• Marta Cunningham
  • Director/Producer
  • Marta Cunningham is an accomplished actor turned first-time filmmaker. A native of Northern California, she was so moved by the story of Larry’s murder that she became embedded in Oxnard and soon began filming those whose lives were touched by the tragedy. At the age of 14, Cunningham danced with the company at The Peninsula Ballet Theater. She was awarded the prestigious Baker Scholarship at Georgetown University, where she studied English literature. She then moved to Los Angeles where she worked as an actress, writer, dancer and choreographer before focusing on directing and producing.

    Cunningham is in preproduction on a full length biopic she will be shooting in Coventry England, Summer 2014.

     

  • Sasha Alpert
  • Producer
  • Sasha Alpert produced the Emmy®-winning documentary “Autism: The Musical,” which was honored with numerous festival awards and was broadcast on HBO in 2008. A Senior Vice President of Bunim/Murray Productions, Alpert founded the company’s documentary division, where she also produced “Shadow Billionaire,” the story of DHL founder and tycoon Larry Hillboom, who disappeared mysteriously, leaving many unacknowledged children and their young mothers to fight for a share of his vast fortune. VALENTINE ROAD is the company’s third documentary. Alpert also produced “Forever Hollywood,” a film about the history of Hollywood, which has been playing continuously at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles for thirteen years.

    Alpert also wrote, directed and produced a documentary on the Western film as part of the PBS series “The American Cinema.” She has also produced numerous documentaries and specials for PBS, including films on film noir, poets Sylvia Plath and T.S. Eliot and on Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky. Additionally, she has produced specials for CBS, MTV, TBS and The Disney Channel. At Bunim/Murray, Alpert has cast many seasons of “The Real World,” “Project Runway,” “Starting Over,” “The Simple Life,” “Bad Girls,” “Best Ink” and numerous other network and cable shows.

  • Eddie Schmidt
  • Producer
  • Eddie Schmidt is an Oscar®-nominated documentary filmmaker and producer of numerous Emmy®-nominated nonfiction television series and specials. Schmidt has produced five feature documentaries that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: IFC’s “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” which he co-wrote; HBO’s Academy Award®-nominated “Twist Of Faith”; “Chain Camera,” a cultural precursor to YouTube; the all-star Emmy®-nominated PBS music documentary “Troubadours”; and VALENTINE ROAD. Schmidt was also the executive producer of “Beauty Is Embarrassing,” which premiered at South by Southwest and will broadcast on PBS.

     For television, Schmidt has produced, directed and written documentary, reality and comedy series and specials for HBO, IFC, NBC/Universal, A&E, Lionsgate, PBS, E!, Style, GSN and Current. Recent credits include directing NBC’s Emmy®-nominated series “Who Do You Think You Are?,” and serving as supervising producer of A&E’s “Storage Wars New York.” Currently, Eddie is Co-Executive Producer of “Catfish: The TV Show.” 

    Last year, Schmidt was one of 30 documentary directors invited to create a short for Cinelan’s “Focus Forward” initiative. His film, “Good Bread,” premiered at the LA Film Festival and, to date, has generated over 200,000 views online.  Schmidt also served as Board President of the IDA (International Documentary Association) for three years, the maximum term.