producing team
HEIDI PHILIPSEN
Urban Ruths Photography 2024
Producer |
Heidi is a producer, writer, actress, and director with twenty-five years of professional experience in international film, theater, television and communications. A classically trained actress, she has transitioned easily from stage to film and has commercial work, features, and voice-over work under her thespian belt. Her ability to know and communicate with fellow actors with ease has led to a career in directing—short films, regional commercials and, of late, feature films. Heidi's award-winning films have screened internationally from South Korea to Los Angeles. Heidi's first feature, DARCY, which she produced through her company Personae Entertainment Pictures and was awarded the prestigious "Produced By" p.g.a. mark can be screened via Amazon Prime, Herflix, VimeoPlus and is coming soon to another SVOD platform near you. LOVE & VODKA marks her second feature in producing, directing, as well as her directorial debut and first feature with a writing credit. For a more comprehensive biography, please visit her website.
|
KATHRYN MCDERMOTT
Supervising Producer |
Kathryn has worked in feature film production for more than 30 years. From 1995 to 2005, Kathryn held the position of Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures. Her credits include Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Memoirs of a Geisha, Fun With Dick & Jane, Closer, Hitch, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, to name a few. Prior to that, Kathryn worked as Production Manager on Striking Distance starring Bruce Willis; Assistant Producer on Last of the Mohicans, A League of Their Own, Only The Lonely, and Career Opportunities; and Associate Producer on First Knight starring Richard Gere and Sean Connery, and My Life starring Nicole Kidman and Michael Keaton. For nearly two decades, Ms. McDermott served as a Career Placement Advisor at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan and taught Production Management 1 and 2. She nows works freelance as a consultant and supervising producer on special projects.
|
NIKO MEISSNER
Producer |
Niko holds an MBA/MS from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and has over fifteen years of experience in business development and project finance for such companies as Vestas, General Electric, Ford Motor Company and Bloomberg. Formerly a writer/producer/director of his own short films, Niko co-produced DARCY together with his wife, co-director/producer Heidi, going on to win many awards during its film festival run and now on its way to distribution. Niko is excited to start work on their next mutual independent feature film, LOVE & VODKA.
|
DAVID NACHT
Executive Producer, Legal Consultant |
David Nacht was a performer with The Capital Steps while an undergrad at Harvard and worked previously as an executive producer with Ms. Philipsen on her first film. He practices in a few areas of law including Entertainment Law. David holds degrees from Harvard College (‘87) and The University of Michigan Law School (‘92), where he served as an editor of the Law Review. Mr. Nacht is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating for lawyers by lawyers, has been named a “Million Dollar Advocate,’’ and the 2011 thru 2018 editions of Michigan Super Lawyers. Prior to attending law school, David served as a staff member to the former U.S. Senator John Glenn on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, where he organized committee hearings and assisted the Senator in negotiating the passage of multiple pieces of legislation. David founded the firm in January 1996 in Ann Arbor, after practicing law at Miller Canfield - Michigan’s largest law firm. David also clerked for a federal district judge, Hon. Stewart Newblatt, in the Eastern District of Michigan. He has served as faculty for the American Bar Association Health Law section and formerly chaired the Washtenaw County Bar Association Employment Law section.
|
BRUCE FALCON
Associate Producer,
|
Bruce Falcon, a graduate of Saginaw Valley State University with a degree in Business Management, caught the “acting bug” early in life has been involved with indie film and tv in one way or another ever since. He played “Father Adams” on the Amazon Web series LOWER SPIRITS, represented the real “Tom Smallwood” on the CBS comedy HOW WE ROLL, starring Pete Holmes and Katie Lowes, and he’s acted in numerous TV commercials, local to the Detroit and Bay City areas of Michigan. Bruce is on the Board of Directors for Hells Half-Mile Film Festival in Bay City, Michigan, and an active member of the film community. Part Ukrainian and a lover of the Ukrainian culture and heritage, Bruce is excited to be on board as a associate producer and actor for LOVE & VODKA.
|
CAROLINE SINCLAIR
Associate Producer,
|
Caroline Sinclair (CSA). originally from London, is a noted NYC-based casting director with two decades of casting Film, TV, Theater, and New Media. Credits include The Zombie Wedding, Rittenhouse Square with Nick Nolte; Spike Lee’s (EP) Civil Rights drama Son of the South; and The Garden Left Behind, which won the Audience Award at SXSW. Other credits include Blind with Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore; Bad Hurt, which opened at the Tribeca Film Festival; Independent Spirit Award-nominated Bomb the System; and Indie hit Party Girl, with Parker Posey. Recent credits include Bad On Paper, starring and inspired by the life of country and western artist Elizabeth Cook, with David Letterman, Susie Essman and Karen Allen, directed by Katy Chevigny and she is currently casting Season 3 of the tv series Gravesend and the feature film Pure Happenstance.
|
SOPHIE MEISSNER
Photo by: Urban Ruths 2023
Junior Producer,
|
Sophie Meissner has been involved in the film industry her entire life, beginning by helping her parents on set while she was still only a child. Since then, she has branched out in the entertainment industry, focusing on acting and music, as well as production. In 2018, she interned for Juna Films in Hamburg, Germany, and in her final year of high school, she interned for one of the leading manga and animation companies in the western hemisphere, Tokyopop. Sophie has directed and written her award-winning first short film, "Keep Your Head Up, Sweet Pea", which went on to play in festivals including the Busan International Kids and Youth Festival in South Korea, and was also screened on PBS.
