The first day you meet,              you are friends,
the next day you meet,
         you are brothers.  
               Afghan proverb

who we are - staff - board of directors - advisory board - reporters  - photographers

The film reviews on our site are from our staff and volunteer journalists, who visit film festivals around the world in search for interesting cross-cultural films.

The photo’s on our site are generously shared by friends and staff members of Culture Wrap. Their photo impressions capture the diversity of communities, the cultural architecture and landscapes around the world. We’re looking for more photographers who want to share their multicultural pictures with us for this site. Contact us.

If you’re interested in purchasing a photo or want to know more about the photographer, please click on the photographer’s link below. Your purchase of images from these talented photographers helps support them.

Photo Credits & Copyright Notice

All materials contained on this web site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CULTURE WRAP except under the following conditions.

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but only if there is attribution CULTURE WRAP including the individual author or photographer if identified.
Images displayed on this web site are the property of their respective photographers.

IMAGES MAY NOT BE REDISPLAYED ON ANOTHER WEB SITE WITHOUT PERMISSION
OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND CULTURE WRAP.

Our contributing photographers:

USCHI MUELLER - USA
Email: Uschi.Mueller@umatravels.net -  Website: www.umatravels.net

CAROLINE PARSONS   - JAPAN
Email: mailto:ariapic@attglobal.net
View Portfolio at:
http://www.the17sproject.com/carolineportfolio.html

HAN TIMMERMAN -  SPAIN
Email: han.timmerman@naviasoft.com

bio’s in alphabetical order

Alexander A.H. Bruinhof was born in 1961 in the Netherlands.
After graduation at the University of Amsterdam; Graduate Leiden-Amsterdam-Columbia Program in American Law, Lex was called to the Bar in Amsterdam in 1990. Lex is a partner at Wieringa Advocaten, one of the oldest law firms in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His practice areas include: Intellectual property, Media and Internet law, Privacy Legislation, e-Commerce, Entertainment Law, Contracts.
Next to his law practice, Lex also lectures Copyright Law, Information Law and Culture & Law at the University of Amsterdam, at the Institute for Arts & Culture and the Faculty of Humanities. Lex is a member of the Copyright Law Association. His language skills are: English, French, and German. You can reach Lex at: lex@culturewrap.org.

Ivy Childs, a long time educator, holds a teaching credential and M.A. in Sociology of Education.  Her great passion is learning about people and ideas firsthand, believing that real knowledge and conceptualization must be embraced experientially. She has taught all age groups in both the public and private sector and particularly enjoyed her experiences founding and directing summer camps and a novice computer school.  Ivy loves traveling and brings the experience of meeting a diversity of cultures into the classroom.  She is currently raising three children in Santa Rosa, building community at her business (Curves) and substitute teaching at the local high school. Ivy is a member of Culture Wrap’s Educational Committee, which consists of a number of international educators who will develop a variety of lesson plan modules that can accompany a film destined for school screenings.

Ana C. Deutsch is a native of Argentina. She obtained her degree in Clinical Psychology at the Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina. She came to the United States with her family in 1977 as a political refugee. Ana was trained and practiced psychoanalysis in Argentina. After arriving in California she worked in several mental health settings with the Hispanic Community. At the same time she completed her Master Degree in Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy at the California State University, Northridge.

In 1978 Ana participated in the first study in the United States on the effects of torture, published in 1985 in the book “The Breaking of Bodies and Minds: Torture, Psychiatric Abuse and the Health Professional”, edited by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Since then, she has been dedicated to the treatment of victims of torture. She is co-founder of the Program for Torture Victims (PTV), the first program of this kind in the United States, and since its inception in 1980 she has served as Clinical Director.

In the 80’s and early 90’s Ana has worked with the Central-American refugees. As an immigrant and refugee herself, she has been able to provide leadership in understanding the particular psychosocial issues confronted by that population. She has also participated in numerous professional local and international forums presenting on the topic of the psychosocial consequences of torture and organized violence. 

