JOSH ARONSON (Director)

In the past five years Aronson has directed and produced five documentaries including the Academy AwardÒ nominated film, Sound and Fury.  These are: BULLRIDER, a feature documentary about the world of professional bull riding; Beautiful Daughters (2004-2005), a film about the first all-transsexual production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologue; The Opposite Sex (2002-2003), two feature-length documentary films that follow the painful journeys of two transgendered people in America today; Feelin’ No Pain (2000-2004), a feature documentary about Kenny Vance and the Planotones and the legends of doo-wop music; and Playing for Real (2000-2001) an hour-long documentary that closely examines the world of classical music today.

Before making a career of documentary work, Aronson directed television series and specials for Discovery Channel and Nickelodeon.  He directed television commercials and MKTV videos for ten years through his own New York-based company.  Prior to working in film, Aronson was a still photographer working as a photo correspondent for Time/Life and other journals.  Aronson is a concert pianist and regularly plays chamber music in New York and at the Telluride MusicFest, the chamber music festival he founded with his wife, violinist Maria Bachmann.

A member of the Directors Guild of America, Aronson was educated in New York at Columbia College and studied film and art direction at NYU Film School and with Stella Adler.

MAUREEN HOLMES (Producer)

Maureen Holmes has been in the motion picture industry for over 20 years.  She has worked in various capacities on major films shot all over the world, from remote regions of Malaysia and Thailand to the towers of New York City.  Holmes has line produced TV movies for NBC and ABC as well as two feature documentaries for Showtime.  Presently she holds the title of President of Off the Pier Productions, Inc.  BULLRIDER is Off the Pier’s first project which Holmes produced with her partner, William Cheeseman.

WILLIAM CHEESEMAN (Producer)

William Cheeseman has been a successful entrepreneur in the insurance/financial services industry for the last 30 years.  Having formed Off the Pier Productions, Cheeseman switched his major focus to the entertainment industry in 2004.  BULLRIDER is Off the Pier’s first documentary feature.  Mr. Cheeseman travels extensively and currently resides in Chicago. 

KATE HIRSON (Editor)

Kate Hirson started her career with the legendary team of David and Albert Mayseles, pioneers of the cinema verite documentary form whose credits include Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens; Hirson has gone on to become one of the leading documentary editors in America.  She edited last year’s American Masters film about Judy Garland, “All By Myself,” for which she won an Emmy award.  Hirson also edited Keeping Time, the film about jazz great Milt Hinton that won an Audience Award at last year’s TriBeCa Film Festival.  Hisrson has edited four films for director Josh Aronson including last year’s award-winning The Opposite Sex: Rene’s Story for Showtime.

BRETT WILEY (Director of Photography)

Brett Wiley has been a documentary cameraman since 1991.  Wiley holds credits as Director of Photography on four special editions for Bill Moyers.  “Trade Secrets” was awarded an Emmy in 2001, and “Trading Democracy” was nominated for an Emmy in  2002.  He has had cinematography credits at the Sundance Film Festival from 2002 thru 2005 for two verite documentaries Sound and Fury and Let The Church Say Amen, and two long form films by filmmaker Eugene Jarecki.  The Jarecki documentary Why We Fight was given the Jury Award for Best Documentary in 2005 on which Wiley carried a major cinematography credit.  The Sundance premiered documentary Sound and Fury was nominated for an Academy Award. 

Other credits include three Frontline Productions, and a four-hour PBS series on American music along the Mississippi River called River of Song, as well as the ITVS funded documentary, A Death In The Family.  Brett traveled in 2004 to five continents to shoot the sixtieth year celebration for the AID organization Heifer International.