Vlada Knowlton  - Director, Writer, Producer, Editor

Vlada is an award-winning filmmaker based in Seattle. Her debut documentary feature, Having It All, was selected by Washington's PBS station, KCTS9, as the anchor program for its “Women Who Inspire” series in August, 2015, and went on to also be broadcast by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Her next feature documentary, "The Most Dangerous Year" (2019), premiered at the 2018 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), receiving a runner-up award for Best Documentary, and won the Best Social Issue Documentary award at the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival. It earned the top listing in Common Sense Media’s 2019 “Best LGBTQ Movies for Teens” list, appeared on several critics’ “Best of 2019” lists, and received a Congressional screening in Washington D.C., sponsored by the U.S. Congressional Progressive and LGBTQ Equality Caucuses. Her latest narrative film project, “Well Actually” (2022), has been showing in film festivals around the country. Vlada holds a doctorate in Cognitive Science from Brown University and worked at Microsoft prior to her filmmaking career.

Lulu Gargiulo - Director of Photography, Producer

Lulu is an award-winning cinematographer and filmmaker. She has shot dozens of commercials, music videos and documentaries, including Children’s Research Institute; the PBS drama, The Year of My Japanese Cousin; the KCTS/PBS production, When Seattle Invented the Future: The Story of the 1962 Word’s Fair; the PBS mini-series, The Meaning of Food and the Emmy winning PBS short, The Crossing Guard.  In addition to shooting, Lulu also produced the feature length documentary 47 Views of Leslie Laskey, which aired on the KCTS/PBS series Reel NW, several short docs for the Seattle Channels-Art Zone and the documentary, Howdy Pardner-Tales of the Cowboy Hat.

Eric Frith - Consulting Editor

Eric creates films that have received numerous awards and been acquired for domestic and international distribution by Miramax, Dream Entertainment, Cinema Management Group, Off the Fence, Independent Lens, and American Masters PBS. Eric edited and co-wrote The Breach which premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh 2014 where it won Best International Feature Documentary. He edited Eden (2012), which won the Audience Award at SXSW. He co-edited Half Life, starring Tom Sizemore, Sarah Habel and Dominic Monaghan, due to release 2016. He edited other works including Finding Hillywood (2013), and A Lot Like You (2011) which premiered at SIFF and screened at festivals around the world, winning 6 Best Doc awards, and The Heart of the Game (2005) which premiered at TIFF, was distributed by Miramax.

Dawn Norton - Animator and Motion Graphic Designer

Dawn is an award-winning animator and motion graphic designer who brings her keen sense of artistry, theatricality and movement to projects ranging from television shows to documentary films; from video games to corporate events; from apps to commercials. Clients include corporate (Hasbro, Nike, T-Mobile, AT&T), tech (Microsoft, Skype, Amazon), independent (Wizards Play Network), academic (UW, Stanford University), nonprofit (The Gates Foundation), and public broadcasting. Beyond technical credibility in motion graphics and animation with degrees in theatre, art, and animation art & design, her clients cite her ability to instill emotion and humanity into her characters, giving them personality and a story. When not designing, you can find her taking in the latest in musical theatre or blazing new trails while training for her next marathon.

Chadd Knowlton - Supervising Sound Editor, Score Composer

Chadd is a composer, musician and sound editor. Prior to The Most Dangerous Year, he wrote the musical score and edited the sound for the feature documentary Having It All, which was broadcast by Washington's KCTS network and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Chadd also spent many years at Microsoft where he was a Corporate Vice President and a technologist best known for innovations in digital media.

Aidan Key - Associate Producer

Aidan is the founder of Gender Diversity, dedicated to providing support and educational services with respect to transgender and gender-diverse children. He leads the largest network of parent support groups in the nation and produces the annual international Gender Odyssey conference. Key is the co-author of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (Oxford University Press) and Gender Cognition in Transgender Children (Psychological Science). The Greater Seattle Business Association recently honored Key as the Humanitarian of the Year (2016). He has often been featured in the national media, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, Al Jazeera America, Larry King Live and Fresh Air with Terry Gross.