Who We Are

 

Our Mission | Who We Are

Picture of Ari Vena
  • Ari Vena
  • ARI VENA is a filmmaker, web producer and ethnographer. For OVO she has performed in The Man Who Pulled a Gun Out of his Ass, Rubberville, Portland and The Gifted Program. As well, she co-directed and edited The World's Best Prom. She currently is working on a documentary about a Cape Cod entertainment legend, Rock King. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

Picture of Chris Talbott
  • Chris Talbott
  • CHRIS TALBOTT is a filmmaker, writer and founder of Silent Five Communications, a small company that promotes good causes (www.silentfive.com). Chris' three plays to date were developed and produced with Soho Rep, HERE, the New York International Fringe Festival and Theater for the New City. Chris assisted writer/director Tim Robbins in the production of Dead Man Walking, and Cradle Will Rock. His first feature film, The Fourth, was awarded Best First Feature at the Long Island Film Festival. He directed OVO's The World's Best Prom, distributed by Matson Films. More recently, he has directed and produced music videos and PSAs featuring Dan Zanes, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Alton Brown and Jenny McCarthy. He grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, and now lives in Brooklyn.

 

  • Hillevi Z. Loven
  • HILLEVI Z. LOVEN is a video maker and multi media artist. She was the Principle Camera Operator of OVO's award winning short and feature documentary, The World's Best Prom, Overhead (2004) and director of Take Back the Vote (2004). She has also participated in OVO productions as a set and costume designer.
    In the fields of commercial video and still photography, she works with clients including Time Inc., Condé Nast and Heifer International.

 

  • Ian Rosenberg
  • IAN ROSENBERG is a director and producer of theater and film. For OVO he has directed four theatrical productions: Hold (1999); Portland (1999); Love Research (2002); Love Research: Phase 2 (2003); and two short films, Overhead (2004) and Grand Street (2006). He is also the Producer of OVO's documentary The World's Best Prom (distributed by Matson Films). Independent of OVO, Ian was the Associate Producer of the award-winning yoga documentary Ashtanga, NY, directed by Caroline Laskow and Mary Wigmore, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003 (distributed by First Run Features); and the Producer of a contemporary production of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida directed by Marc Fajer (2004). In 2006, Ian's photography and video work were featured as part of New York Stand Still, a joint show (with Mark Mann) at the Lotus Club. He is also the Producer of Finishing Heaven, a documentary directed by Mark Mann, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival (2008) and had its broadcast premiere on HBO (2009). Ian is currently directing/producing (with Caroline Laskow) the documentary, Welcome to Kutsher's: The Last Catskills Resort, about the 100th anniversary of Kutsher's Country Club. In his spare time, Ian is a media attorney at ABC.

 

  • Karen Sorenson
  • Karen Porter Sorensen is a writer and performer who has dedicated the last seven years to researching love. She sets up her public booth on city streets and invites participants to answer questions about love in exchange for flowers. To date she has interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life. For OVO she conceived and performed Love Research (2002), and Love Research: Phase 2 (2003) produced at Collective Unconscious, The Culture Project and La Tea Theater. She was also invited to present Love Research at Covivant Gallery in Tampa, FL, Art in General, Socrates Sculpture Park, Creative Time's Freedom of Expression Monument and P.S. 122. Her collective research has recently been gathered into a book, titled Love (lǔv) n which is on sale now at (www.love-research.com).

 

  • Ruben Carbajal
  • RUBEN CARBAJAL has served as writer-in-residence at The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival and the Millay Colony for the Arts. In 2004 he was semifinalist for Disney's Walt Screenwriting Fellowship, and his OVO-produced play, The Gifted Program was published by Dramatists Play Service. His work has appeared in The Best Men's Monologues of 2005, More Scenes and Monologs from the Best New Plays: An Anthology of New Scenes from Professionally Produced Plays, and the forthcoming Outstanding Men?s Monologues Volume 2. He spent the first nineteen years of his life praying to get out of his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. He now lives in Brooklyn, where spends much of his time talking, thinking, and writing about Racine, Wisconsin. He is currently working with Brent Popolizio on a pilot titled Strings Attached. His works available in print can be found here, or at his website.

 

  • Mary Wigmore
  • MARY WIGMORE is the co-director of the documentary Ashtanga, NY and the short film Dealbreaker which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2006.