MARIA “BEAH” TRAVIS
Writer/Director
Beah grew up in Sheboygan County, WI and attended UW-Madison, where she spent a year abroad in Prague and then moved to New York City to pursue a career in film and television. She worked for four seasons on the Emmy award winning series A Crime to Remember as a Casting Coordinator, Associate Producer, Story Producer, and Writer. Beah also worked as an Associate Producer for Discovery ID’s Diabolical and as a Researcher for Amazon’s The New Yorker Presents.
Beah was a Second Second Assistant Director for the AMC series Making of the Mob and has been a Second Assistant Director for several independent feature films including the award winning film AWOL. Her full list of credits can be found on her IMDb page.
In 2017, Beah started writing the script for BELLADONNA, which is set in her hometown in Wisconsin, and has spent the last few years developing the production plan and fundraising for the film, which she plans to direct. Beah recently finished directing the short film Way Upstate, which she developed and produced in collaboration with Director of Photography Justin Newhouse. Way Upstate will premiere at the 2021 Wisconsin Film Festival.
Beah moved back to the Sheboygan area in January 2021 to continue fundraising and to begin pre-production on BELLADONNA. She hopes to be able to film as soon as Spring 2022. She is also currently participating in UCLA’s Professional Screenwriting Program.
JACKIE FILER
Producer
Jackie is a Producer in New York City and the owner of Small Victories Productions. She has been a Line Producer and Production Manager on numerous independent films and television series including ABC’s I, Witness and Viola Davis’ documentary series The Last Defense. She also worked as a Field Producer for Showtime’s The Circus. Her most recent projects have been producing the feature films, First One In starring Kat Foster and Sometime Other than Now starring Donal Logue and Kate Walsh.
J.J. BURKART
Producer
J.J. got his undergraduate Journalism degree from the University of Oregon where he produced and directed an Emmy-winning documentary film for Oregon Public Television. He spent three years as a reporter/announcer for public radio in Oregon and Alaska before returning to Wisconsin to start SilverWater Productions with locations in Plymouth and Milwaukee. For 15 years, JJ has been co-owner of SilverWater Productions and served as producer, director, editor, and voice talent on hundreds of productions for businesses and non-profits.
HANNAH KAISER
Associate Producer
Hannah grew up in Plymouth, Wisconsin and obtained a degree in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Hannah is a marketing professional in Sheboygan, Wisconsin with an established background in project management and event planning. She is excited to bring her talents to the Belladonna Film Project for both her passion for the arts and her support of the community.
JUSTIN NEWHOUSE
Director of Photography
Justin started working on a film set when he was nineteen years old where his job in the camera department was to load the 35 mm film. He is now a Union 52 Electric member in New York City.
Justin has worked as a Gaffer since 2011 on feature films and commercials in New York City and Los Angeles. He has gaffed ten feature films, and his commercial work includes the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Go Robot” music video and commercials for companies such as Crest, Chipotle, CitiBank, Match.com, and Spotify.
Justin is also a Camera Operator and the Director of Photography for several short films. He is a skilled photographer and enjoys shooting 35 mm film photography in his spare time.
Justin recently finished developing and shooting the short film Way Upstate, which is currently being submitted to festivals.
You can see examples of his work on his website www.justinnewhouse.com and his film credits on his IMDb page.
LISA FRIES
Costume Designer
Lisa is a New York based Costume Designer. Her credits as Costume Designer include the Emmy award winning A Crime To Remember and the new hit show I, Witness. Her Assistant CD credits include Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (Zac Efron, John Malkovich, Lily Collins), HBO’s High Maintenance, Back in the Day (starring Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover) and Lucky N#mber (starring Method Man, Tom Pelphrey, Natalie Hall). In addition to film and television, Lisa has also done various commercial work including promos for Discovery and Spike TV.
She is also a wardrobe supervisor and trained tailor that has worked on various television productions including CBS’s Kevin Can Wait (starring Kevin James), NBC’s Believe (starring Kyle MacLachlan) and Cartoon Network’s The Heart She Holler (starring Patton Oswalt, Amy Sedaris, David Cross). Lisa previously worked as a costume designer and tailor in theatre and opera.