About the Creative Team

The SOCKS & BONDS Creative Team

The Crew

The Director

Born and raised in South Africa, filmmaker Daniel Zimbler is an MFA candidate at Columbia University's graduate film program where he also teaches undergraduate directing. Daniel received his BA Honours from Oxford, where he met Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath (Off-Broadway, 2010) collaborator, Elisabeth Gray. His first short film, Andre, was presented at the Durban International Film Festival; Clankety Clank won Best Short Film at the 2010 Bogota International Film Festival; and his latest short, Exit, starring Julian Glover, made official selection at Palm Springs, Fantastic Fest, and the Raindance Film Festival. Most recently, Daniel was commissioned by Columbia University's Film Program to make their 25th anniversary festival trailer. Watch it here: cufilmfest.com

The Writer

A native Southerner with a keen sense of the tragicomic, Elisabeth Gray has been acting and writing for the last ten years. Elisabeth's first play, Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath, won the prestigious Fringe First Award for Innovative and Outstanding New Writing at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007. The show went on to tour internationally for three years before landing Off-Broadway at 59E59 in late 2010. Elisabeth's second play, Southern (dis)Comfort, a dark comedy chronicling the lives of contemporary Southerners is currently being adapted into a film after a successful US tour.

The Producer

Mimi Jeffries, a MFA Film Candidate at Columbia University, has actively been involved in theatre and film as a writer, director, and producer since her youth. Her work as a writer has been featured at regional theatres including the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (Titus Andronicus as Performed by the Kindergarten Class of Woodside Elementary), Meadow Brook Theatre (Behind the Lines, Echoes of the Earth), and Boarshead Theatre (Echoes of the Earth). Soon after graduating from Yale with degrees in Anthropology and Theatre Studies, Mimi redirected her focus to independent filmmaking. Mimi has produced several short films and recently finished production on the shorts Same Ghost Every Night (Producer, Fall 2010), I am John Wayne (Co-Producer, Fall 2010), and Lectern (Spring 2011).

The Co-Producer

Rob Cristiano is a Brooklyn-born filmmaker. He has produced seven short films in a variety of genres ranging from science-fiction to dark comedy. They include Il Barbiere, The Science of Blowjobs and Throbbing Hearts, Moons of Jupiter, The Glitch, Penny Dreadful, and The Painter & The Wife. Prior to enrolling at Columbia, Cristiano spent five years at MTV, where he produced DVDs of the most successful franchises in the history of the channel, including Beavis and Butt-head, Aeon Flux, The State, Jackass, and Nitro Circus. Most recently, Cristiano collaborated with Zimbler, Karu and Jeffries on the 2012 Columbia University Film Festival trailer.

The Cinematographer

Andres Karu is known in the New York independent film scene both for his master cinematography and his chemistry with actors. In the past four years, Andres has photographed over a dozen short films, screening at major festivals such as Telluride, SXSW and Tribeca. His most recent short, I am John Wayne won best narrative short at Slamdance Film Festival "for it's unique storytelling, cinematography and performances". He has shot music videos for Kanye West, the Deftones and worked with various entertainers like Jessica Simpson, Tyra Banks, Janelle Monae and Terrence Howard.

The Assistant Director

Christoph Kuschnig received his MFA with honors from Columbia University’s Graduate Film School, where his short film Hatch was selected for Faculty Selects and has since gone to screen at festivals in Europe and the US. It was awarded an NBR Student Grant and nominated for a Student Academy Award in 2012. Kuschnig is a Fulbright Scholar and a HFPA Grant recipient. His previous shorts have also screened at film festivals around the world and have won numerous awards. He was selected to be part of the 2012 Berlinale Talent Campus among 4300 applicants. He divides his time between New York and Vienna. Currently, he has a couple of feature film projects in development.

The Production Designer

Olga Miasnikova was born in Siberia into a family of famous mathematicians. Raised in NYC, she pursued painting and sculpture throughout her young life. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, Polimoda in Florence and Central Saint Martins in London, and became fiercely interested in the fine craftsmanship that goes into couture. Upon graduation, she moved to Europe to design for the late Alexander McQueen. The amazing spectacles that are the fashion presentations of McQueen gave her a taste for the theatrical and she became interested in Production Design. After her solo show at New York Fashion week in 2010, she decided to delve into film full time. Upon her return to NYC she designed videos and stage shows for the likes of MGMT, the Ting TIngs and Das Racist, which quickly spiralled into a budding career. Designing music videos soon turned into designing films. She is currently wrapping a feature and is involved in upcoming projects with cinematographer Rob Leitzell and director Ray Tintori.