Director
Megan Shutzer is a documentary filmmaker whose day job is to provide strategy for international development projects and whose night/weekend/side-hustle and creative passion is making this movie. When work brought Megan to Zanzibar in early 2011, she sought out a women's soccer team, began playing with the New Generation Queens and immediately started plotting to make this documentary. Not only were the players on the team compelling, and their stories even more so, but Megan quickly discovered that her new footballer friends were eager to join her in making a film.
Kate Tygielski is a documentary filmmaker and graduate of Harvard University, specializing in visual ethnography and childhood film. Her previous works have been shown in art exhibitions and film festivals across the globe, including the Whitney Biennial (2014) and Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival (2012), in which she won "Best Undergraduate Film." As one of three women to be the first to play on her high school's American football team in rural North Carolina, she strongly values sports being accessible to everyone, regardless of gender. She is continuously in awe of and inspired by the women of the New Generation Queens.
Corey Ohama is a documentary film editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She edited the feature-length documentary Going on 13, which chronicles the lives of four Bay Area girls as they go from age 9 to age 13. She also edited the half-hour documentary Memory of Forgotten War, about the legacy of the Korean War, and did additional editing on Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, which aired on the PBS series Independent Lens.
Bonica Ayala is an artist, photographer and a wand-bearing wizard of creativity. With a patient and generous heart, she sprinkles countless amounts of magic on every project she works on. Her clients include Grammy Award winning artists, non-profit organizations, small startups and sweet couples and families. Although, her favorite subjects to photograph and film are her beautiful wife, Laura, and their furry, four-legged family.
Chris Layhe, Colorist and Audio Mixer
Chris Layhe, at CLAi in San Francisco, was the colorist and audio sweetening/re-mix engineer on the project, and also mastered the program. Chris holds undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in Architecture, Film and 3D Animation, was a Director and Editor on films and commercials at the BBC and Saatchi & Saatchi in London before forming his own Soho production company. 20 years ago he relocated to the USA and became a citizen. He has created several thousand films and videos, as Director, DoP, Editor, Colorist and/or Sound Re-Mix guy and lectures on UltraHD digital cinema production… he says that the multiple personalities are getting easier to deal with, and he likes every one of them. Chris lives in Santa Cruz, CA with his wife, Stephanie and puppies Belle and Missy, and still supports Manchester United - the world’s greatest football team!
Nick is a composer and sound designer from California. Originally trained as an Anthropologist, Nick's interest in music is far and wide reaching. He is a student of Jazz Piano, Kate Bush, Irish Reels, 90's RnB, Indonesian Gamelan, and anything else he can get his hands on.
Adanma "Dom" Ekeledo is a musician and mechanical engineer who crafts pieces, currently in Portland, OR. Dom holds a Bachelor of Arts in human evolutionary biology from Harvard and a Master's in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University. She has been writing music and composing for films for the last decade. Dom grew up playing soccer in Macon, Georgia.
Laura de la Fuente is a Jacqueline-of-all trades and a master of many talents! Her talents include making music, writing, cooking and most of all making people smile with her unbridled enthusiasm for life! She enjoys discovering new places near and far. When she’s not working on a project or performing improv, she can be found biking around Austin, swimming in Barton Springs, sitting on breezy porches, and perhaps but very likely eating tacos.