Brian
Ekdale

Brian completed an award-winning documentary while at NIU entitled 10 Days in Malawai about his trips to Africa to work in an aids mission. He is currently pursuing a PhD at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Marcus
Leshock

Marcus is currently working at CLTV in Oakbrook where he is a Reporter/Associate Producer for CLTV’s “metromix”.

David
Chaytor

Filmmaker and NIU Alumni, Chaytor was featured in the July 13 Washington Post for his work with African proverbs. Chaytor's documentary, "Rhythm, Rhyme and Life: Spoken Word and Oral Tradition," focuses on the similarities between African and African American writers. For his Master's Thesis at NIU, he produced the film, "From the African Drum," about the African students' fight to change the western media's portrayal of their continent.

(Reported in Northern Today, August 28, 2000)

The Washington Post

Dan Zimny, Phil Dalton, Michael Lahey

An NIU documentary originally produced in Communication Professor Jeffrey Chown's film class won top honors at the Arizona International Film Festival. Lahey, Zimny and Dalton created "Tugs Untied," an account of the annual tug-of-war between fraternities in 1996. Zimny and Dalton have both recently worked as Instructors in the Communication Department. Lahey is currently a producer with the Jerry Lewis Telethon in Arizona. "The filmmakers really captured the frenzy that tugs produce each spring," said Chown.

(Reported in Northern Today, August 28, 2000)

Nandini
Sikand

Nandini Sikand's film Don't Fence Me In won the Best Super 8mm Award at the Philadelphia International Film Festival. The film was also exhibited at the Chingari Film Festival at the University of Wisconsin and is available through Women Make Movies.

Nandini is a graduate of the Department of Communication's
M. A. program.

Denis
Mueller

Denis Mueller's project, a film biography of Howard Zinn entitled You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train was completed in 2004 and has been widely screened. It is distributed by First Run Features.

Denis was also a producer/director of several episodes of the MPI Home Video Series "Focus on the Twentieth Century" which is being sold to educational institutions across the United States.

Denis is currrently a doctoral student at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Paul
Butler

Paul Butler (MA 2003) thesis documentary on Paul Radar won Best Documentary at the Fourth annual WYSIWYG Christian Film Festival in San Francisco, October 2003.

Darryl
Silver

Darryl Silver (BA 1989) is producer of ESPN'S new show "Bound for Glory" which premiered in September 2005. His company is The Idea Factory. He has worked as a producer on the NBS's "Apprentice" and CBS's "Survivor."

Bill
Weinman

Bill Weinman (BA 1984) worked as a sound editor and assistant on over thirty-five feature films including, The Fugitive, The Shawshank Redemption, What’s Love Got to do With It, and Sister Act2.

Bill’s credits as a picture editor include, "Vh1 Behind the Music", "Fox Sports’ Beyond the Glory", and "Nash Bridges".

He is the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Wyland’s World, a 3D/CGI animated series based on the characters and artwork of marine artist Wyland.

Kevin
Mukherji

Kevin Mukherji (MA 1994) is the director of American Storytellers, a 90 minute documentary on John McNaughton, Harold Ramis, John Sayles and Forest Whitaker. Kevin's production company is Magnum Pictures and is located in L.A.

To view clips and information about recent student documentary work, please visit:

http://www.comm.niu.edu/faculty/vazquez/student_projects.html