MAIN OFFICES AND STAFF

Sundance Documentary Film Program
8530 Wilshire Boulevard, 3rd Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90211 USA

tel +1.310.360.1981
fax +1.310.360.1969
email: dfp@sundance.org
web: www.sundance.org/documentary

Cara Mertes, Director
Patricia Finneran, Senior Consultant
Rahdi Taylor, Associate Director
Kristin Feeley, Manager
Win-Sie Tow, Coordinator

STAFF BIOS

CARA MERTES
Director, Documentary Film Program

Prior to her recent appointment as Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Cara Mertes was the Executive Director of American Documentary, Inc and Executive Producer of P.O.V., PBS’ acclaimed independent documentary showcase. AmDoc is a leading nonprofit specializing in leveraging the power of independent documentary in public life online, in communities and in broadcast. Mertes is a long-time advocate for independent media artists, and an award-winning filmmaker, programmer, teacher and writer whose work has been featured widely in museums, festivals, on PBS and internationally. She has been recognized with three George Foster Peabody awards, two duPont-Columbia Awards and three Academy Award nominations as P.O.V.’s Executive Producer. In addition, she was the creator and Executive Producer of P.O.V.’s original online showcase, P.O.V.’s Borders, winning a Webby Award, a Batten Journalism Award, an On-Line Journalism and Parent’s Choice Award. She has also executive produced more then 70 original websites for the series’ films (www.pbs.org/pov).

PATRICIA FINNERAN

Senior Consultant

Patricia Finneran joins Sundance as Senior Consultant, Documentary Film Program as of November 2008. From 2003-2008, Finneran was Director of the SILVERDOCS Festival and Conference. Presented in Washington, DC by the American Film Institute and sponsored by Discovery Channel, it is the largest documentary festival in the US. She previously served as Artistic Director of the IFP Market, the leading US marker for independent film projects in development. She has produced for organizations including the US State Department, the IMF and the History Channel. Finneran studied at the AFI Conservatory and was also a creative executive in Hollywood.

RAHDI TAYLOR
Associate Director

As Associate Director of the Sundance Documentary Film Program, Rahdi Taylor administers the Sundance Documentary Fund which supports contemporary, social issue documentary filmmakers worldwide. Prior to Sundance, Taylor was Director of Marketing and Communications for California Newsreel, where she headed distribution campaigns for new releases and was responsible for strategic marketing and branding initiatives. She has served as Director of Production Assistance at Women Make Movies, where she shepherded 20 documentaries annually from script to screen and administered a Fiscal Sponsorship Program. An award-winning filmmaker herself, her works as a writer and director have screened nationally and internationally and garnered her a nomination for the Rockefeller Fellowship for Media Arts. Taylor holds a Master of Fine Art degree from the University of Texas, Austin. She was Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Media Studies at New College of California and has been a guest lecturer at Mills College, Southern University at New Orleans, and U.C. Berkeley.

KRISTIN FEELEY
Manager

After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Kristin Feeley spent two formative years researching the US welfare system at a reputable public policy research firm in New York City. This experience led to an extended stay in the birthplace of socialism, Glasgow, Scotland. There she received a Masters of Philosophy in Media Studies focusing on early American documentary film. Since then she has worked at several international film festivals and arts non-profits before moving to Los Angeles to work for the Sundance Documentary Film Program.

WIN-SIE TOW
Coordinator

A native New Yorker, Win-sie Tow has worked for the IFP Market, Hamptons International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and most recently as associate producer on Jihad for Love and assistant for The Visitors. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Radio/TV/Film department, she is currently Coordinator of the Sundance Documentary Film Program.