Danfung Dennis - Director

Since 2006, Danfung Dennis has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His still photographs have been published in Newsweek, TIME, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Le Figaro Magazine, Financial Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Der Spiegel, and The Wall Street Journal.

PBS's Frontline opened its 2009 fall feature program, ‘Obama’s War’ using Danfung Dennis’s footage. The immersive nature of the footage prompted a flurry of comment and inquiry from the Pentagon, the White House, veterans groups, viewers and the program was nominated for a 2010 Emmy Award.

In 2010, Danfung Dennis won the Bayeux-Calvados Award For War Correspondents, was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine and one of the 30 New and Emerging Photographers by PDN Magazine.

Danfung Dennis directed and filmed his first feature-length documentary on the war in Afghanistan, HELL AND BACK AGAIN and is the founder of an immersive video startup Condition ONE. His background is in Applied Economics and Business Management. Before working as a photojournalist and filmmaker, he consulted small and medium-sized enterprises in Uganda and South Africa.

Fiona Otway - Editor

When Fiona Otway edited her first movie fourteen years ago, it was love at first slice. The magic of the editing process continues to fascinate her and feed her insatiable curiosity about the world. Fiona thrives in crafting nuanced stories that examine the big social issues of our time.

Her work is strongly influenced by a background in cultural anthropology, critical social theory, and experimental filmmaking and often explores themes related to globalization, community-based social change, and cultural identity. Fiona’s work has been featured in top-tier film festivals and television broadcasts in multiple countries. She was awarded the first-ever prize for 'Best Documentary Editing' at Sundance Film Festival. In addition, two of her editing projects IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS and SARI’S MOTHER have been nominated for an Academy Award.

Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines (2/8)

An infantry unit based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Their mission is locate, close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, and to repel the enemy's assault by fire and close-combat.

During World War II, the battalion participated in the Battle of Guadalcanal, Battle of Tarawa, Battle of Saipan, Battle of Tinian and the Battle of Okinawa. in 1962, the battalion helped to reinforce Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The battalion has fought extensively in Iraq and Afganistan, having deployed every year since 2003. They deployed to Afghanistan in May 2009 as part of the 21,000 troop surge announced by President Obama early in his term.

Mike Lerner and Martin Herring - Producers

Roast Beef Productions (Mike Lerner / Martin Herring / Havana Marking) is the award-winning film production company responsible for Havana Marking's AFGHAN STAR, which won World Cinema Documentary Best Director and Audience Award at Sundance 2009 as well as the Prix Italia, Grierson Award and Rotten Tomatoes Golden Tomato Award for being 100% fresh! Mike and Martin have been making international documentary films for over twenty years for BBC, Channel 4, HBO and Discovery. Roast Beef are currently in production with THE MIRACLE BABY OF HAITI, PET DETECTIVES, CHINATOWN and Havana Marking's latest feature, SMASH AND GRAB, THE STORY OF THE PINK PANTHERS. All our films reflect the producers' ambition to tell highly original and gripping stories about people and places around the globe. HELL AND BACK AGAIN connects with real people going through extraordinary experiences and like AFGHAN STAR, HELL AND BACK AGAIN, is a definitive film about world-changing events in a far off place that have enormous significance for us all.

Music & Sound Design by J. Ralph, Original Song "Hell and Back" Music & Lyrics by J. Ralph Performed by Willie Nelson

J. Ralph is a self taught composer, singer, songwriter and producer from NYC who's career began at 22 with the signing to Atlantic Records. He is well known for his documentary scores including the back to back Academy Award winning films THE COVE and MAN ON WIRE as well as the autism documentary WRETCHES & JABBERERS, for which his end title song “The Reasons Why” was short listed for the Oscars Best Original Song. J. Ralph's music encompasses a variety of genres and mediums and his work is part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection in New York City. In addition to the score and sound design for HELL AND BACK AGAIN, J. Ralph wrote and produced the end title song “Hell And Back” which is performed by Willie Nelson.

Dan Cogan – Impact Partners

Impact Partners is a film fund and advisory service committed to financing independent cinema that addresses pressing social issues. We bring together financiers and filmmakers so that, together they can create great films that entertain audiences, enrich lives, and ignite social change. Since its inception less than four years ago, IP has been involved in the financing of over 25 films, including: THE COVE, which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; THE GARDEN, which was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; FREEHELD, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film; and THE GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB, which won the 2007 Emmy Award for Best Documentary Special.

Karol Martesko-Fenster – Thought Engine

Karol Martesko-Fenster has a 25-year track record in the motion picture, broadcasting, publishing and Internet industries. He has produced 6 feature films, 25 television and satellite broadcast music programs, and he co-founded indieWIRE.com, FILMMAKER Magazine, RES Magazine and the media content enterprises cinelan.com and Condition ONE. Previously, Karol was SVP&GM / Film & Animation at Babel Networks US, Head of Film at Palm Pictures, President of RES Media Group and President/Publisher of Silicon Alley Reporter. Karol is also executive producer on Phil Cox's THE BENGALI DETECTIVE, James Allen Smith's FLOORED, JJ King and Peter Mann's DARK FIBRE, and he is collaborating with Harry Belafonte and Michael Cohl on SING YOUR SONG.

Gernot Schaffler / Thomas Brunner – Sabotage Films

Sabotage Films was founded 1998 in Vienna, Austria by Thomas Brunner and Gernot Schaffler. Thomas is the financial director as well as head of production and Gernot works between Vienna and Los Angeles looking for new projects for the company and takes care of the in-house art gallery. Sabotage's work reaches from TV commercials, web specials, short films, music videos, and documentary films to high-end art shows, and the company has won multiple awards at advertising festivals from Cannes to New York. Before 1998, Thomas and Gernot worked shoulder-to-shoulder in another production company as Executive Producers for more than 10 years. Gernot and Thomas are also executive producers on Phil Cox's THE BENGALI DETECTIVE.

Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation

The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation is a not-for-profit titled sponsored by Channel 4 Television and supported by a number of UK and US Foundations. Since 2005, its mission has been to build a creatively ambitious and diverse future for documentary. In its first five years, it has co-funded and produced over sixty documentaries—films that have won audience awards at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Edinburgh Film Festivals, played at SXSW, Berlin, Toronto and London Film Festivals. Titles include: AFGHAN STAR, THE END OF THE LINE, WE ARE TOGETHER, THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD. The resulting films have been shown around the world on C4, Arte, HBO and released by EMI, Dogwoof and Warners.