Biographies

David Sauvage, Director/Producer, was a classmate of Carissa's at UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he focused on entertainment and entrepreneurship.

A graduate of Columbia University, he has written and produced several plays in New York and Los Angeles. Cheyenne was named a Top 10 Play of the Year by Frontier Newsmagazine; The Burning House earned a rave from The Hollywood Reporter. David also wrote a short film entitled Artifact, which has been accepted to numerous film festivals.

While Carissa is David's first documentary, he grew up around documentary filmmaking. His father, Pierre Sauvage, is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker in his own right. Pierre has been extremely generous with his expertise; David is grateful to have him as an advisor on the project.

Chad Troutwine, Producer, is a celebrated entrepreneur and Executive Producer. His films have premiered at the world's most prestigious film festivals: Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, and Venice. Chad is also co-founder and owner of Veritas Prep, a recognized leader in standardized test preparation and graduate school admissions consulting. Veritas Prep operates in 60 cities around the world and employs more than 150 graduates of the world's elite MBA programs.

He is also a co-founder and owner of Spectrum Station, one of the largest and most innovative early education centers in the United States. Chad is an attorney and received his MBA with distinction from Yale University. Prior to that, he established an advocacy scholarship in the name of his parents at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he graduated with honors. In recognition of his achievements, Forbes magazine named Chad their Forbes Future Capitalist for 2002.

Davis Guggenheim, Executive Producer, is the Academy Award-winning Director of An Inconvenient Truth. The film led to a sea change in public opinion on the environment and became one of the most influential documentaries of all time. His previous documentary, The First Year, captured the impossibly challenging first year of public school teachers. The goal was to drive awareness of the pressing need for good teachers and to inspire the next generation of educators. The film premiered on PBS and received a Peabody, the most prestigious award in broadcast journalism. Davis has also directed for television; credits include The Shield, Alias, Deadwood, 24, NYPD Blue and ER.

A graduate of Brown University, Davis moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking. He joined Outlaw Productions and worked with director Steven Soderbergh on Sex Lies and Videotape. Delighted to share his experience, Davis is guiding David through the process of making Carissa.

Jonathon Narducci, Cinematographer, studied photography at the Parsons School of Design and earned a degree in cinema from the University of Iowa. He has since worked as director of photography on several short films, including The Retreat (Official Selection, Woodstock and Atlanta Film Festivals) and Who You Know, starring Johnny Gilecky. Most recently, he was the 2nd unit director of photography on Remarkable Power with Tom Arnold and Kevin Nealon.

Growing up in Fairfield, Iowa, Jonathon's family owned a major photography studio in town. With access to all the equipment a budding photographer could ever want, he developed a passion for powerful composition.

Aaron McAdams, Editor, studied film at the University of Iowa where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. His recent editing work includes the short films An Exercise in Vigilance (Official Selection, Action on Film, FAIF and Los Angeles Short Film Festivals) and the forthcoming Revolutions Per Minute.

Aaron also produced and edited corporate videos for Publishers Media Group. Clients included Skyy Spirits, Leo Burnett USA, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, and Prentice Hall Publishing.

Rafi Chaudry, Co-Producer, is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has also studied production at USC and the Russian State Institute of Cinematography. Chaudry recently worked alongside famed producer Claudie Ossard (Amelie, Delicatessen) as an Executive Producer on the movie Paris Je T'aime. The film opened the selection Un Certain Regard at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and later screened at Toronto, San Sebastian, and numerous prestigious festivals internationally.