Orthodox Stance

Jason Hutt, Director/Producer/Cameraman/Editor

Jason Hutt grew up in Potomac, Maryland where he excelled as a student and soccer player, captaining Churchill High School to three undefeated seasons and state championships between 1992 and 1994. While studying at Harvard University, Mr. Hutt transitioned from athlete to artist, as his passion for sports was redirected from competition to storytelling. After seeing a few of Frederick Wiseman and DA Pennebaker's films in film classes, Mr. Hutt was immediately drawn to cinema verite filmmaking. In his first film, SAUSAGE HERE, a short documentary about the colorful Fenway Park street vendors, Mr. Hutt was able to capture the language, look and feeling that make sports characters and cultures so special.

After graduating with honors in 1999, and participating in the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium, Hutt worked in Hollywood as an assistant to Academy Award-nominated director/producer Mike Tollin on sports related feature films such as SUMMER CATCH, HARDBALL and READY TO RUMBLE. In 2001 Mr. Hutt returned to non-fiction filmmaking to make BREEZEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, a verite' portrait of a bustling truck stop town at the crossroads of two US interstate highways. BREEZEWOOD premiered as the opening night film at the Georgetown Independent Film Festival in August 2002 where it won Best Cinema Verite'. After additional US and international film festival screenings it was broadcast by PBS affiliates in Spring 2004.

In ORTHODOX STANCE, Hutt has drawn on his passion for sports to create a portrait of a different kind of cultural crossroads: Dmitriy Salita, a Russian immigrant, professional boxer and religious Jew, and the diverse characters supporting Dmitriy's devotion to both Orthodox Judaism and the pursuit of a professional boxing title.

Michel Negroponte, Producer

Michel Negroponte is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker with such directing credits as SPACE COAST, SILVER VALLEY, JUPITER'S WIFE, NO ACCIDENT, and W.I.S.O.R. In addition to his own work, he recently co-produced the feature documentaries MANHATTAN, KANSAS by Tara Wray, BOOKWARS by Jason Rosette, FASTPITCH by Jeremy Spear, and the Academy-Award nominee and Sundance award winner CHILDREN UNDERGROUND by Edet Belzberg. Michel's last film METHADONIA premiered at the 2005 New York Film Festival and was broadcast by HBO in October 2005.

Rachel Kittner, Editor/Associate Producer

Rachel Kittner started her career at Maysles Films and went on to work on Michael Moore's television series THE AWFUL TRUTH. She has since worked as an editor and associate producer on numerous award-winning documentary and narrative feature films such as STREET FIGHT, SINGAPORE DREAMING, RUTHIE & CONNIE and RISK/REWARD.

Mark Orton, Composer

After studies in composition at The Peabody Conservatory and The Hartt School Of Music, Mark Orton founded Tin Hat Trio (now Tin Hat), a San Francisco based composer collective of international renown. The group has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe and can be heard in numerous film and television scores, as well as dance and theater productions. Orton is also active as a film composer, having scored or contributed to dozens of feature and documentary films including "The Good Girl", "The Real Dirt on Farmer John", "Everything is Illuminated", "Beyond Conviction," "Sweet Land", and "Comrades in Dreams."

Nick Fraser/BBC Storyville, Executive Producer

Led by commissioning editor Nick Fraser, Storyville is the BBC's flagship international documentary strand. Storyville is world famous for commissioning and acquiring the best in feature and standard length documentaries such as Spike Lee's WHEN THE LEVEE BROKE and ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER. Storyville films have been awarded Oscars, Griersons, Peabodys and Emmys and they currently broadcast around 40 international documentaries a year.

Cactus Three, Executive Producers

Cactus Three is a partnership that was founded by Julie Goldman, Caroline Stevens and Krysanne Katsoolis. For the past 15 years, they have developed an expertise in all aspects of production, co-production and acquisition, as well as theatrical, broadcast and video distribution. Recent award-projects executive produced by Cactus include the documentary feature films SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY, ONCE IN A LIFETIME and LOUDQUIETLOUD, and the HBO documentary series FAMILY BONDS.