How Ohio Pulled It Off

Charla Barker grew up in western Pennsylvania. She attended the University of New Mexico, studying Fine Arts and English Literature. After graduating, she worked on El Senador, a feature-length documentary about the United States Senator Dennis Chavez (D-NM), directed by Paige Martinez. This project was shown at several film festivals and broadcast on public television throughout the southwest. Charla has been a freelance editor on a variety of small commercial and independent film projects, in addition to working on her own films. She has worked as a television field news photographer for an NBC affiliate station. She also participated in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Internship program, as a producer and editor in the promotions department at the NBC Agency in Burbank, CA. Charla recently earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film at Ohio University. Contact Charla.

Matthew Kraus hails from Canton, Ohio. He studied theater at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduating in 2001, and acted in independent theatrical productions in the Boston area. Matt’s documentary short film Farming for the Future, a portrait of organic growers in Southeast Ohio, was selected for official competition in several festival programs and garnered Timberland’s 2006 Mion Solutions Environmental Film Award. He recently completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Ohio University School of Film. Contact Matthew.

Mariana Quiroga was born in Argentina. When she was three years old, her family was forced into exile due to political turmoil, and moved to Venezuela where she grew up and became a citizen. During her undergraduate studies, Mariana made several short documentary and fiction films, which went on to win awards at VIART, a recognized Venezuelan film festival. After graduating Summa cum Laude from the Central University of Venezuela in 2000, Mariana started working for HBO Latin-America, where she developed skills as a TV producer, writer and director. In 2003, Mariana received a Fulbright grant to attend the Master of Fine Arts program at Ohio University School of Film. How Ohio Pulled it Off is Mariana’s first feature-length film. Contact Mariana.