About the filmmakers
Left to right: Wendy Corn, William Heath, Matthew Vonesh
Wendy R. Corn — Director/Producer
is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose films have been featured at SXSW and other festivals. Her films have addressed spirituality and community on topics such as death, laughter, Judaism, and community song circles. Wendy produced an annual teen 24-hr. filmmaking event called “Lights, Camera, Chutzpah” underwritten by the Austin Jewish Film Festival. She has been a part of the SXSW Photography Crew as a photographer & crew chief. Wendy conceived, produced, cast, and shot the award-winning “Praise HA!”, a documentary about laughter as a healer, which included Wavy Gravy, and Patch Adams amongst others. She produced and helped program the Avignon/New York Film Festival, and has worked on various other film festivals (New Directors/New Films, NYFF, Shorts International, NY Comedy, New York Women in Film and Television) in management and programming. She has also been in front of the camera as a location reporter. She has worked for media and film departments at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Miramax Films, and MTV Networks and is a published writer and photographer.
Trish Dalton — Co-Producer
is a Brooklyn-based, award-winning film director/producer whose work has been broadcast on HBO, Time Warner, PBS, and Ovation after screening at many film festivals, including SXSW, Miami International, Boston Independent, Denver Starz, Nashville, True/False, DOC NYC, Full Frame, and Tribeca. Trish’s production company, LUCKY CAT PICTURES specializes in engaging, personal story, and social impact videos. Creating informative and mission-driven content for brands, non-profits, and governments, garnering such notable clients as Capital One Spark, Conde Nast, Pepsi, Nike, illy, Cole Haan, Microsoft, Kashi, The Global Ocean Commission, and the Presidency of Senegal.
Mathew Vonesh — Director of Photography and Video Editor
is a filmmaker and photographer from Gainesville, Florida. Matthew produces multimedia work for non-profits, education, and small businesses. His documentary work often focuses on human interest stories and creating death positive narratives that celebrate the humanness of storytelling around the people who have passed away and the ones who cared for them. Matthew also started “The Calling Hours” (thecallinghours.co) with his partner William Heath, as a death concierge service that companions families during the end-of-life process, archiving stories and providing creative audio/visual tech solutions for a variety of sacred ceremonies.
Yuliya Lanina — Animation
is an interdisciplinary artist whose work exists at the intersection of visual art, performance, and technological innovation, exploring social issues like trauma, sexuality, loss, and motherhood. Born in Moscow, Lanina arrived in New York as a political refugee. There she established herself as a pioneering artist on the cutting edge of combining digital technologies with handmade media. She creates alternate realities in her works—ones based on sexuality, trauma, fetishism, death, and identity. Lanina’s honors include Fulbright (Vienna, Austria), Headlands Art Center (CA), and Yaddo Colony (NY). Exhibitions include SXSW (TX), Seoul Art Museum (Korea), SIGGRAPH (Japan), 798 Beijing Biennial (China), Cleveland Institute of Art (OH), Museum Ludwig (Germany) and Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Russia). Her recent solo show at Xposed gallery on New York’s Highline was viewed by more than 1,000 people per day over three weeks.
William Turner Heath — Consultant
Death Concierge, who pivoted from the world of art curation and design to a career in funeral science, describes his role like this: “I hope to bridge my experiences with visual arts, hospitality, and technology to create highly meaningful experiential services at the end of life.”
Coco Moon — Production Intern
Is a film intern and college student from northern California helping with the Exit Startegy social media and website. She is multilingual, speaking English, Japanese, and Spanish. Her artistic endevers include facilitating an experimental film currenty in pre-production as well as photographic arts.
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