Our Home is Not of This World
Director Russ Finkelstein, Producers Phil Pinto and Manuel F Contreras
Logline
In a rural south Texas medical examiner’s office, a Jewish physician works with a tiny team to identify the growing number of anonymous migrants who perish crossing the U.S.- Mexico border. With cases surging, her office is stretched beyond capacity. Will she be able to retire after decades of service if no one is willing to replace her?
Phase of Support: Production
Russ Finkelstein - Director
Russ Finkelstein was born and raised in San Diego, California. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, he lived and worked in South America for more than 8 years, producing a number of documentaries for Al Jazeera English on a range of social and political issues in Argentina and Colombia. He’s since worked as a producer for NBC, CBS, Vice News, Fusion Network and CNN. In 2018, his first feature length documentary, Looking for Love, premiered at the American Documentary Film Festival. Russ currently works as a producer for CNN.
Manuel F Contreras - Producer
Manuel F Contreras was born in Bogota, Colombia. He and Russ made 3 commissioned, half-hour films for Al Jazeera’s Witness there and in Argentina. Manuel has directed two feature length films: Boys of Buenaventura (2016) and The Living And The Dead (2021). He is an alumnus of the DocNomads Joint Masters Degree and the DLA program of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. Now based in Budapest, he works as a university film lecturer and head of programming of the Budapest International Film Festival.
Phil Pinto - Producer
Phil Pinto is a Director and Producer living and working in New York. As a Director, he’s created commercial and branded content for clients such as Google, Adidas, Dior, Human Rights Watch, and The New York Times. As a Producer, his most recent documentary, Lakota Nation vs. United States (Dir. Jesse Short Bull & Laura Tomaselli), premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and will be released by IFC Films in the summer of 2023. It was the recipient of a fellowship from the Sundance Documentary Fund. Previously, he served as Co-Producer on the acclaimed MLK/FBI (Dir. Sam Pollard, 2020), which received the Critics Choice Award for Best Historical Documentary as well as IDA Award and Cinema Eye Award nominations. It was also included in the 2021 Oscar shortlist. His films have been screened at Telluride, Toronto, Tribeca, SXSW, the New York Film Festival, and other prestigious venues.
Project logline and bios courtesy of the grantees.