only creates a conversation about difficult issues but elevates it.