As an expert in the psychological consequences of torture Ana has been called to testify in three landmark cases in the United States. In addition, she has provided expert testimony in front of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in Costa Rica, and is currently working in a project with the Inter-American Human Rights Institute to provide training to professionals assisting victims of torture and their families.

In her current position as PTV Clinical Director, Ana’s responsibilities include providing direct services to clients, supervising PTV clinical staff, and implementing different innovative projects at PTV, including the Healing Club and the PTV Drama Group.

In 2004, Ana was awarded the Minerva Award, presented to her for her important contribution to California’s families and our communities.

Kwame van Eijndhoven
In 2005, Kwame van Eijndhoven received his BA in Communication. Shortly afterwards, he started working as  Project Secretary for the SURF Foundation which aims to fully utilize the possibilities of ICT to improve the quality of higher education and research in the Netherlands.

Jared Feldschreiber
Jared Feldschreiber, a native New Yorker lives in Israel and is a freelance journalist and writer. His articles mostly deal with film, culture and international affairs. He works in the Jerusalem Bureau with Fox News, and has contributed articles for newspapers and journals concerning Israel and American human interest stories. He is fascinated by the historiography of film, mostly encapsulated through his film reviews, and has also contributed literary works to Israeli radio. He is pursuing his Master’s in Israeli Politics and is in touch with many media centers throughout Israel. He loves basketball, the open water and 1950s Beat Poetry.

Lucia Hooplot
In 1975, Lucia finished her Teacher Training College in Suriname. In that year she emigrated to the Netherlands, where she worked in several organizations and continued her education in Educational Sciences. During that time, Lucia conducted a one-year research in Ghana, West Africa.

The research in Ghana focused on non-formal education and its influence on forming and upbringing. In 1985, Lucia completed her education in Educational Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, after which she obtained a degree in Senior management educational studies at the Bestuursacademie. She complemented her education by following several courses on working within governmental departments. Since 2000, Lucia followed several courses in NLP coaching.

Lucia currently works as a senior policy advisor for the Department of Education of the City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where she is responsible for policy building and implementation thereof on primary education in a multi-cultural district with inner-city problems. Besides her work for the City of Amsterdam, Lucia teaches at the Regional Training Center for young adults. She also offers NLP workshops and seminars for teachers and educators.

Kathryn Howell Anders, secretary
Kathryn has been a teacher and administrator for over 20 years. Most recently she has served as the Director of Secondary Support Services and Accountability for a county in California. She has taught kindergarten through university. Most of her teaching has been at the secondary level in English, journalism, filmmaking and technology.
For three years she was the coordinator of the new teacher support program for her school district. For five years she hosted an award winning cable television show for high school students on the local access channel. In September, she will become the new Director of Alternative Education as well and principal of the continuation high school.

Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business, a Master of Arts degree in Education and one in Educational Leadership. Currently, she
is working on her doctorate in international education. She has worked for Travelers Insurance in their human resources department and for Hewlett-Packard as editor of their in-house newsletter at their Roseville site.

Kathryn was selected as an outstanding teacher by USA Today in 2000, and received the Teaching Excellence Award in 2003 from American Councils, a division of the U.S. Department of State. As part of the American Councils program she traveled to Russia and worked with Russian teachers in their classrooms.

She continues to stay in contact with teachers she has met around the world and works to improve global education one teacher at a time.

Karen Jungblut
Director of Cataloguing and Special Projects at Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles, a non-profit organization dedicated to overcome prejudice, intolerance and bigotry - and the suffering they cause - through the educational use of the Foundation visual history testimonies. Under her leadership, the major part of the more than 52,000 Holocaust testimonies have been catalogued with the help of especially in-house designed technology, which will soon make the archive accessible to scholars and educators. For her work at the Shoah Foundation, she travels extensively throughout the world to consult museum and archives about working with visual history collections.

