Team

Producer/Director/Writer Beth Harrington is an Emmy award–winning independent filmmaker whose work focuses on American culture, history, art, and music. Her film Welcome to the Club—The Women of Rockabilly about the pioneering women of rock and roll was honored with a 2003 Grammy nomination and was seen on PBS stations across the country. In 2014, her film The Winding Stream: The Carters, the Cashes and the Course of Country Music premiered at SXSW and won numerous festival awards including many Best Documentary laurels, as well as Critics’ Picks from both the New York Times and the Village Voice. Harrington has also worked with public television stations WGBH in Boston and Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, producing, directing, researching, and writing shows for local and national broadcast. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Communication from Syracuse University and a Master’s in American Studies from University of Massachusetts-Boston.

Co-Producer Hatsumi Asaka’s career spans more than 30 years. She has produced programming for dozens of TV series on six national Japanese networks. After graduating from Japan Journalist College, Hatsumi began as a writer and director on some 100 TV shows for Nippon TV, Tokyo Broadcasting System, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo. She later moved to NYC to serve as program director at TV Japan, later becoming a producer-director for NHK covering news, documentaries and sports. Her New York segments were a staple of NHK’s popular morning show Ohayo Nippon. In more recent years she has produced public affairs shows including NHK’s Star Women, as well as English-language content for NHK World-Japan. Most recently she served as Associate Producer on the documentary Tokyo Hula and as Assistant Technical Director at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Consulting Producer Francene Blythe-Lewis is the Executive Director of Vision Maker Media, empowering Native filmmakers to tell their stories. Prior to joining Vision Maker, she was the Director of Programs for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, overseeing the strategic development, implementation and evaluation of public programs, outreach and funding opportunities. She has also served at National Geographic and was the Director of their All Roads Film Project, in addition to producing the female filmmaker series Women Hold Up Half the Sky. She has a broad background in project management and arts and cultures, having worked for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Francene received her MA in Theater Management at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and her BA in Theater from Doane College. As a proud Native woman, she is Eastern Band Cherokee and Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota from her father and Navajo from her mother. Francene has received numerous awards and recognition for championing cultural diversity and equity in arts and community leadership.

Susan Walsh has been the Executive Director of the Center for Independent Documentary for the past forty years. Over 250 documentary films have been produced in association with independent filmmakers during her tenure and have been screened nationally on public and cable television, as well as theatrically released and marketed to educational institutions worldwide. As the person responsible for the administration of the organization, her work includes financial management of the organization and its programs, development, and public relations, as well as providing creative and technical support to CID filmmakers. Recent CID films include the 2021 Oscar nominated Crip Camp, the 2021 Emmy award winning Ernie and Joe, and the 2022 Oscar nominated documentary Ascension. Her past work includes four years as the New England field organizer for the Independent Television Service Community Connections Project; and screen credits as co-producer on documentaries for public television with filmmaker Fred Simon. She has been recognized by Women in Film and Video with an “Image Award” for her work with independent filmmakers.

Co-Editor Kyung Lee is a filmmaker/editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a Japanese native of Korean descent. She made her directorial debut with TELOS: The Fantastic World of Eugene Tssui, a portrait of a visionary Bay Area architect which played at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Arizona International Film Festival, and San Diego Asian Film Festival in 2014 as well as other film festivals worldwide and is currently being broadcast nationally on PBS. She is in the production stage of her next documentary film, My Landlord (working title), concerning the housing crisis in the Bay Area. She produced a short film series on homelessness, We R Here in 2023 which premiered at Odense International Film Festival in Denmark. Kyung recently completed producing and editing a feature length documentary ¡Quba!. The film, directed by Kim Anno, features LGBTQ activists fighting for equality in post-Fidel Cuba. She is also studying 3D animation to deepen her knowledge and expertise in virtual production.

Co-Editor Emily von W. Gilbert first got her start in film in a production class with the legendary documentarian and media activist George Stoney at New York University. Since moving to Portland, Oregon Emily has been in great demand, working with a number of filmmakers including Irene Taylor-Brodsky on her HBO documentaries Open Your Eyes and Beware the Slenderman, Briar Levit on her film Graphic Means, Jan Haaken’s Necessity film series, Beth Harrington’s music films The Winding Stream and The Musicianer, alongside many commercial projects. She is currently completing work on Kristian St. Clair’s feature documentary about the life of musician/producer/composer Jack Nitzsche.

