KIEF DAVIDSON serves as co-creator/executive producer and director of a 4-part series for FX Network, THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL OF ALL. The series tells the story of NY Times bestselling Author, Gary Stewart who discovers his biological father might be one of the world’s most infamous serial killers. An FX Original.
Also in 2020, Kief serves as creator/executive producer on a 6 episode series, HEROES FOR THE PLANET. The series follows social entrepreneurs who have come up with ingenious ways to fight climate change and solve future global problems.
His recent film, WHO SHOT THE SHERIFF? is a groundbreaking documentary that investigates and solves who was behind Bob Marley’s assassination attempt in 1976. The film is a Netflix Original production.
THE IVORY GAME follows undercover intelligence operatives in Africa, Asia and Europe who oppose Ivory cartels as well as the rangers and activists who fight for the species’ survival at the ground level. The film was Executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and premiered at Telluride and Toronto film festivals. It launched globally as a Netflix Original and was shortlisted for an Academy Award®
Kief also directed OPEN HEART, which was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject of the 85th Academy Awards®. The HBO film took him and a small crew to the heart of Rwanda and Sudan where he followed eight children on a perilous journey to get high-risk surgery at Africa’s only high-tech, free-of-charge heart surgery hospital.
He also directed and produced the companion film to Open Heart, called BENDING THE ARC. The feature documentary follows Dr. Paul Farmer and an extraordinary team of doctors and activists whose work thirty years ago to save lives in a rural Haitian village grew into a global battle in the halls of power for the right to health for all. The film, produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kief has directed several other prominent documentaries, including:
A LEGO BRICKUMENTARY: Released by Radius and narrated by Jason Bateman, the film delves into the extraordinary impact of LEGO and the innovative uses for it that has sprung up around the world.
KASSIM THE DREAM: The story of a former child soldier who became the junior middle-weight boxing champion of the world, The film premiered at the Tribeca film festival and won over a dozen international film festivals, including AFI, IDFA and Silver Docs. The film was a co-production with ARTE Germany/France and theatrically released by IFC Films.
His first feature, THE DEVIL’S MINER, made its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival and won more than 15 awards at international film festivals including Tribeca, Hot Docs, Chicago and Woodstock. The film was nominated for Best Documentary by The Director’s Guild of America and Won the coveted Fipresci Prize at Hot Docs, Toronto.
In advertising, Kief is represented by acclaimed production company Moxie Pictures where he has directed commercials for global brands such as GE, Toyota, Absolut, American Express and Facebook.
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PEDRO KOS is an award winning filmmaker living in Los Angeles. His feature documentary directorial debut BENDING THE ARC (co-directed with Kief Davidson) about the epic story of the global health movement told through the intimate narrative of a group of pioneers, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
He most recently wrote and produced Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer’s Netflix original documentary THE GREAT HACK which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA Award and shortlisted for an Academy Award. He also edited Noujaim’s Academy Award nominee THE SQUARE which earned him an Emmy Award for Best Editing for a Non-Fiction program.
Pedro’s other work includes editing Lucy Walker’s Academy Award nominated documentary feature WASTE LAND, for which he also won the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for best documentary editing. The film went on to win Audience Awards at both the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival, and the IDA Award for best feature documentary film. Pedro also edited Ms. Walker’s documentary feature film, THE CRASH REEL (2013 SXSW Film Festival Audience Award winner). Prior to that he edited Jon Shenk’s, THE ISLAND PRESIDENT (2011 Toronto Film Festival Documentary People’s Choice Award winner). Additional past work includes ELEMENTAL, directed by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee and Gayatri Roshan and Freida Mock’s SING CHINA!, on both of which he also served as 2nd Unit Director. In 2008, Pedro was the 2nd unit director on Jessica Sanders’ MARCH OF THE LIVING.
Pedro is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and received his B.A. in Theater Directing from Yale University.
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CORI SHEPHERD STERN (PRODUCER/WRITER) is an Academy Award nominated producer focused on both documentary and fiction film projects. Her most recent film, Bending the Arc, explores the epic arc of the global health rights movement through the intimate story of the extraordinary team who led the fight.
Her credits include box office and critical success Warm Bodies, released by Summit, which originated from an unpublished short story by writer Isaac Marion discovered by Cori. She also produced Open Heart, nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject of the 85th Academy Awards. The film followed eight children on a perilous journey to get high-risk surgery at Africa’s only high-tech, free-of-charge heart surgery hospital. The film made its US broadcast debut on HBO and internationally on ARTE Germany/France.
Current projects include a narrative feature film based on a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalism series, in partnership with ROCKLIN|FAUST (SPOTLIGHT). Additional projects include The Arizona Project with Miramax and Adaptive Entertainment, a narrative feature about the historic collaborative investigation by 35 journalists following the murder of journalist Don Bolles. Cori has also executive produced two virtual reality films: Collisions, which premiered at Davos and Sundance, and Francis, which premiered at the World Bank and WHO in support of world body policy change for global mental health.
In addition to film, her experience includes hands-on work as a social change strategist and social entrepreneur. She appeared in the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winning documentary Sonita, working to help the young woman/rapper escape child marriage in Afghanistan and pursue her art. Cori’s social justice projects have been featured on BBC, NPR, The Today Show, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. She has been a Media Advisor as part of the Skoll Foundation and Sundance Documentary Film Programs, well as a speaker at international conferences including the Skoll World Forum Stories of Change project—and the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival. She was the architect of the highly effective impact campaign for Open Heart—which resulted in a historic financial commitment and specific action plan to eradicate rheumatic heart disease in Rwanda through a public-private partnership of Skoll Foundation and the Government of Rwanda.
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