PRODUCTION TEAM
LAILA KAZMI
Director/Writer/Producer
Laila Kazmi is a two-time Emmy® Award-winning producer, director and editor, and a six-time nominee. Her documentary shorts have aired on PBS television stations, streamed on PBS NewsHour, aired on Seattle Channel, and screened at various film festivals. Laila has launched and produced multiple digital series, including the award-winning immigrants' stories series BORDERS & HERITAGE—streaming on PBS.org, and the independent film series REEL NW. Laila is a two-time SCETV/CPB Fellow of the International Public Television (INPUT) Conference in Tokyo and New York City.
Laila grew up in Karachi, Bahrain, and Chicago, where she first learned about Fazlur Rahman Khan on a visit to the Sears (now Willis) Tower.
The Fazlur Rahman Khan documentary is Laila's first feature-length film.
ARNILA GUHA NOLOK
Producer
Arnila Guha Nolok is a filmmaker and actor. Her documentary shorts have screened at various film festivals and aired on the North Texas PBS channel. She is working as a cinematographer/editor at Methodist Health System and as a freelance production coordinator/editor. Prior to that, she was an adjunct faculty at the Department of Media Arts at the University of North Texas. She graduated in 2019 with an MFA degree in Documentary Film Production. Born in Bangladesh, raised in Dhaka and Darjeeling, she currently resides in Texas.
BEGOÑA LOPEZ
Art Director, Graphics and Animation
Begoña Lopez is an art director. She has created visual solutions and graphic packages for documentaries, fashion, music videos and publications for renowned art museums and galleries, including Sicardi Gallery, The CAMH, Houston Symphony, Barbara Davis Gallery, and Diverseworks. She co-directed a 12-min video called Bodyworks, which was shown at the Whitney Museum. As an artist, she has participated in numerous art shows. Her documentary motion graphics collaborations include Cast The First Stone, Gringo Trails, The Memory of Fish, Torah and Trash and Migration, and features Never Open The Door, and Excuse Me for Living. Before moving to USA, Begoña lived in Buenos Aires where she worked as an art director for TV, Film, and music videos.
RYAN PURCELL
Cinematographer
Ryan Purcell is a Director of Photography with extensive experience shooting narrative, documentary and commercial work. His work has taken him to locations around the world, from the temples of Indonesia, to the beaches of Madiera; from the scrubby bush of Australia to the cozy pubs of Scotland.
His love of fine lighting, lyrical style, and clear focus on content and story helps elevate the projects he works on. Early in his career, he worked under, and learned from such acclaimed cinematographers as Haskell Wexler and Sven Nyquist.
He was recently awarded Best Feature Film Cinematography for “The Stairs” from the European Cinematography Awards. Ryan is an avid reader who spent his youth living in Holland and Germany and traveling extensively with his family across Europe, which left him with a love of travel and a keen interest in people and their stories.
Advisors
Dr. MIR M. ALI, author of Art of the Skyscraper: The Genius of Fazlur Khan
Dr. Mir M. Ali is a Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a long-time Chairman of the Structures Division of the School of Architecture. He has written extensively on structural engineering, architecture, tall buildings and cities. As a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Dr. Ali has greatly contributed to the research, innovation and growth of skyscraper design. He was a United Nations TOKTEN Fellow in 1989 and a Fulbright Specialist Scholar in 2008. Dr. Ali has varied interests including history, culture, and other aspects of life and living. His most recent book is his memoir titled The Bridge: Joining East-West Nations and Cultures while Treading Life’s Difficult Path.
MJ ISAKSON, director of Down the Fence, (Amazon Prime, Netflix)
MJ Isakson is a filmmaker and content strategist from the Pacific Northwest. She has worked as a content consultant for Fortune 500 tech companies for over a decade and works as content strategist and coach for filmmakers, influencers, and individuals and companies in the equestrian industry. Her award-winning first documentary film ‘Down the Fence,’ was released in 2017. It streamed on Netflix and is currently available on Amazon.