What's Not Remembered

Director, Cinematographer, and Rough-Cut editor David Helfer Wells is a photojournalist turned documentary filmmaker known for his in-depth still image photo essays and visually compelling motion pictures. Like most children, Wells loved stories and has long assumed that his undiagnosed childhood learning disabilities in reading and writing drove him further towards stories told through visuals. He has worked on assignments for such magazines as Fortune, Life, National Geographic, Newsweek, The Sunday New York Times, and Time, among others. Numerous fellowships funded his photo essays, including the MacArthur Foundation's Program of Research and Writing on International Peace and Cooperation. His photo project on the pesticide poisoning of California farm workers was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine. His independent short films have been screened at festivals in Bangalore, Lahore, Lisbon, Mumbai, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, Rome, and San Francisco. UNMUTED is Wells' feature film directorial debut. His films have won awards including:

Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Documentary Film Grant, Provid,, RI, 2023
Derek Freese Film Foundation, Project Grant, Philadelphia, PA, 2022
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Make Art Grant for Individuals, Provid., RI, 2022
Best New England Documentary Short, S. E. New England Film Fest., Provid., RI, 2022
Best Short Film, Melrose Film Festival, Orlando, FL, 2019
Sites and Stories Explored, Providence Preservation Society, Providence, RI, 2018 Best New England Documentary Short, South East New England Film Festival, Provid., RI, 2018
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Project Grant for Individuals, Provid., RI, 2017
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Mini-Grant Award, Providence, RI, 2017 Necati Celik Prize, HAK-IS Respect for Labor International Film Contest, Ankara, Turkey, 2016

Executive Producer Vaishali Sinha pushed me to dig deep into the existing content and highlighted essential scenes that needed to be tightened up. Sinha is an award-winning filmmaker from India. She is the director/producer of the feature documentary ASK THE SEXPERT about a 93-year-old sex advice columnist in India who has gained popularity despite the ban on sex education in schools in several states in India. The film premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival, won the jury award for Best Documentary at the New Orleans Film Festival, and has traveled to over 40 prestigious film festivals globally. The film is available on Netflix India and premiered on PBS in the U.S.  Sinha is a 2016 Firelight Media Fellow and a 2019 Flaherty Seminar Fellow. She has received support for her films from ITVS, MacArthur Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Catapult Fund, Firelight Media, Playboy Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Fledgling Fund, Center for Asian American Media, Hot Docs Forum, and more. She has also produced numerous independent shorts and commissioned works for clients.  Vaishali is from Mumbai and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband Fred Lassen, a Music Supervisor, and their son Luca. She has a Bachelor's in Physics from St. Xavier's Mumbai and a diploma in Film Production from the New School University. 

Writer Lee Lawrence's role includes partnering with me to shape and construct the film's edit. She co-directed/co-produced "Chaplains Under Fire," a full-length documentary that explores the work of military clergy through the lens of the troops they serve and the Constitutional issues they raise. The film opened at the Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre in N.Y.C. and was screened at, among other places, the Newseum and the National Press Club in D.C. Lawrence took the lead in getting it before varying audiences, from church halls to schools to community centers, veterans groups, first-amendment lawyers, and universities. She has written general-interest features and reviews of Asian and Islamic art for The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic News Service, and other U.S. publications. Born in the US, Lawrence has lived much of her life abroad, as a child and as an adult, including living in Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Yugoslavia, and India. She has not lived the immigrant experience, but she is attuned to many of its dynamics and the value of appreciating others' cultures, histories, and senses of self.

Consulting Editor Loulwa Khoury has guided us with insightful input on each version of the rough cut and film sampler. Consulting editor Loulwa El Khoury is a New York-based editor and filmmaker born and raised in Beirut. She has edited award-nominated feature documentaries Paradise Without People, Dusty and Stones, Traces of Home, and the Title IX ESPN short documentary Let Noor Run. Her other work includes award-winning documentaries Some Kind of Heaven, An Act Of Worship, City of Ghosts, It Will Be Chaos, White Sauce Hot Sauce, The Joneses and Look At Us Now, Mother. She was one of the mentees of the Karen Schmeer Editing Fellowship Diversity Program, a fellow in the Sundance Co// ab Art of Editing Fellowship, and part of the first DOC NYC x V.C. Storytelling Incubator cohort. Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, she has worked on various projects but has been chiefly interested in documentaries related to social issues, trying to make a difference in the world by raising awareness through film. She is also drawn to documentaries about art and music, having come of age in a family of musicians, where music was her first love before diving into the world of film.

Budget advisor Jane Greenberg has helped us understand the budget and be realistic in our planning. Greenberg is an Oakland-based documentary filmmaker who has worked in various critical roles on public television and independent documentaries for over 25 years. Complementing her work as a producer/director, she freelances as an editor, camera person, sound person, writer, archival researcher, production manager, postproduction supervisor, and voiceover talent. She has worked extensively with producers on budgeting, bookkeeping, and accounting specific to documentary films. She has worked as a production manager for ITVS, overseeing financial reporting on numerous projects.