Coexist-Documentary Film Outreach Project

Filmmaking Team

Contact Us:
coexistdocumentary@gmail.com

Filmmaking Team

Adam Mazo is the Executive Producer and Director of Coexist. His work has been featured at film festivals, international conferences, universities, and schools around the world. Beginning in 2006 he spent time in Rwanda researching and shooting video around the country investigating the country’s reconciliation efforts. For the last decade he has worked as a television news journalist. He has traveled through more than 20 countries around the world. He was trained at the University of Florida where he earned a B.S. in television production. He came to Boston, which he now calls home, via Minnesota, Florida, and Paris.

Dr. Mishy Lesser is the Learning Director for Coexist. She conceived and developed the four-lesson Coexist Teacher’s Guide, which helps educators and youth workers use the film in impactful ways. Through curriculum design, training, and Circle Keeping, she helps youth-focused organizations build their capacity for learning, change, and meaningful programming.  Her radio documentaries have been featured on WBUR (Boston) and PRI/BBC’s “The World.” Mishy earned a doctorate in Education from the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and received training at the Couples and Family Center at Harvard Medical School. She has done extensive human rights work in Latin America. Mishy is a former Fulbright Scholar to Ecuador, and worked with urban and rural communities in Latin America for more than twelve years. Her new project aims to create an interactive new media curriculum to teach U.S. high school students about the intersection between human rights and U.S. foreign policy in Latin America during the Cold War.

Robert Koenig is a Producer for Coexist. Koenig is an Emmy Award nominated producer and he is the Director of the documentary film, RETURNED: Child Soldiers of Nepal’s Maoist Army. Koenig has produced numerous documentaries focusing on human rights and child advocacy in Africa, Asia, and North America. He is the President of Adventure Production Pictures, LLC based in Baltimore, Maryland. Koenig also served as Field Producer during production of Coexist in Rwanda and served as the Story Consultant while the documentary was in post-production.

Scott Ippolito is the Director of Photography. An award winning documentary cinematographer, his most recent work is on “RETURNED: Child Soldiers of Nepal’s Maoist Army”. He performed the same duties on Coexist.

Ippolito has an extensive background in photography, cinematography and videography; he has worked on several feature films and documentaries in Asia and North America. Ippolito is a graduate of Emory University where he pursued his love of photography and writing. Ippolito’s freelance commercial work has won him several ADDY awards over the last decade and his short film “Moved” won Best Film at the 2004 International 48 Hour Film Festival.

Suzanne Tzuanos is U.S. Producer of Coexist. She has worked in journalism for more than 9 years. Suzanne earned her B.S. in television news at The University of Florida and is currently at Florida A&M University’s College of law, specializing in Arbitration & Mediation.

Adam Payne is the musical director and a singer/songwriter/producer local to the Boston area. As a performing arist, he has received numerous acclaim for his unique blend of musical endeavors. He has collaborated with numerous artists in the music industry from California to Western Africa. Payne currently works at Bentley University where he is the Director of Arts and Lectures in Student Activities. He also teaches in the Management Department. Adam earned his graduate degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from UNC-Charlotte, and his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Statistics from the University of Central Florida.

Alicia Carlson is a freelance photographer for Coexist. She’s an assistant organizer for the Boston Photography Center, coordinating public relations and marketing efforts. Alicia earned her B.S. in broadcast journalism from Emerson College and works as an associate director for WHDH-TV.

Read blogs from production in Rwanda in our Blog Archive.