Film Team

Olivia Kuan
Director

Olivia began her career as a cinematographer after earning a BFA at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She has shot over 30 narrative features and 5 documentary features in addition to a plethora of shorts of both genres. Her most recent documentary was filmed in Uganda where she covered the day to day life of a struggling hospital in a rural area. This was followed soon after by the COVID19 pandemic, when Olivia spent a year working on the front lines managing a testing and vaccination site in an underserved area. However, she has now returned to filmmaking and continues to thrive in the scripted world. Her expertise in narrative storytelling will bring a unique perspective to Brick House. Her work can be seen here. Olivia also brings a deep passion for this project. She believes full heartedly in all the fantastic details of the material and works day and night to bring this film to life. It is the most important endeavor of her career and her personal connection to it only goes to further her impalpable commitment.

James Short
Producer

James is a co-founder of INWOOD ROAD FILMS, a film investment and development company based in Los Angeles, CA. He is an Executive Producer on several independent films, including PLUS ONE, premiering at the 2019 TriBeCa Film Festival, and BURN, starring Josh Hutcherson and Suki Waterhouse. James produced the feature film CONFESSIONAL along with Bold Soul Media, starring Paris Berelc and Marcus Scribner, scheduled to be released in late 2019.

Lisa France
Producer

Filmmaker Lisa France transitioned from a pro basketball career into film and television as a stunt performer. She has written and directed three narrative features since, and Roll With Me (2017) was her first documentary. France's films have won more than 30 film festival awards and nominations, including two Independent Spirit Award nominations, and have been released theatrically through AMC Select, and sold to Netflix, Starz and Encore. In addition to her creative work, France is a passionate educator. She has worked as a full-time instructor at the University of Texas in Los Angeles. France holds a Masters degree from Ohio State University and a B.A. from Brooklyn College, where she played Division I basketball and graduated with honors. She played professional basketball for the Manchester Giants in Manchester, England.

James Lee Hernandez
Producer

James is a self-taught filmmaker, editor, and musician. His most notable credits include the Emmy Award-winning documentary series Wonder Women (2017) and the Academy of Motion Pictures Association's award-shortlisted documentary short Other Side of Home (2016). Hernandez spent four years writing, directing, and editing several short films, series, and nationally televised commercials for Hallmark's SVoD service. He has also produced and directed original content for Hulu, Reebok, CrossFit, Tastemade, and Nike. Hernandez recently wrote and directed the 6-part HBO original documentary series, McMillions (Sundance 2020), alongside Brian Lazarte. Executive Producing with Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Archie Gips, and Lazarte.

Brian Lazarte
Producer

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Brian Lazarte is a Los Angeles based filmmaker and editor. His credits include a variety of award-winning documentaries and series. Most notably: Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D, HBO's Emmy award-winning Sonic Highways and Showtime's Time of Death, which won IDA's Best Limited Series in 2014. Brian has also edited or served as a consulting editor on several other films, including Fed Up, ESPN's Emmy award-winning Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau 30 for 30, The Price of Free (Grand Jury Prize, Sundance 2018), Alive Inside (Sundance 2014 Audience Award) and Holy Hell (Sundance 2016). A recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker grant, Lazarte has additional credits in writing, producing and directing. His work has been seen over the last 14-years on major networks, including NBC, ABC, FOX, TNT, PBS, NAT GEO, Animal Planet, OWN, MTV and VH1. Lazarte recently wrote and directed the 6-part HBO original documentary series, McMillions (Sundance 2020), alongside James Lee Hernandez. Executive Producing with Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Archie Gips, and Hernandez.

Basia Haszlakiewicz
Consulting Producer

Basia played safety for the Herricanes. She went on to excel as an interior designer until her recent retirement last year. She has two children, the eldest of which is Olivia Kuan. The pair recently became detectives as they tracked down Basia's former teammates and reopened the lines of communication 40 years after the fact. Every Herricane they have found has been open and excited to talk to them. As of March 2019, they have confirmed 10 players to be a part of the documentary.

Fonco Studios lead by Fon Davis
Diorama Artists

Fonco was founded in 1997 in San Francisco by Fon Davis as a design and fabrication studio specializing in miniatures and special effects. Over the two decades Fonco has been joined by an amazingly diverse, creative and driven group of artists, many of whom have worked for companies including Lucasfilm, ILM, Digital Domain and Disney. The Fonco Studios family, in short, are creative world builders. To see more of their spectacular work, go here.

In his three decade career, Fon Davis has worked on over 40 feature films, countless music videos, commercials, TV shows and other projects as an alumnus of the Industrial Light and Magic's Model Shop, Fon has worked on Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, and Pearl Harbor feature films, as well as the Star Wars, Terminator, Mission Impossible, and Jurassic Park franchises. In addition to his work in visual effects, Fon has also worked in several art departments on Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Christmas Carol, Mars Needs Moms, Laika Entertainment's Coraline and Warner Brothers The Matrix series. More recently, Fon worked on Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Neill Blomkamp's Elysium. Fon has a reputation for being a kind-hearted team builder, hardworking planner and excellent troubleshooter who cares deeply about building and nurturing communities.

Syhaya Aviel Smith
Crowdfunding Campaign Manager

Syhaya is an immensely talented actress who studied at New York University. Over the years she has also worked in social media management and now brings this experience to our film. Her work and dedication to this project is invaluable but it is her intuition as an artist that makes her a true asset to the film. Her work can be further explored here.