FILMMAKERS

JORDAN W. BARROW & MATT EDWARDS

Directors

(also serve as Producer / Cinematographer/ Editor)

Jordan W. Barrow and Matt Edwards (he/him) have crafted stories across multiple continents and visual mediums – with a focus on visually dynamic yet profoundly intimate experiences. Most notably, they’ve worked at the highest level in non-scripted television, oftentimes in the music space, collaborating with talent including Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Kevin Hart, Charlize Theron, John Legend, Khalid, Foo Fighters, Kelly Rowland, Lil Nas X and Selena Gomez to name a few. They’ve created programming for networks including Netflix, Apple, YouTube, ABC, MTV, BET, Esquire, Peacock and National Geographic. 

Together, they collaborated on a PSA for the 2018 election, entitled ‘Use Your Voice’ with students from The Get Lit program to encourage youth voting turnout. 

In 2018, they toured with Taylor Swift on her Reputation Stadium Tour capturing content which would eventually be featured in her documentary, Miss Americana.

Individually, Jordan W. Barrow has worked as a Director and Producer with Den of Thieves with highlights including producing and directing content for The MTV Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus: Stand By You, Hand In Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief and The March For Our Lives. 

Matt Edwards is a Primetime Emmy Award winning editor for the documentary series Life Below Zero on National Geographic. He won a CableFax award for Best Title Sequence for Life Below Zero. He recently served as Co-Producer and edited a financial independence documentary, Playing With Fire. 


ROSARIO DAWSON

Executive Producer

Rosario Dawson (she/her) is an artist, designer and activist. She made her feature film debut at the age of 15 in the controversial KIDS followed by Spike Lee’s HE GOT GAME and THE 25TH HOUR. She’s since starred in a range of films including ALEXANDER, RENT, CLERKS II, TOP FIVE, TRANCE, UNSTOPPABLE and MEN IN BLACK II, as well as the SIN CITY franchise. She is the voice of ‘Barbara Gordon/Batgirl’ in THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE, ‘Wonder Woman’ in several DC Animated films, ‘Rezzoch’ in Netflix’s THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH and ‘Ms. Ramiro’ for Nickelodeon’s IT’S PONY. For her performance in SEVEN POUNDS, Dawson won Best Actress in a Motion Picture Award at the 2009 NAACP Image Awards. On the small screen, Dawson starred as ‘Allegra Dill’ in USA’s BRIARPATCH and as 'Claire Temple' in the Netflix adaptation of the Marvel comic book series DAREDEVIL, LUKE CAGE, IRON FIST, JESSICA JONES, and THE DEFENDERS. She also loved joining JANE THE VIRGIN for two seasons as ‘Jane Ramos’. Her next to be released projects includes the Hulu limited series DOPESICK followed by the Ava DuVernay directed pilot DMZ for HBO Max. It was recently announced that she will be starring in the highly anticipated MANDALORIAN spin-off series, AHSOKA TANO.

Aside from her acting credits, Rosario has produced several passion projects such as Talia Lugacy’s DESCENT, THIS IS NOT A WAR FILM and THE NEED TO GROW which highlights innovators healing our broken food systems and the need for soil regeneration to capture carbon and reverse climate change. Rosario was a co-host, editor and producer of THE ASSEMBLY for Free Speech television on the subjects of hate, protest and the future featuring scholars, activists and artists in 2018. Recently, Rosario directed her first short film BOUNDLESS for the Power/On Series as part of the Straight Up Films anthology to encourage girls in S.T.E.A.M. in partnership with YouTube and Google. 

In 2013, Rosario founded Studio One Eighty Nine (Studio 189) with Abrima Erwiah, a fashion and media lifestyle brand made in Africa that produces African and African-inspired content and clothing. Studio 189 was recently the recipient of the prestigious CFDA Lexus Sustainable Fashion Initiative prize and of other various awards including the Martin Luther King Jr Social Justice award, the MOCADA Social Justice award, and most recently the 2020 Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian’s emerging designer award. Rosario notably wore Studio 189 designs in the Lebron James’ produced NBA 2K20 game that featured her likeness and voice via performance capture. 

Dawson is extremely passionate about helping empower LatinX millennials to vote and lead so in 2004, she co-founded Voto Latino. The organization has registered over one million people and was one of the co-founders of National Voter Registration Day. In honor of Fall Voting Season 2020 she fostered a partnership between Studio One Eighty Nine and Voto Latino represented as Fashion Our Future 2020; a voter registration and GOTV initiative that Abrima and Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh, lead. Dawson is an active board member of V-Day, The Lower East Side Girls Club, Operation USA and the Environmental Media Association. In 2011, Rosario was honored by Barack Obama with the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her valuable contributions to the community.

DIANE LUBY LANE

Executive Producer

Diane Luby Lane (she/her) is the Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit Get Lit-Words Ignite, a 2020 Library of Congress best practice nominee for “doing exemplary, innovative and replicable work that promotes literacy and responds to the needs of our time.” She is the creator of the Get Lit in-school curriculum that has been approved by the University of California as an "A-G" provider and is taught in over 150 schools throughout the US to over 10,000 graduates each year. She co-produced the Good Deed Entertainment film SUMMERTIME, which was written by and starred 27 Get Lit Poets and is directed by the award-winning Carlos López Estrada. SUMMERTIME opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and was released to theaters across the country in the summer of 2021 to great critical acclaim becoming "certified fresh" and later iTunes "Editor's Choice." Diane’s critically acclaimed one-woman show, Deep Sea Diving (AKA Born Feet First), toured high schools, colleges, and detention centers across America with Chicano poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. Diane is a graduate of the Annenberg Foundation’s Alchemy + Leadership Program, a TedX speaker, a Southern California Leadership Network Fellow, a member of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Poet Laureate Committee, and a recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Service Award. Her book, Get Lit Rising (Simon & Schuster), is the winner of the 2016 Nautilus Award for books that “carry a potent message and bring hope, wisdom, healing, and joy.” Diane is in the 1st year of a 2-year Spiritual Practitioner Program through Agape International Spiritual Center, and also in the 1st year of a Mindful Meditation Teacher Certification Program through UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center with a focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. She lives in LA with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and two cats.

SAMUAL CURTIS

Executive Producer

Samuel Curtis (he/him) is the Director of Creative Media for Get Lit - Words Ignite and a founding producing partner of Literary Riot Inc. He was the Associate Producer of the feature film, Summertime, which premiered Opening Night at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and the director/producer of the docuseries, The Road to Summertime. He has produced web series and podcasts for VICELAND, Final Draft and produced digital spots for NBC, FX, the Grammy Museum, the Golden Globes, Vans, Ford, Post-It’s, People Magazine, and more. He has a deep passion for roots music and poetry and a love for playing the piano.