Filmmakers

title_Filmmakers

 

RICHARD TRANK
Director, Producer

Richard Trank is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose latest film is The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, based on the best-selling book by Ambassador Yehuda Avner. The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, which Trank wrote and produced along with Rabbi Marvin Hier, takes the audience inside the offices of Israel’s Prime Ministers, through the eyes of an insider, Yehuda Avner, who served as a chief aide, English language note-taker and speechwriter to Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and Shimon Peres. The first of two parts (the second part to be released in spring 2014), the documentary focuses on Ambassador Avner’s years working with Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir and then US Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin. The second part, The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, will examine Ambassador Avner’s experiences with Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres as well as his service as Israel’s Ambassador to England. Starring the voices of Sandra Bullock as Golda Meir, Michael Douglas as Yitzhak Rabin, Leonard Nimoy as Levi Eshkol and Christoph Waltz as Menachem Begin, The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers is the 13th release by Moriah Films, the documentary filmmaking division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, of which Trank is the Executive Producer and principal Writer/Director. READ MORE

 

RABBI MARVIN HIER
Producer

Rabbi Marvin Hier is an Academy Award-winning documentary producer whose latest film is The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, based on the best selling book by Ambassador Yehuda Avner. The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, which Rabbi Hier co-wrote and produced along with the film’s director Richard Trank, takes the audience inside the offices of Israel’s Prime Ministers, through the eyes of an insider, Yehuda Avner, who served as a chief aide, English language note-taker and speechwriter to Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, and Shimon Peres. The first of two parts (the second part to be released in spring 2014), the documentary focuses on Ambassador Avner’s years working with Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir and then US Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin. The second part, The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, will examine Ambassador Avner’s experiences with Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres as well as his service as Israel’s Ambassador to England. Starring the voices of Sandra Bullock as Golda Meir, Michael Douglas as Yitzhak Rabin, Leonard Nimoy as Levi Eshkol and Christoph Waltz as Menachem Begin, The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers is the 13th release by Moriah Films, the documentary filmmaking division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. READ MORE

 

NIMROD EREZ
Co-Producer and Editor

Born and raised in Israel, Nimrod fell in love with movies early in his life. At age 6, a visit to the studios of then Israel’s only television station made it clear that would be his path. He graduated from the Filmmaking Department of the George E. Smith High School For the Arts in Jerusalem and went on, like many young men his age, to serve in the Israel Defence Force, as a sapper and infantryman in the Combat Engineers Corps. A blast injury ended his frontline tour of duty and he was reassigned as video producer for the remainder of his service. READ MORE

 

KATRIN OSMIALOWSKI
Co-Producer

Documenting and visualizing life, unscripted, has been Katrin’s passion from very early on and is what led her to Moriah Films, the two-time Academy Award©-winning documentary filmmaking division of the Simon-Wiesenthal Center. She joined the team in 2006 for the production of “I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal” narrated by Nicole Kidman, which celebrated its international premiere in Katrin’s hometown at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany. READ MORE

 

JASON SPIRA-BAUER
Associate Producer and Production Supervisor

A native New Yorker, Mr. Spira-Bauer headed west to Los Angeles in 2003 after earning his BFA at Syracuse University to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Having taken on many positions initially in the reality television sector from story producing to casting, he found an opportunity through the relationships he developed to apply his skills in the feature documentary world at Moriah Films, the Oscar winning film division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. READ MORE

 

AVIVA C. WEINSTEIN
Associate Producer and First Assistant Film Editor

Aviva Weinstein moved to Los Angeles with her family at age 5 from Edmonton, Canada. She studied at jewish day schools through 12th grade and then received a bachelors degree in film from UC Santa Barbara in 1999. Prior to joining Moriah, Aviva worked on Disney’s Even Stevens and Miramax Films’ Duplex and as an assistant and junior editor on several reality shows and independent films. Aviva joined Moriah Films in the spring of 2006, as the first assistant film editor on I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal. READ MORE

 

MARK FRIEDMAN
Sound Design

Originally from New York City, Mark is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music with a BA in music. He started his career in sound at David Wolper Productions, working on the first, award winning National Geographic special. Mark then became a recording engineer/music editor at the legendary Gold Star studios and continued his career, for the next decade, with Columbia Records. READ MORE

 

TIM BOLAND
Sound Design

Born and raised in a small Jewish community in Dublin, Ireland, Tim followed in the footsteps of the other musicians in his family: his father and three older brothers. As a kid he played in many bands, winning a Coca Cola National Band Search. Tim moved on to become a recording engineer and record producer for many diverse artists including Earth Wind & Fire, Ozzy Osbourne, UB40, Soul Coughing and The Young Dubliners. READ MORE

 

MARK TEAGUE
Main Title Design and Motion Graphics

Mark Teague is an award-winning artist and designer, with a deep love and abiding passion for animation and visual effects. Through his design company, Dreamhaven Studios, he brings decades of experience in the film and entertainment industries to “the Prime Ministers” project. READ MORE