Clark Lyda (Director/Producer):

Clark is a first-time filmmaker based in Austin and New York City.  Clark’s background is in law and entrepreneurship, but his interests include politics, design, and the environment.  He and Jesse Lyda formed Glass House Productions in 2007 to create films to promote change by entertaining and informing.

Jesse Lyda (Director/Producer):

Jesse is originally from Lynchburg, VA where he danced at the Virginia School for the Arts.  He moved at age 18 to New York where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and later graduated from AADA’s Los Angeles campus. He has been involved in a number of productions and short films as an actor, but THE LEAST OF THESE is his first full-length documentary. He formed Glass House Productions in 2007 with partner Clark Lyda to produce documentary and narrative films focused on promoting change through informing and entertaining. Jesse splits his time between Austin and New York.

Clark Lyda, Marcy Garriott, Jesse Lyda

Marcy Garriott (Producer):

Marcy Garriott is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Austin, Texas.  Her first film was SPLIT DECISION, which won two awards during its festival tour, was broadcast on public television, and is distributed by First Run Features.   SPLIT DECISION told the story of world championship boxer Jesus Chavez, deported at the peak of his career due to tightened immigration policies.  Marcy’s second film was INSIDE THE CIRCLE, winner of four festival awards, including an Audience Award at SXSW 2007.  INSIDE THE CIRCLE, which takes audiences inside the kinetic world of b-boying, is distributed by Cinema Libre Studio and was recently broadcast on MTV.  Marcy served on the Austin Film Society Board of Directors for six years, serving two years as President of the Board. She is currently on the Board of Directors of KLRU (Austin’s public television station) and on the Advisory Board of Cine Las Americas.

John Fiege (Director of Photography and Co-Producer):

John Fiege is a filmmaker and photographer based in Austin, Texas. As a director, he works in both documentary and fiction, and his films have played at the Cannes Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Miami International Film Festival, and Austin Film Festival, among many others. His latest film, Mississippi Chicken, was nominated for a Gotham Award for “The Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.” His film awards include the Princess Grace Graduate Film Award, Kodak’s Eastman Scholarship, the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund Grant, and the Carole Fielding Documentary Award. As a director of photography, he has shot films that have played at festivals around the world, including Tribeca, Clermont-Ferrand, Edinburgh, San Francisco International, and LA Film Festival. His company, RED Camera Texas, specializes in motion picture production and post-production using RED digital cinema technologies. He is a co-founder of Live Oak Collective, which creates films and photographs that help progressive organizations tell their stories. He holds a B.A. from Carleton College, an M.S. in cultural geography and environmental history from The Pennsylvania State University, and an M.F.A. in film production from the University of Texas at Austin. View his work at fiegefilms.com.

Amy Foote (Editor):

Amy Foote’s interest in film started in high school when she produced and directed several animated shorts. Her film career took a hiatus while she went to Reed College, graduating with a degree in history, and working as a counselor/advocate for low-income minority youth in Brooklyn.  From 2003 – 2007, she Co- Produced Jennifer Fox’s documentary series, FLYING: CONFESSIONS OF A FREE WOMAN.  She was Associate Editor of the BBC cut of FLYING and later edited FINISHING HEAVEN, a feature-length documentary film that premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and will be broadcast by HBO.  She currently lives in Brooklyn.