MEET THE TEAM
Matthew Hashiguchi
Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Editor
Matthew Hashiguchi is a documentary filmmaker whose work explores the lives of America’s underdogs, often focusing on individuals trying to achieve the American Dream within oppressive or unsupportive systems. He is a recent recipient of a 2019 Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Award and 2021 American Stories Documentary Fund Award for his documentary, THE ONLY DOCTOR. His prior feature-length documentary, GOOD LUCK SOUP, was broadcast nationally on PBS World’s America ReFramed, received a 2016 Documentary Fund Award from the Center for Asian American Media and premiered at the 2016 Cleveland International Film Festival. In addition to traditional documentary film, he has created virtual reality films and web-based interactive media that has been presented at festivals throughout the world. In addition to filmmaking, Matthew is an Associate Professor in Multimedia Film & Production at Georgia Southern University.
Anjanette Levert
Producer
Anjanette is a filmmaker, professor at Spelman College teaching documentary studies and production, a programmer/curator of film events and coaches aspiring and emerging filmmakers. After a number of years in broadcast journalism at CNN and Turner Broadcasting, she moved to NYC and entered documentary filmmaking. There she quickly found her tribe of documentary filmmakers and in particular, the Black Documentary Collective, founded by St. Claire Bourne, Imagenation, and Third World Newsreel. After almost 15 years in NYC, working between news, independent documentaries and programming around non-fiction media, she’s returned to Atlanta to help boost the independent filmmaking and documentary community.
Billy Wirasnik
Sound Design
Billy Wirasnik (he/him) is a sound designer, field recordist, filmmaker and the founder of Slo. His design can be heard in the Emmy award winning documentary LOVE BUGS (PBS/POV 2019), Lynne Seifert’s GENERATIONS (2020) which premiered at Berlinale, and the Peabody Award winning interactive documentary HOLLOW (2014). His field recordings can be heard extensively in the IDA award winning series MY LOVE (Netflix 2021) and in the upcoming Sundance premiere of Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s KING COAL (2023). He holds a B.S. in Music Technology from Northeastern University and is based in Providence, RI.
Buck St. Thomas
Composer
Buck St Thomas is a producer, solo artist and composer. He is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, writing mainly on guitar and piano and adding whatever other instruments are necessary. He lives in Rhode Island with his family and also works as a production sound mixer for TV and film.
Madelynn Woodard
Kid Extraordinaire
Madelynn Woodard is a Georgia based student filmmaker. Currently a Junior attending Georgia Southern University, she has been writing, directing, and producing films for 6 years. Currently studying Film Production and Theatre, she is also a scholarship recipient and member of the Georgia Southern Honors College. Madelynn is the President and founder of the Filmmakers Guild of Georgia Southern, in addition to running her student film production company Bonnes Femmes Media.
