Alan Govenar - Director/Writer/Cinematographer

Alan Govenar is an award-winning writer, poet, playwright, photographer, and filmmaker. He is director of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization he founded to advance essential perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. Govenar is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of more than thirty books, including Come Round Right, Boccaccio in the Berkshires, Paradise in the Smallest Thing, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Untold Glory, Texas Blues, Stompin’ at the Savoy, Everyday Music, Texas in Paris, and A Pillow on the Ocean of Time. His book Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter won First Place in the New York Book Festival (Children’s Non-Fiction), a Boston Globe-Hornbook Honor; and an Orbis Pictus Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English. Govenar’s film, Stoney Knows How, based on his book by the same title about Old School tattoo artist Leonard St. Clair, was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and was selected as an Outstanding Film of the Year by the London Film Festival. His documentaries The Beat Hotel, Master Qi and the Monkey King, You Don't Need Feet to Dance, Extraordinary Ordinary People, Tattoo Uprising, Myth of a Colorblind France, Looking for Home, and Down in Dallas Town are distributed by First Run Features. Govenar’s theatrical works include the musicals Blind Lemon: Prince of Country Blues, Blind Lemon Blues, and Lonesome Blues (with Akin Babatundé), Texas in Paris, and Stompin’ at the Savoy (with Phaedra Michelle Scott).

Jason Johnson-Spinos - Editor/Writer

​Jason Johnson-Spinos is a theatre and film artist and educator. He has worked as an editor at Documentary Arts since 2011. He edited the feature films You Don't Need Feet to Dance, Serving Second Chances, Extraordinary Ordinary People, Tattoo Uprising, Myth of a Colorblind France, Looking for Home, and Down in Dallas Town. He was an additional editor on The Beat Hotel, and edited the short films Bridging Utopia, The Silent Witness Speaks, World's Fair Waffle, and One Man Band: Al Howard, in addition to working on numerous other Documentary Arts projects. With The Documentary Group in NYC, he assistant edited the documentaries Angle of Attack and Dreamland. He is also the co-founder and marketing director of Outcry Theatre.

Robert Tullier - Cinematographer

As Director/DP, Robert Tullier has shot on oil platforms in the Arabian Gulf, documented missionaries in Samoa and directed major Fortune 500 executives along with prominent individuals in the arts and business community. His work has aired both nationally and internationally. A graduate of Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Broadcast Film Arts, he has won numerous national awards. Work with Documentary Arts includes Myth of a Colorblind France, Tattoo Uprising, Extraordinary Ordinary People, Serving Second Chances, The Beat Hotel, Voyage of Doom, Dreams of Conquest, The Devil’s Swing, Jaber, Sacred Steel, and The Hard Ride.

Didier Dahan - Cinematographer

Didier Dahan is a French cinematographer who has worked with Documentary Arts on numerous projects. He was the cinematographer for the feature films You Don't Need Feet to Dance, The Beat Hotel, Master Qi and the Monkey King, Serving Second Chances, Tattoo Uprising, and Myth of a Colorblind France, for the short films Bridging Utopia, The Silent Witness Speaks, and The Poetry of Exactitude, and for video segments for The Franco-American Museum at the Chateau de Blérancourt. Dorant is a graduate of l'ESEC, Ecole Supèrieure d'Etudes Cinématographiques à Paris. For over 30 years, he was a Journalistes Reporter Caméraman and Grand Reporter Caméraman on documentaries, news magazines and news reports. In addition, he taught at the CFPJ School of Journalism in Paris, France.