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, Managing Producer

Rahdi Taylor, Associate Director

Kristin Feeley, Manager

Win-Sie Tow, Coordinator

Dyana Winkler, Assistant

STAFF BIOS

CARA MERTES

Director, Documentary Film Program Cara Mertes is currently Director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, overseeing the activities of the Documentary Film Program and Fund, including granting between $1 and $2 million per year to independent documentarians globally, directing three Creative Documentary Labs at Sundance Resort, supporting documentary programming and panels at the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Independent Producers Conference, curating work-in-progress screenings with partner organizations and other initiatives of the DFP. In 2008, she inaugurated STORIES OF CHANGE: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus Through Documentary, a $3 million, 3 year partnership between the DFP and the Skoll Foundation which will fund up to10 films on social entrepreneurs meeting today’s global challenges. The DFP also launched DocSource at www.sundance.org/docsource, a website connecting independent documentary filmmakers and human rights stakeholders worldwide. Mertes was previously Executive Director of American Documentary, Inc. and Executive Producer of P.O.V., PBS’ acclaimed independent documentary showcase from 1999-2006, where she was recognized with eight Emmy Awards, three George Foster Peabody awards, two duPont-Columbia Awards and three Academy Award nominations, most recently as Executive Producer for NERAKOON: BETRAYAL. Mertes is Executive Producer of over a dozen independent documentaries, including STREET FIGHT; MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY; BOYS OF BARAKA; and TWO TOWNS OF JASPER. She was the creator and Executive Producer of P.O.V.’s original online showcase, P.O.V.’s Borders, winning a Webby Award, Batten Journalism Award, On-Line Journalism and Parent’s Choice Award. She is a member of NATAS and WGA East, and graduate of Vassar College, BA, and Hunter College, MA. A long-time New Yorker, she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

PATRICIA FINNERAN
Managing Producer

Patricia Finneran serves as Managing Producer for the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP). Based in New York City, Finneran represents the DFP internationally at workshops, festivals and seminars, and supports DFP initiatives including the granting programs and the ‘Stories of Change’ partnership with the Skoll Foundation and the Good Pitch partnership with the Channel Four Foundation. From 2003-08, 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 market 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.

DYANA WINKLER
Assistant

With a BA in political science from Mount Holyoke College and a MFA in film from Paris, France, Dyana Winkler has spent the last 6 years living internationally, working in the world of social justice media.  Fluent in French and Tibetan, she has acted as translator for the Nepali government and local newspapers, helping interview recent escapees from Tibet as well as worked on films in French, Tibetan, Nepali, Spanish, Norwegian and Arabic.  The newest addition to the Documentary Program, Dyana supports all department activity focusing on support for Manager Kristin Feeley and research and scheduling for DFP Director Cara Mertes. She also creates content for DocSource, participates in the Fund review process and supports all Program event activity.