Our Team

a group of award-winning santa barbara filmmakers have come together to tell this story with the care it deserveS.

NICOLE NOREN
DIRECTOR & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Nicole Noren is a director, producer and multi-platform journalist who made more than 50 investigative reports and short documentaries for ESPN, and left in 2024 to pursue her own film projects. A recipient of six Emmys, two Edward R. Murrow Awards and a Peabody, Noren has reported extensively on education, health and social issues.

Noren’s 2023 debut feature-length investigative documentary, LISTEN has been viewed by over six million people on YouTube, was honored with three national reporting awards and is used by law enforcement officials and schools across the country as a training tool. Her most recent film, MISSING AT SEA premiered at the Hot Springs Doc Film Festival in October and is now streaming on Nat Geo YouTube.

A first-generation college graduate, Noren has spent her career amplifying underrepresented voices and producing high impact accountability journalism that effects change and raises awareness on crucial topics. https://www.nicolenoren.com/about

BIMARIAN FILMS
PRODUCtion team

Bimarian Films is an award-winning, full-service film production company founded in 2016 by Keith Malloy, Andrew Schoneberger and Brett Williams. Based in Southern California, the experienced team has filmed around the world, and shown around the world at film festivals and streamed on Netflix. 

The production team has worked with a diverse group of companies including Red Bull, Patagonia, Yeti and 805 Beer. https://www.bimarianfilms.co/about

TAMMY LEITNER
INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER

Tamara Leitner is a Peabody, Murrow and twelve-time Emmy Award–winning broadcast and print investigative journalist. She worked as a network correspondent, reporting on the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and MSNBC. Before joining NBC News, Leitner worked as an investigative journalist in New York City, Chicago, and Phoenix.

Leitner's debut investigative documentary, Toxic Secrets, exposed how the US government forced soldiers to bury Agent Orange in South Korea, resulting in numerous illnesses and deaths. The film won a Peabody Award and prompted a multi-million dollar international investigation.

Her 2023 investigative book, Don’t Say a Thing, is an international bestseller, a Wall Street Journal bestseller and on five Amazon #1 Bestseller lists. Leitner is an endurance athlete and was on Season 4 of the CBS reality TV show Survivor.

SORAYA SIMI
CONSULTING PRODUCER

Soraya Simi is a Director, Producer, and Writer. A graduate from USC's film school, Soraya has directed multiple award-winning documentary films and produced high-level, international branded content and commercials. She is the founder of the local Central Coast film organization 805 FILM COLLECTIVE.

Her most recent film credits include Director and Producer for her first feature, ROW OF LIFE, following the harrowing story of Paralympic ocean-rower Angela Madsen - Executive Produced by SUE BIRD and TIME STUDIOS. She is EP and Co-Director for a true crime television series about a wrongful conviction, Executive Produced by John Legend.

Soraya believes wholeheartedly in the profound and necessary capacity for stories to heal hearts, open minds, and immortalize lessons. She gravitates toward narratives that delve into resilience, our human relationship to nature, and achievement against all odds. https://sorayasimi.com/about

ANDREW ScHONEBERGER
CINEMATOGRAPHER

Andrew Schoneberger is a filmmaker and photographer with a degree in studio art from UC Santa Barbara. After graduating in 2005, he spent most of the remaining decade playing professional water polo around the world, but the desire to pursue a more creative life called him home to Santa Barbara, California, where he and director Keith Malloy founded and operate Bimarian Films.

He was a cinematographer and editor on the award-winning Patagonia documentary Fishpeople (2016 on Netflix). He was the director of photography of the independent music documentary Everything for All Reasons (2019) as well as the award-winning YETI documentaries Beyond Sunset (2022) and Let Me Live (2023). For the past two years he has been director of photography and story editor on the Red Bull series Life of Kai (seasons 3 and 4). He has directed films for Yeti, Red Wing and 805 Beer.

mark romanov
wildlife CInematographer

Mark Romanov is photographer and filmmaker, specializing in underwater and aerial cinematography for natural history programs. With clients including National Geographic, Disney, BBC, PBS and Discovery, Mark has an emphasis on documentary, wildlife and adventure filmmaking for international audiences.

He earned his BS degree in Ecology and Evolution from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he also published research in a peer reviewed academic journal. He has filmed television programs in 20+ countries and is an avid diver.24/

Alison Learned-Wolf has worked on films for 28 years in New York, Seattle, New Zealand, India and Los Angeles. Her specialty is feature-length films and also specializes as a VFX editor helping to bring to the screen feature films such as Ant Man, The Polar Express, The Hobbit, Monster House, Star Trek, TinTin, Beowulf and Witches. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0495224/

INZA BAMBA
COMPOSER

Inza Bamba is an Emmy winning composer for Film, TV, and Theatre. He composed and performed the original score for "Betsy & Irv", which won the 2023 Sports Emmy in Long Feature and was nominated for Best Original Score - Short Form Film (Documentary) in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA).


Originally from the Ivory Coast, Inza has a passion for creating music that moves people as much as it moves him. He is finishing a Retro Synth-wave EP due out in 2024, and in 2022 he began his off Broadway Debut as Composer for the play "Her Portmanteau". https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3589683