Diego Ongaro // Writer / Director
Diego Ongaro is a French director living in rural western Massachusetts. In 2005, he wrote and directed ME MY BAG and MY BALL, a short film that won the Canal+ Award at the 2006 Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival. He has since directed three other short films, RETURN TO LABRADORIA (Clermont Ferrand & Aspen Shortfest 2008), RICE AND MEAT (Winner of Milano Film Fest. 2009 in the section “Short, Yet Good”) and BOB AND THE TREES (Boston Independent Film Fest, Maryland Film Fest...), the latest being the inspiration for the feature film bearing the same name. Diego likes carpentry, sausages, playmobils and raking leaves.
After graduating from La Fémis film school (French national cinema school), Christie Molia founded the production company Tournez S’il Vous Plaît (TSVP) in 2002. She has produced news reports and documentaries for the main French television channels (France 2, France 3, France 5, M6, Planète…), as well as short films and feature films. In 2004, she won the Film Producer grant awarded by the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation. From then on, she decided to create a second production company, Moteur S’il Vous Plaît (MSVP), entirely devoted to works of fiction. She immediately produced GROWN UPS by Anna Novion, starring Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Judith Henry. The film was selected for the International
Crtitics’ Week of the Cannes Festival in 2008. She then produced fifteen short films including TRANSIT, directed by Bani Khoshnoudi (awarded the Grand Prix at the 2005 Angers Festival), WEDDING PARADE, directed by Emma Perret, for the 2008 Canal Plus season and MICHA MOUSE by Mathieu Busson (Grand Prix at the 2011 Sarlat Festival). She also produced 8 TIMES UP by Xabi Molia, starring Julie Gayet and Denis Podalydès, selected for San Sebastian Zabaltegi and awarded for best actress in Tokyo international film festival (2009). In 2013, she produced THE CONQUERORS starring Denis Podalydès et Mathieu Demy.
Rob Cristiano is a Brooklyn-born independent filmmaker. His credits include the upcoming indie features MY FIRST KISS AND THE PEOPLE INVOLVED (Co-Producer) and THE MEND (Prod. Coordinator), as well as the Broadway-themed web series UNDERSTUDIES (Producer). Cristiano has produced eleven short films that have screened in more than seventy film festivals in twenty different countries. They include PENNY DREADFUL (Audience Prize - Clermont-Ferrand Int'l Short Film Fest), MELON HEAD (Atlanta Film Festival), THE PAINTER AND THE WIFE (Best Comedy Short, Bare Bones Film Festival), and THE GLITCH. His upcoming film, THE KING'S PAWN (dir. Jonah Bleicher), was recently awarded a grant by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Courtney Maum // Co-Writer
The author of the novel, I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN HERE WITHOUT YOU, Courtney Maum is the humor columnist behind the popular "Celebrity Book Review" series on Electric Literature, an advice columnist for Tin House a frequent contributor to The Rumpus. and the author of the chapbook, “Notes from Mexico,” from The Cupboard Press. A graduate of Brown University, Courtney majored in Comparative Literature with a focus on French to English translation, before moving to France where she worked as a party promoter for Corona Extra, which had nothing to do with Comparative Literature, and everything to do with getting a visa. Today, she splits her time between the Berkshires, New York City and Paris, working as a creative brand strategist and a corporate namer. courtneymaum.tumblr.com Twitter: @cmaum
Chris Teague is a writer, director, cinematographer, and graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program. As a cinematographer, Chris has shot three features and four shorts that have played at the Sundance Film Festival, including OBVIOUS CHILD and APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR, which both premiered at Sundance in 2014. He also shot THE MEND, featuring Josh Lucas, which premiered in Dramatic Competition at SXSW in 2014. As a writer/director, Chris has made the short film THORNDIKE (Tribeca Film Festival), and MONKEYWRENCH (Special Jury Prize, Dallas International Film Festival, Best Narrative Short, Eugene Film Festival). Chris was also credited with additional cinematography on the 2012 Academy Award nominated documentary IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT.
Chris Teague // Co-Director of Photography
Christie Molia // Producer
Rob Cristiano // Producer
© 2014, Bob and the Trees, LLC.
Danny Vecchione // Co-Director of Photography
Danny graduated Magna Cum Laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a major in Communication Arts and Design before going to New York to pursue his love of film. He graduated with honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in film and a focus in cinematography. While there, he shot over forty short films, winning the Wasserman Award for Best Cinematography an unprecedented eleven times. Danny collaborated with Alrick Brown, who directed KINYARWANDA, which was awarded the 2011 World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and the World Cinema Audience Award at the AFI Fest. He also shot SHADOWS AND LIES, an artistic crime noir starring James Franco, Josh Lucas, Martin Donovan, and Julianne Nicholson. It premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Danny lensed THE LOCKSMITH, directed by Brad and Todd Barnes, which won the ‘Best of Next’ Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. His most recent feature, 1982, directed by Tommy Oliver, was just an official selection in the 2013 Toronto Film Festival, and stars Hill Harper, Wayne Brady, Bokeem Woodbine, LaLa Anthony, and the legendary Ruby Dee.
Benoit Sauvage // Editor
Benoit Sauvage was born in Versailles in 1980, the year the empire strikes back. He plays drums in various bands without reaching the success of his Versailles peers, "Air" and "Phoenix." Benoit studies cinema and directs two documentaries, ("Tokyo In & Out" selected in Belfort Film Festival 2005), edits short films, documentaries, music videos, crosses the path of Vincent Moon ("A Skin A Night", "Mirroir Noir", documentaries about The Nationals and Arcade Fire), Helena Klautz (music video "50 Seconds" by Kill For Total Peace), Laurie Lassale (music video "On the radio" by Rodeo) and Diego Ongaro, who takes him on his projects, from his first, "Me My Bag And My Ball" to his latest,"Bob And The Trees."