Perceptions is the third project that Karen Nielsen has directed, having debued in 2006 with the short Infinite Moments and followed with the short teen thriller The Janitors Office. Karen is currently developing the short dance film 'Dance Partner' and the feature dance film 'Makin' it Real'.
In the year 2000, Jim stepped off the beaten path from a successful career in the software industry to become a filmmaker. He graduated from the Film Production program at the Vancouver Film School in 2003 and immediately jumped on board an independent feature film as the 1st assistant camera and then talked his way into editing the film. He continued on to edit and direct many short films and projects and teach part time at the film school. In 2006, he was nominated for a Leo Award for Best Editor for a Short Drama for the film 'Broken House'. The film went on to win a Leo for 'Best Short Drama'.
Josh Beamish began dancing at the age of 3 in Edmonton, Alberta. He later continued his training in Kelowna, BC where he received a number of scholarships to further his training at Randolph Academy of the Performing Arts, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Arts Umbrella, Monsters of Hip Hop, Harbour Dance Centre, Triple Threat Dance Conventions, and Groove Street Productions. Since then, Josh has assisted for or worked with a number of reputable choreographers and instructors including Kelly Konno, Christina Woodard, Tyce Diorio, and Roger Lee.
Josh began teaching at the age of 12 and has taught throughout BC, Alberta and Washington State. He has choreographed various works for Kelowna City Youth Ballet, Velocity Dance Company and MOVE: the company, a company of which he is founder and present director. This past season, his work entitled Precious Things with Move garnered him the BC Annual Choreography Award. Josh also was also recently the assistant choreographer for the upcoming Nicholas Cage film 'The Wicker Man.'
Currently, Josh resides in Vancouver, where he spent the past year dancing and choreographing for The Source Dance Company. Previously, he also served as a co-director of Drop Dance Productions, an organization dedicated to educating dance throughout western Canada. Selected credits include Life As We Know It, starring Kelly Osbourne, For the Luv Of It, and The Sourcery. Josh has just completed a successful run of his first full length dance production of Close Enough, where he served as choreographer and director.
Josh is now the founder/artistic director of MOVE: the company, a professional contemporary jazz company based out of Vancouver.
ORIGINAL MUSIC 'STEEL TO SKY' KUBILAY UNER
Munich-born, L.A.-based composer Kubilay Uner has bounced around the planet and through every musical genre, which explains a thing or two about his individual approach to music.
He played bass in Munich and Brazil in venues ranging from jazz clubs and legendary punk haunts to Munich's Olympic stadium. He performed the classics in concerts all over Germany and Austria as member of an award-winning choir. He traveled through Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania as an assistant engineer on a tour with music by Stockhausen. He's called Munich, Vancouver, Porto Alegre (Brazil), and now Los Angeles home. As a result, he is fluent in three languages and dabbles in a few others. He studied classical and modern composition at the Academy of Music in Cologne, workshopped with Luigi Nono in Avignon, and eventually earned his Masters degree at CalArts.
With eight feature film scores, two TV pilots and a raft of record productions to his credit, as well as a number of concert music works performed, Kubi is as comfortable in the concert hall as he is on the dubbing stage. "Whether the music is part of a film or stands on its own, my goal is to deliver an intense experience, one that completely immerses and transforms the listener. I believe a good piece of music should take you on a journey. That's what I want to achieve."
To help intensify the listening experience, Kubi started to build his own instruments: A fretless banjo built from a cookie tin, a construction of 20-foot strings suspended over oil cans, a gamelan-style instrument made of marble tiles, and all manner of found objects that were never meant to make music. "It's amazing how expressive and unusual the simplest object can sound if you just record it right."
Some highly unorthodox processing techniques further enhance the transportive character of Kubi's music: Choir parts filtered through the sound of ocean waves, a live singer duplicating the intricate micro-tonal fluctuations of time-stretched vocal parts, water bubbles processed to sound like a steam-driven, retro-futuristic synthesizer. "In order to have the right impact, every process has to sound absolutely natural, as if there were no process at all."
Yet, traditional instruments remain ever-present in Kubi's work. He plays piano, bass and guitar, and collaborates with many accomplished instrumentalists, including LA piano legend Mike Lang. "I would never dream of abandoning traditional instruments. Like filmmakers who use actors and real sets as well as computer graphics to create their worlds, I use traditional instruments, custom creations, and original sound processes to create mine."
