About the Filmmakers
Emily is an independent film director, screenwriter, producer, and editor who teaches Cinema and Television Arts at Columbia College Chicago. She shot, directed, and edited “Our Blood Is Wine”, a feature-length documentary on an iPhone 6, capturing intimate portraits of rural winemakers reviving 8,000 year old traditions in the Republic of Georgia that were nearly lost during the Soviet rule. The film premiered at the Berlinale International Film Festival in 2018, and was distributed theatrically by Music Box Films (US), Magnet Film (Berlin), and Uplink (Japan). Railsback's prior work consists of narrative short films, music videos, visual arts and international studies. While teaching kids living in Peruvian slums, she created an award-winning photography and painting exhibit "A Juxtaposition of Peruvian Life," documenting quality of life among the poor in cities versus the Peruvian countryside.
Pierre is an independent video journalist and documentary filmmaker. In 1999, he began working at The Washington Post’s website where he was hired as the web developer for the Post’s pioneering multimedia section, Camera Works. He became captivated by the nascent video journalism being produced by his colleagues and found his calling. For the next 10 years, Pierre produced award winning new stories for the Post on subjects like national politics and the election of President Barack Obama, environmental racism, his own kidney donation and more. In 2010, he left the Post and began freelancing. He now works with clients like The New York Times, PBS Frontline, NPR, The World Bank and others. He has worked on a number of independent documentaries in roles like cinematographer, editor, director of photography, producer and director. He enjoys working on projects that peel back the layers of prejudice, racism and ignorance that, to some degree, we all hold within us.