bios
Samantha Farinella (Producer/Director/DP)
Samantha Farinella is a veteran NYC filmmaker, now based in Honolulu, and the founder of One Angry Woman Productions.
Farinella's latest feature length project, Hunting in Wartime, premiered nationally on PBS and won the Big Sky Award at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism in Documentary and the Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking Award at the Inwood Film Festival in NYC. It has screened in over thirty venues including the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, The National Archives, the Cambodian International Film Festival, the American Indian Film Festival and the Hanoi Cinematheque.
Her first feature documentary, Left Lane, won eight awards including honors in New Zealand, Paris and New York. It received official selection in over fifty national and international festivals including: San Francisco's Frameline, Out in Africa (South Africa's Gay and Lesbian Film Festival), Galway Film Fleadh, Barcelona's Kosmopolis and opening night at Boston's LGBT Film Festival.
She also has extensive television production and advertising experience with media companies including Viacom, The History Channel, Animal Planet, PBS and Hogarth Worldwide. Farinella is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii - West Oahu.
Farinella is an Assistant Professor in the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaii - West Oahu.
Christie George (Producer)
Christie George is the former Director of New Media Ventures, a Democracy Alliance project focused on investing in early stage new media organizations. Previously, she was an independent management consultant working with think tanks, international development organizations and start-ups to integrate business components into their mission-driven activities.
She has extensive experience in media including six years with Women Make Movies, the world's largest distributor of films directed by and about women. At WMM, she played a key role in helping set strategic direction for the organization, managing sales and marketing efforts for the company's slate of independent films and launching new initiatives, including The Girls Project, a critically acclaimed series celebrating girls' lives around the world.
George received her MBA with distinction from the University of Oxford where she was a Skoll Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship. She also graduated with the Said Prize, awarded annually to the top student in the MBA class.
Sonya Gray (Producer)
Sonya M. Gray is of Tlingit descent, born and raised in the village of Hoonah, Alaska. She is a Raven of the Ta’akweinadi Clan (Sea Lion ). Her father, Dennis H. Gray, Sr. is the current leader of the Wooshkeetaan Clan (Shark) and her late mother, Liv C. Gray, has the honorable distinction of being Hoonah's only female Mayor to date.
Sonya has been involved with her culture and served her community in many capacities; as an educator, volunteer and advocate. Her involvement includes serving as Grand Secretary for the Alaska Native Sisterhood, the oldest non-profit organization, founded to fight for the civil rights of Alaska Natives.
She has also worked in the public school system with primary and secondary students as a reading/math instructor for challenged students, as well as providing after school tutoring services and coaching various athletic teams.
She currently lives in Ottawa, Canada where she is attending Carleton University, pursuing an Anthropology B.A. Honours degree.
Erin Greenwell (Producer/editor)
Erin Greenwell directed her feature film "My Best Day" which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Other directing endeavors include "Oh Come On", a punk DIY performance video for The Julie Ruin and co-directing "The Golden Age of Hustlers" featuring Justin Vivian Bond's, remake of an iconic song written by legendary punk chanteuse Bambi Lake, about the 1970's gay hustler scene on Polk Street in San Francisco during the pre-HIV/AIDS era.
Erin is also an accomplished editor. Feature film work includes Yomeddine, a feature film narrative with its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2018 and submitted by Egypt for consideration of Best International Film for the 91st Academy Awards.. Yomeddine is about a man who leaves his home in a lepercolony and embarks on a journey across Egypt to find out why he was abandoned as a child. Based on stories collected from the award winning documentary, “The Colony” directed by Abu Bakr Shawky.
She co-produced and edited, Hunting in War Time, profiling the extraordinary stories of Tlingit Vietnam War veterans from the village of Hoonah, Alaska. The film screened at festivals domestic and international and was winner of the Big Sky Award/Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. HIW is distributed through New Day films with a TV version broadcast nationally through PBS.
Erin is currently an Associate Professor, teaching Digital Video and Media Production at Marymount Manhattan College.
Marlene Johnson (Advisor)
Marlene Johnson is currently the board chair of the Huna Heritage Foundation. She will take on an advisory role as well as serve as one of the film's subjects.
Marlene Johnson is native Tlinkit T'akdeintaan (Sea Pigeon) and was born, raised and still resides in Hoonah, Alaska. She studied management, financial management, and personnel at the University of Oregon and Washington State University.
Currently, Ms. Johnson holds several positions in Alaska, including Commercial Fisheries Entry Commissioner. She also serves on the University of AK School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences advisory council, the Southeast Alaska Selective Service Board, and the Board of Trustees on the Sealaska Heritage Institute, among others.
Johnson has received many awards for her service to the community, such as the Alaska Democratic Party's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, the Alaska Federation of Natives Citizen of the Year Award in 1995, and the Outstanding Women of America Award 1985-1991.
James Lindoff with Director Samantha Farinella
James Lindoff (Advisor)
James Lindoff is a key advisor to Hunting in Wartime. Lindoff is Native Tlingit Kaagwaantaan (Eagle-Wolf) from Klukwan and grew up in Haines, Juneau and Hoonah. Lindoff is a decorated Vietnam Veteran having served as Sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division from 1966-1968.
Lindoff went on both special operations and reconnaissance missions; he made 69 jumps, 8 of them over 15,000 feet. After being shot, Lindoff received the Purple Heart.
As the Commander of the Hoonah Veterans for the Southeast Alaskan Native Veterans Association, Lindoff has responsibilities for flag detail, funeral detail and leading the local veterans' marches in Hoonah.
Lindoff currently resides in Hoonah and has provided extensive support for the documentary, advising on everything from veterans affairs to Tlingit custom to current economic realities within Hoonah.
Lyle Kelly James and Kolene Elizabeth James (Song Composers)
Lyle Kelly James, is the son of Betsy and Owen James, and grandson of Jacob Pratt Jr. and Rose Gerber, and Kelly and Betty James. His Tlingit name is Xeetli.eesh, and comes from the Wolf House. Xeetli.eesh is Tlingit, Kaagwaantaan, Eagle/ Wolf Clan and a child of the Tlingit, Kiks.adi, Raven/Frog Clan, and grandchild of the T'akdeintaan Raven/Sea pigeon, L'uknax.adi Raven/ Coho, Lukaax.adi Raven/Sockeye, Filipino, Naanyaayi Eagle/Killer whale, Sik'nax.adi Eagle/Brown Bear, Tsaagweidi Eagle/ Split Killer whale, and the Hawaiian nation. He was raised in Hoonah and Kake, Alaska.
My English name is Kolene Elizabeth James, my Tlingit name is DaxKilatch ~ Keeper of Sacred Things or Sacred Knowledge. My name comes from the Head of the Nass River. My parents are Francis and Norma Jean Dunne. I am the child of the Tsimshian through my father's tribe. I am Haida and Tlingit Gaanax.adi ~ Raven Starfish from the Taantakwaan ~ people of Tongass and I am also (Tsimshian) Gitlaan Ggan haa da of Metlakatla on my mother's side (Metlakatla is the only reservation here in Alaska). I was raised in the village of Saxman (outside of Ketchikan city limits), the better half of my childhood and spending most of my summers in Metlakatla with my beloved grandmother Jessie Ridley. I am also the grandchild of the Teikweidi ~ Brown Bear People, Tsimshian People, and Irish.
We are very proud of our heritage! We are humbled to be blessed as parents of 3 children ~ Devon, Kordell, and Corinne.