The Top Team
The Top Banana is an ambitious project, so we've put together the perfect team to get it done in style.
EMILY JAMES
DIRECTOR
Emily is one of the most original documentary directors working in the UK. An America, once she graduated from the UK's National Film and Television School's documentary course by making a musical, you knew that she would redefine what documentary meant. She burst on to the UK television scene with The Luckiest Nut in the World – a film about the injustice of the world's trading system presented by an animated peanut, which provoked the Guardian to describe her as a genius and which won the Best Short Film award at the Full Frame Documentary Festival in the USA. She made a four part series for Channel Four, Don't Worry, in which a team of puppets investigated the drugs, food, oil and PR industries. She has recently completed a pilot for American television with Morgan Spurlock, the maker of Supersize Me.
KURT ENGFEHR
STORY CONSULTANT
Aside from being editor and co-producer on both Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 (which he says 'turned out okay') Kurt Engfehr is easily one of the funniest men alive. He is a true genius at documentary storytelling, and we are thrilled to have been able to attract him to The Top Banana. Kurt and Emily share a passion for tackling challenging subjects with humour and creative storytelling, and the results of their work together so far, on the trailer and story outline, have been immensely productive. Kurt's guidance has given Emily the confidence to pursue her bold vision for the film, and we are certain that his input will continue to be incredibly valuable.
CHRISTOPHER HIRD
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Christo is the founder and managing director of Dartmouth Films, and one of the UK's pioneering producers of independent documentaries. He was executive producer of the widely acclaimed film, Black Gold, which told the story of the plight of Ethiopian coffee farmers trapped in an unfair trading system, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. More recently, he is executive producer on The End of the Line, a film about the threat to the world's fish stocks, and which premiered at Sundance this year. Later this year More4 will broadcast another of his projects - Pig Business, a feature length documentary featuring UK eco-campaigner the Marchioness of Worcester and Robert Kennedy Junior, which investigates the industrialisation of pig farming. All of these, and many other of Christo's films have involved extensive cooperation with NGOs, foundations, corporate sponsors, and government bodies. Christo is a leading figure in UK independent documentary making. He is chair of the Channel Four Britdoc Foundation (www.britdoc.org); a trustee of the Grierson Trust (www.griersontrust.org), the Wincott Foundation (www.wincott.co.uk) and the freedom of expression organisation Index on Censorship (www.indexoncensorship.org)
RACHEL SEIFERT
PRODUCER
Rachel has worked on a variety of observational, investigative, and social documentaries for BBC, Channel 4, PBS, and Al Jazeera. The subjects covered range from an investigation of the wine trade to the Davos economic summit to the work of the BBC World Service. Among her screen credits as producer is the award-winning feature documentary Who Am I? The Found Children of Argentina, directed by Estela Bravo. The film traces the personal stories of several children whose parents were brutally murdered, and themselves were kidnapped during Argentina's 'Dirty War' of 1976-83. The film is set against the background of the democratic government of Nestor Kirchner and the military trials that are finally bringing the perpetrators to justice. Among her current projects, as well as The Top Banana, she is producing a film about the international community’s war on the illegal drugs trade.
ROBERT WEST
OUTREACH CONSULTANT
Robert West is co-founder and executive director of Working Films, the USA based not-for-profit which specialises in linking non-fiction films to social action. Working Films are experts in constructing collaborative outreach programmes between documentary makers and campaigning organisations and NGOs. Among the campaigns he has worked on is Everything’s Cool, which took this Sundance premiered film about global warming and made it the centrepiece of a national campaign highlighting accessible solutions to the problem. Working Film’s My House is Your House campaign has used the film Blue Vinyl to campaign successfully for the reduction in PVC production. Robert will be advising The Top Banana on both fundraising and on building the outreach campaign, which is a key part of this project.
MARK MOTHERSBAUGH
COMPOSER
Emmy Award-winning screen composer, and lead singer for the 80's new wave rock band Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh has written the music for over 70 film and television projects, including Pee-Wee's Playhouse, the Rugrats, and the hugely successful The Rugrats Movie. But as a screen composer, he is most widely known for his significant contribution to nearly everyone of Wes Anderson's films, including The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic, in which his scores are an integral element of the strange and quirky worlds which Anderson creates. Mark has a unique style which manages to be both light and dark in the same moment, and his natural playful humour is a perfect match for The Top Banana.