Sophie currently studies music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and works for Personae Entertainment Pictures as a junior producer. |
JULIA GENSINA
Post Production Producer
|
Born in Italy before returning to Poland with her family as a youth, Julia is a Polish post-producer and project manager, who has worked her way up the ladder from editing into management. Julia started her journey in the entertainment and commercial media industry as a photographer and video editor, which led her to the position of video and audio post-producer at Locomotive Studio in 2018 and later at Platige Image Poland. She is a creative thinker and practical solution-oriented doer with over a decade of experience in the visual industry. Julia has collaborated with many international companies, including Procter & Gamble, Nintendo, Zen.comand many others. More recently, Julia has expanded her focus to include post-production of feature film projects. House of Life, Polsat tv series (2018), The Invigilator (2019, short film), 2023 (ongoing) feature films Joyride and Malevych plus docu-series VONA. She is proud to be Post-Production Producer and Supervisor for LOVE & VODKA.
|
Claudia Mattai del Moro
Production Sound Supervisor |
Born 1972 in Zurich, raised in Switzerland, listening between trees and farms at the edge of the forest. Since 2010, Mattai del Moro has been a freelance production sound mixer on set of various feature films, documentaries and TV productions. Until 2004, she was an event manager and project manager for various theater, children and cultural events in Switzerland. In 2004, she decided to make her passion for sound and recording a profession, initially in the event and live-concert business in Switzerland, from 2006 on in Hamburg. After six months in the studio, with animated film sound design (Little Amadeus), from 2006 to 2009 she trained as a media designer for image and sound at Studio Hamburg. From 2010 to 2015 she deepened her knowledge and broadened her technical know-how, as a sideline, at the film sound technology distributor Zeigermann-Audio in Hamburg.
|
Amber Galkin
Ukranian Community Outreach,
|
When not at her full-time day job as an administrative services supervisor at the University of Michigan's School of Mechanical Engineering, where Amber leads ME admin team to cover ME Main Office services: purchasing, reimbursements, event support, ME seminars, office equipment, faculty travel and other support, etc., she is an avid activist for helping Ukrainian refugees in Michigan (having been a refugee, herself). Amber has joined the Love & Vodka team to help with all things Ukrainian-Outreach, making sure that the right local organizations in Michigan (and around the world) are found to gain the support they need. Love & Vodka plans to donate funds from screenings to non-profit organizations helping Ukrainian refugees.
|
Andriy Pereklita
Ukranian Culturist,
|
A Canadian-American prop master of Ukrainian descent, with 40 years of experience in Motion Picture, Commercial, Television and Industrial projects. Born in Toronto to émigré Ukrainian parents, Andriy was involved with theater and film from an early age, starting as a child actor in Ukrainian theatrical and film productions in Toronto. During his professional career, he has worked on over 200 television commercials, and has props credits in such motion pictures as No Sudden Moves, Conviction, Stone, Dog Eat Dog, How It Ends, and I See You.
Andriy is also an active member of the Ukrainian community. For the past 22 years, he has also taught History and Culture at the School of Ukrainian Language and Culture in Detroit, Michigan. He also served as the principal of the school from 2006-2014. |
brayan valenzuela
Post soundtrack coordinator |
Brayan Valenzuela, a Colombian based in Warsaw, is known for his intense and relentless tracks. With standout releases like "Your Drug My Drug" on his label "0000" and "Sweet Girl" on "Detroit Underground," he has earned accolades such as "The Best Electronic Music on Bandcamp: August 2019" for his release "Pink Dog" and "New Industrial Techno" by XLR8R. He has collaborated with artists like VSK, Codex Empire, and Giant Swan.
His devotion to modular synthesizers defines his unique, distortion-filled sound, leading him to share the stage with figures such as Surgeon and Dasha Rush. In 2017, he released his first EP, "Scribble Acid," on his label "0000." Born in Bogotá, Brayan became interested in electronic music at the age of 12. He lived in Barcelona and Berlin before moving to Warsaw. He has performed in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Kiev, Moscow, Malta, Tokyo, London, Bogotá, Madrid, Barcelona, among others. He will soon release a new EP titled "My Fish Died Last Night," which will include a remix by Peder Mannerfelt through Detroit Underground. He's happy to lend his expertise in the music industry to "Love & Vodka's" music soundtrack. |