Karen completed her B.A. in History and International Affairs at Hunter College in New York and her M.A. in Political Science with focus on the history of the persecution of German Jews 1933-45 and post-war trials in Germany of Nazi criminals at the Free University in Berlin.

Karen previously served in the office of the Assistant Secretary-General for General Services at the UN Secretariat. Prior to her work at the UN, she assisted Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Scheffler in Berlin, a renowned expert on post-WWII justice and a recognized authority on war crimes tribunals.

Steve Killey
After Attending Colorado State University, Steve Killey worked in the construction industry for 25 years. He lives in an alternative intentional community and has been "off the grid" for 36 years. He has been involved with computers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web since 1997. He runs his own consulting and Web business specializing in non-profit clients, including The Bodega Land Trust, Bodega Volunteer Fire Dept., and The Fisherman's Marketing Association. Since 2002 he has also been the Tech Manager, Webmaster, and Network Administrator for New Ways to Work in Sebastopol, CA.

Stephan Lantos brings many years of Information Technology experience to CultureWrap.  In addition to starting and maintaining his own Information Technology company for many years, he has been working for over 10 years with an international membership-based organization that spans over 100 countries with widely-diverse cultures, with members speaking over 60 languages.  In addition to his technical background and membership in the IT Service Management Forum of America, Stephan holds advanced degrees in social sciences. Born in Hungary, Stephan has a culturally-diverse background.  As a lifelong student of social interchange and philosophy, he combines his knowledge of technology, and its many advances, with a social and cultural sensitivity, recognizing that technology's main purpose is to help bridge the gaps among the many peoples and cultures of this world. His vision is one where human diversity in all its forms is valued and celebrated, and communication and the exchange of ideas and media is virtually instantaneous and relatively effortless. 

Judith Morris
Judith, a long time educator with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Master of Arts in Education degree and Advanced Diploma in Educational Management, has worked as: a teacher; headteacher (principal); educational adviser; curriculum and school improvement leader.  She has held senior leadership positions in England and internationally. In the 1990s, as an Assistant Chief Executive with the English School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, she was part of the senior team responsible for reviewing the English National Curriculum and Assessment

As Assistant Chief Executive for the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) Schools Overseas from the late 1990s to 2004, she was responsible for the quality of education and standards in schools for children of British military and civilian personnel in 10 countries as far afield as the Falkland Islands, Belize, Canada and Brunei as well as in Europe.  She initiated and led the provision of a new combined school, which opened in 2003, for children of British military and civilian personnel and Nepalese children of Gurkha military personnel serving in Brunei. The school provides a rich curriculum, strong in culture, language and the arts, for all children drawing on the educational requirements of Britain and Nepal. Among schools she was responsible for are international schools in the Netherlands and Belgium which provide international curricular rich in culture and the arts.

Most recently she was Head of Raising Achievement in Oxfordshire where her role as part of the senior leadership team included oversight of nationally and internationally acclaimed projects in culture, the visual and performing arts, global awareness and citizenship.

Throughout her career Judith has promoted opportunities for young people to improve their understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity through education and the arts.  As a headteacher of a large multi-lingual/cultural school for children aged 3 – 12 years where 65% of the children were multi-lingual and 25 languages were spoken, she encouraged the celebration of diversity and improved understanding of cultures through curriculum enrichment, participation in cultural projects supported by national funding and utilisation of the rich artistic and cultural experience present among parents and the community.

Judith lives in Oxfordshire England and has many contacts around the world in the fields of education, culture and the arts. She is committed to young people and believes that regardless of circumstance or geographical location, all should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential growing up in safe environments where diversity is celebrated and understood and global awareness and citizenship are encouraged.

