The American Virgin

Therese Shechter (Director) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, artist and public speaker whose films have screened on television, at film festivals and on college campuses all over the world. Her first feature, I Was A Teenage Feminist, which premiered in New York in 2005 recently won Best Film at the Jewish Women's Film Festival (NCJW New York section) and was given a Special Mention at the Karachi Film Festival in Pakistan. Ms. Shechter also recently completed a documentary short entitled How I Learned to Speak Turkish which won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at the Atlanta Film Festival.

After attending Columbia College Film School in Chicago, Ms. Shechter moved to New York to work for Robert De Niro's production company Tribeca Films. She worked with Macky Alston on his documentary Questioning Faith, which aired on HBO in Spring 2002, and has coordinated outreach events for PBS's Project Islam. She has also worked at the Sundance Film Festival since 2001.

Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Ms. Shechter was a journalist and graphic designer at the Chicago Tribune where, in her capacity as Associate Graphics and Design Editor, she contributed visual direction to several Pulitzer Prize-winning story packages.

Ms. Shechter writes about film and women's issues and works as a freelance art director for a variety of publications. She is a recipient of a 2002 Project:Involve Trainee Fellowship (for emerging filmmakers) from IFP New York and was selected to take part in Film/Video Arts' Artist/Mentor Workshop of 2004. Her production company Trixie Films is based in New York.

Lisa Esselstein (Associate Producer) develops meaningful, marketable content for film and television. At IFC Films, Lisa produces documentary shorts to support feature film releases On Demand and on DVD under the IFC First Take banner, the company's innovative day-and-date initiative. Projects include: Sorry, Haters Roundtable, an open discussion of the film starring Tim Robbins, Mary-Louise Parker, Julian Schnabel and others; A Slice of Pizza, a commentary special with director Mark Christopher; and behind-the-scenes features about Me and You and Everyone We Know; The Baxter; and American Gun.

Prior to IFC, Lisa coordinated two specials for Spike TV. On Spike 52: Favorite Cars, a two-hour clip show hosted by Tyrese, she headed the research department, gathering and clearing license-free and archival footage. On AutoRox,the first awards show for cars, hosted by Joe Rogan and Carmen Electra, Lisa collaborated with executive producers on logistical, creative and technical aspects 90-minute live-to-tape event.

Prior to her film and television work, Lisa spent six years managing marketing and client services at two Silicon Valley start-ups. Lisa studied American Studies and English at California State University, Chico.

Anneliese Paull (Cinematographer) is graduate of NYUÌs film and television production program and has shot dozens of short films and videos, including Liesel Davis's Under the Harlem Moon for which she won the Nestor Almendros Cinematography award at the First Run Festival. She has worked extensively in documentary form, including Therese Shechter's I Was A Teenage Feminist, and has contributed to such programming as Army of One, NOW with Bill Moyers, and CourtTV's Psychic Detectives. She has also shot two narrative features, most recently the romantic comedy Pussyfoot.

Jenna Rosher (Cinematographer)Since graduating from USCÌs Annenberg School of Journalism, Jenna Rosher has produced, directed and shot a wide variety of documentaries for film, television and the music industry. Ms. Rosher worked as one of two cinematographers on Jesus Camp, the award-winning documentary about an evangelical summer camp for kids. The film earned the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, the Sterling Award for Best Documentary at the 2006 Silverdocs Film Festival as well as a 2007 Academy Award Nomination for Best Feature Documentary.

Carole Larsen (Editor) is a Toronto-based editor originally from Nova Scotia. For the past seventeen years she has been editing documentaries (Things That Move, Meet the Sumdees) and fiction films (Outlaws of Missouri, Fairytales and Pornography), and she has collaborated with award-winning filmmakers Richard Fung (Sea in the Blood) and Therese Shechter (I Was A Teenage Feminist). Ms. Larsen is a past member of the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto and served on the board of Charles Street Video. She studied›film at Ryerson University and was an Editor Resident at Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Centre.