Director of Photography Asia Brown seeks out projects that give a voice to the unseen and unheard, especially  focusing on women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. Her work includes the Amazon Prime docuseries, Ted Bundy – Falling for a Serial Killer, which was the first of its kind to tell the story incorporating a feminist critique. Her directorial debut, Self-Worship is an award-winning, boldly feminist exploration of a sexual trauma survivor’s journey back to their body. Other notable works include: the celebrated feature film A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff; Lebron James’ Uninterrupted – Becoming More with Kendra Little; NIKE Women’s Narrative Immersion; Magnolia Network’s hit show From the Source with award-winning chef Katie Button; Stu for Silverton about America’s first openly transgender mayor; Still in Prison, about the effort to end Oregon law rooted in racism; Unfixed : Unsung, about the complexity of identity as it intersects with the health, well-being and humanity of four LGBTQ+ individuals. Asia also works with various non-profits making videos to help end homelessness in Oregon, to give BIPOC students access to arts, science and nature, and to support children processing the death of a loved one at the Dougy Center.

Jordan Eusebio is a Sound Designer based in Corvallis, OR. Notable sound design credits include the dance/horror hybrid CHISPA, the short documentary Visions, the feature horror-comedy, It Cuts Deep, and the animated film Severance. A graduate of Chapman University with a BFA in Film Production, he is also a producer, director and writer of his own award-winning films, the most recent of which is Western Exit, about a father’s last attempt to bring together his three estranged daughters. Jordan is currently in post-production on SHOWER, a sci-fi horror that explores parenthood and alternate dimensions. Other recent work includes sound design on Beth Harrington’s music series, The Musicianer, and field sound recording on her documentary Beyond the Duplex Planet.

Cinematographer Scott Ballard is well known for his work behind the camera but is also a talented director and producer. His most recent projects, Western Exit, Death on a Rock and North & Nowhere, have played at over 80 festivals worldwide, garnering dozens of awards. He holds an MFA in Film Production from Boston University and has been part of the film production scenes in New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Boston. He is in post-production on the documentary Mr. Immortal Jellyfish Man, the story of a Japanese scientist searching for the secret of eternal life.  Scott teaches filmmaking at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Megan Neil is a Portland-based first assistant camera, storyteller, and multimedia professional with a passion for visual narrative. With experience in feature films, shorts, and commercial projects, she engages audiences by conveying impactful messages through her work. Specializing in ARRI Alexa and RED systems, Megan has contributed to productions like Our Mr. Matsura and Summoning the Spirit. Her background in art education and studio management blends creativity and technical proficiency. Currently, she supports Media Production and Media Services at Portland Community College, refining her skills in video production and collaboration.

Composer Mark Orton has written scores for numerous films—both documentary and narrative features—and is perhaps best known for his score for the Academy Award–nominated film Nebraska (2013). A recipient of a Sundance Composer Fellowship and nominee for Best New Composer by the International Film Music Critics Association, his score for Alexander Payne’s multi-Oscar-nominated film The Holdovers (2023) was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. In that same year, he scored the Netflix film Working: What We Do All Day featuring former President Barack Obama as he talks to modern American workers. Mark has also provided the scores for other films including People Places and Things, The Boxtrolls, Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, Miguel Arteta’s The Good Girl, 360 by Fernando Meirelles, and a 90th anniversary re-release of Buster Keaton’s The General, among many other films. Mark specializes in utilizing the instruments, music, and ambient sounds associated with a particular era and using these to create a fresh but still period-appropriate track for film.

The production of Our Mr. Matsura was also made possible thanks to our talented and dedicated colleagues in Tokyo.

Director of Photography Naohiro Hashimoto is the Director of the Japan Cinematographers Association, as well as a member of the Japan Academy Awards Association. Naohiro-san started his career in 1983 as a TV drama cameraman and went on to work on music programs, variety shows, and ENG reporting, live music performances, commercials, and feature film. He also worked with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology  where, after undergoing diving training, he became an accomplished underwater cameraman. In 2003, he founded Hashimoto Photography where he continues to provide services as a cinematographer, camera operator, and film drone pilot.

The team Naohiro-san assembled for Our Mr. Matsura includes the widely experienced camera operator Akihiko Miyawaki of Wing-T, Ltd.; lighting engineer Kenichi Goto, who has worked in music video, drama, motion pictures and TV and is the founder of the BONDS company; recording engineer Yusuke Murayama who has also served as a camera assistant, video engineer, still photographer and voice-over artist; camera assistant Shiori Nakashima who has experience as a camera operator and voice-over artist; and production assistant and driver Yuki Yano.  Their contributions to Our Mr. Matsura have been invaluable.