Uschi “Uma” Mueller
Uschi “Uma” Mueller moved to Los Angeles from Germany in the 1980s. In Europe she obtained an advanced degree in education, and a dual degree in Geography and Social Sciences. Her passion for exploring the world and its cultures is rooted in the love of her family for travel, flying planes and sailing. Already as a 6-year-old she found herself on a long-distance train crossing Germany by herself—a tag around her neck with name and destination, where her grand parents would await her—and she enjoyed every moment of this adventure. Hence down the road she realized this passion for discovery and learning as a Weltenbummler –she defines it as ‘a constant traveller in this world’-- into a profession and taught Social Sciences and Geography for several years. Today she devotes much of her time as a linguist and to lending worldwide educational support to community-based self-help efforts for substance abuse.

As a photographer with a focus on diversity of cultures and people immersed in their culture-specific daily activities, she has travelled most parts of Europe, as well as Asia and the Middle East, including Cambodia, Nepal, India, Japan, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Greece and many more. She visited Bali repeatedly during 2002-2004 and did photographic studies and journaling of village life and religious events while living with a Balinese family in their village for several months. In the USA she also covered numerous cultural events in Southern California, incl. musical and other visual arts performances from around the world.

For the last eight years she designed and illustrated an annual commemorative Meditation Centre publication. Under the title “Weltenbummler—a Constant Traveller in This World” she plans to publish a series of photographic ‘storybooks’ journaling specific universally relevant topics in anecdotes and images. She has been a contributing member of the Culture Wrap Team since 2005.

Abigail Myers was born in Dallas, TX and raised in the mid-Atlantic East Coast area. Abby received a BS in Geology At St. Lawrence University and spent her junior year abroad, studying in Vienna, and traveling throughout Europe. After college Abby worked as a well-site Geologist and mud logger in the oil fields OF Wyoming. After the oil industry went bust (1983), she decided to go back to school in the field of water.  She received a Master of Science in Water Resources Administration from the University of Arizona. After receiving a grant from the Women In Development Project of the US Agency of International Development, she conducted field research for her thesis in Sri Lanka, where she lived for a year. The program was designed to get women involved in the international development process, to study women's issues, and to work with and train local women.  Abby's thesis title was: "The Multi-Disciplinary Aspects of Domestic Water Use in Large-Scale Resettlement Projects, A Case Study in Sri Lanka." The thesis linked social, economic and technical aspects of water supply and use, and concluded that the ancient systems still in use provided better quality, more convenient and more reliable domestic water than modern engineered projects. After receiving her degree, Abby worked in Phoenix, AZ as an hydrologist for the State department of Environmental Quality, and for an electric utility company as an environmental scientist in charge of pollution prevention programs. During that period she served as chairperson of Water For People, a nonprofit arm of the American water resources association, which helps design and provide small water delivery and wastewater treatment systems with community involvement to needy villages in remote areas of Mexico and Central America. In 1997, Abby spent a sabbatical in Central America, learning Spanish and ethnobotany through home-stays, and investigating the potential for collaborative efforts between utilities, local water managers and biologists to preserve rain forests and watersheds while mitigating green house gas emissions. In 2002, Abby formed a non-profit called Learning Waters that provides outdoor education related to water and environmental restoration projects. In 2003 Abby opened her nonprofits' support services business, which provides grant writing and management and other support services to a variety of local and international nonprofits, towns and organizations.  She currently resides in Bodega, California where she lives in an intentional community, helping run a sheep ranch and organic farm.

Blair Pleasant is currently the President and Principal Analyst of COMMfusion LLC, a technology research, analysis and consulting firm focusing on voice and data convergence. Prior to founding COMMfusion, Blair was Director of Communications Analysis for The PELORUS Group, a market research and consulting firm, and President of Lower Falls Consulting. With over 18 years experience, her primary areas of focus are convergence applications, including contact center, Unified Communications, Unified Messaging, computer telephony integration (CTI), and voice processing. Blair has authored many highly acclaimed market studies, and provides market research analysis and consulting services to both end user and vendor clients. Ms. Pleasant has authored several articles for various trade magazines, and is a frequent speaker and moderator at conferences. She has also organized and managed several conferences, including developing the content, agenda, selecting and working with the speakers, in addition to serving as moderator for the 2-day events. Ms. Pleasant received a BA degree in Communications from Albany State University, plus an MBA in marketing and MS in Broadcast Administration from Boston University.

Laurence Rosenthal is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a dual degree in drama and psychology. Concurrent to his studies at NYU, he attended the Circle In The Square Theater School. As an at executive at Woods Entertainment, he acquired and developed the screenplays for Things to do in Denver When You're Dead, Beautiful Girls, Kate and Leopold, Wide Awake, Citizen Ruth, Cop Land and Scream. As Vice President of the H. Beale Co., Rosenthal oversaw the development of the Showtime series Beggars and Choosers, as well as a slate of novels for the Brandon Tartikoff Imprint at Warner Books. As a writer, his work has appeared on numerous television shows including It's a Miracle, Studs, Beyond, Chance and Oprah. He teaches screenwriting at UCLA Extension and the LA Film School and has judged the prestigious Diane Thomas Screenwriting Awards for five years running.

Noemi Rossler, treasurer
Noemi was born in Sweden, as the second child of a refugee family.
In 1972, she entered University in Lund and studied for her BA in English.

In 1979, she relocated with her then husband and daughter to the United States and had 2 more daughters. In 1997 she changed career paths from the business  to the non-profit world by becoming an Interviewer Coordinator at Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation for 2 years, until production ended.

In 1999, she accepted a position at the American Red Cross, in the International Social Services department, doing international tracing and Holocaust tracing. Here she gained a lot of knowledge about
diverse cultures and their challenges in the US.

From 2000 to 2004, she worked as a Case Manager for PTV, Program For Torture Victims, a Los Angeles-based organization providing psychological, medical and social services to survivors of state sponsored torture.

Since the summer of 2004, Noemi lived in several European countries. She recently moved to Barcelona, Spain.

On Cultural Identity:
The beauty of cultures is that they are non static. It is like an on going fluid and ever changing process of weaving a fabric consisting of many different threads. The challenge we are facing these days is the sheer size and speed of these changes. What used to be slow organic change is now almost a daily one and naturally we need to find new tools and resources to adjust.

The variety of cultures in my own family and countries I have chosen
to live in, as well as in the work that I have done, has opened me and increased my appreciation of so many things. 

Inspirations:
The various people that I have met along the road that have the beauty and ability to always see the good in everything first without denying or dealing with the bad.

Gerrie Timmerman
Founding director Gerrie Timmerman was born in the Netherlands. 
Her life has always been infused with cultural influences. Both her personal life, with two
bi-cultural marriages, as well as her business career reflects her interest in different cultures. In the several businesses she owned and managed in the Netherlands her clientele were always pulled into the cultural aspects of her products and services.

In 1993, she redirected her career to become a filmmaker and she became involved in several international film projects. After producing a Dutch low-budget feature film and working on several documentary projects in Europe and Japan, she resettled in Los Angeles in 1996.

From 1996 to 1998, she participated in Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust project Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, where more than 50,000 Holocaust survivor video testimonies were documented worldwide. Gerrie also contributed to the production of two of the Shoah Foundation’s documentaries, Lost Children of Berlin and The Last Days, of which the latter, directed by James Moll, won the 1999 Academy Award.

In the year 2000, she founded her own production company Magician’s Daughter Productions. Her first project Disappearing Act is a personal documentary project about how the search for a Jewish magician, who vanished during the Holocaust, leads her back to reconnect with her own father magician. Currently, she has several projects in development, including Faded Footsteps, a documentary-series about second or third generation immigrants, who are searching for their cultural heritage.
This project will be further developed under the Culture Wrap-banner.

In 2001, she first envisioned the establishment of a non-profit organization aiming to bring people from different cultures together. Since then various ideas and cross-cultural projects on the subject were researched and initial contacts for partnerships were made, both on a national and international level. Today, all this research has led to this year’s establishment of CULTURE WRAP, committed to promote cross-cultural understanding through the media arts.

My cultural identity:
Although the Dutch consider me probably a thoroughbred Dutch person, I believe one’s cultural identity changes through their life experiences. As I once married into Egyptian culture, I do believe I became part Arab. By working for the Shoah Foundation, I was blessed with having many Jewish friends and part of my soul has become Jewish. If anything, my chicken soup proves that theory! In any case, if someone was to ask me, who I am, it’s not an easy answer. Maybe a citizen of the world?

People that inspire me:
When my son was born, I was euphoric and idealistic. I hoped as a child from two cultures, he would become a bridge between them. When I grew older and wiser, I realized I should not put such a burden of expectations on him. But now, when I see him on the brink of maturity and by his outgoing nature surrounded by friends of all colors and nationalities, I am once again euphoric and idealistic. I keep learning from him every day by just letting people be who they are.

Favorite cultural charities:
It’s difficult to make a choice, as there are many commendable projects in the world that engender cross-cultural collaboration and bring people of different backgrounds together. These are just a few of the many I like:

In 1997, Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education is Israel was founded to build peace between Jews and Arabs in Israel through development of bilingual and multi-cultural schools.
http://www.handinhandk12.org/

Roots of Peace was founded in 1997 with a clear mission: to rid the world of landmines by transforming toxic minefields into thriving farmland.
http://www.rootsofpeace.org/

FilmAid brings films for inspiration and information to refugees and displaced people. http://www.filmaid.org/

Francoise Vaal, Born, raised and living in The Netherlands, Françoise has a wide range of interests and experience. Her education includes an Associate degree in English, 2 years of journalism and one year of Law. After having worked as a picture editor for several Dutch newspapers and magazines, Françoise enrolled and completed an education in Screenwriting. After her writing studies, she completed a 2-year education on Counseling. She currently combines her counseling practice with her writing career. Her writing career included several scripts for short corporate films and animations for a multimedia company. She wrote and produced the 30-minute documentary "Pearl", that portrays the life of American-Dutch artist Pearl Perlmuter. She was the  format  co-author of an 8-part TV-series of Medical single plays and a CD-Rom project about international money streams for the University of Amsterdam.

Her work experience is just as diverse: She has experience in the development of exhibitions and multi-media presentations at theme parks, museums and companies. She helped develop a tool for Human Resource development and managed the research  and archive department of the Dutch Financial Daily. Francoise speaks  2 languages  fluently : Dutch, English,  and a little German and French.

Her love for traveling brought her to several countries in West and Eastern Europe, and North America. Besides her love for the USA and the Rocky Mountains in particular, Native American heritage has been of great interest to her. She tries to visit reservations and learn from these cultures and their old traditions whenever she has the opportunity. As one half of the current Dutch team, she will help develop, write and produce some of the productions that will be developed under the Culture Wrap Pictures banner as well as assisting on the creative side of  Culture Wrap's organizational development in Europe.

Jan M.A. de Vries, PhD, M.A.
Dr. Jan de Vries is psychology lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He specializes in Stress Management, Trauma, and Peace Psychology. He grew up in the Netherlands where he obtained a Masters in Psychology. He completed his PhD in Ireland and worked at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation near Dublin where he developed and delivered a programme of dialogue for victims and ex-combatants of 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland. Between 2000 - 2006 he was a professor of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He is also a recording musician and piano teacher.

Culture Wrap is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit media organization focused
on films and projects that promote cross-cultural understanding and endorse intercultural partnerships.

Culture Wrap
Mailing address: 8033 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 548, Hollywood, CA 90046, USA
phone: +1 818 640 1806 -  e-mail: info@culturewrap.org

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