The Filmmakers

Cecily Pingree (director/producer)

Cecily Pingree is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. She started her film work with Arts Engine in New York City, where she worked on various productions including, Arctic Son and Alvin Ailey: American Dance.

In 2009, Cecily co-founded Pull-Start Pictures with her brother-in-law, Jason Mann. Their first project, Meet Your Farmer, a series of short films about Maine farmers, aired on public television in Maine and at more than 50 screenings around the state. She has worked on projects for The New York Times, National Geographic and The Gates Foundation. Her solo work covers such varied topics as fishing and worm harvesting on the Maine coast, public health in Eastern Africa, and media consolidation across the US. BETTING THE FARM is her first feature.

Cecily lives 12 miles off the coast of Maine on a small island, where she keeps bees and chickens.

Jason Mann (director / producer)

Jason Mann has worked as a cinematographer, assistant editor, grip, sound recordist, and bartender. His credits include director of photography and co-producer of Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas), which aired nationally on Independent Lens in 2010, and assistant editor for the Discovery HD Theater series Sunrise Earth.

He is continually inspired by the work of other filmmakers, especially his brother Lindsay and his grandfather, director Delbert Mann. He lives in Maine with his wife, daughter, and cantankerous black lab.

Scott Burgess (editor)

Scott lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Prior to a short trip to Maine to work with Cecily and Jason on BETTING THE FARM, Scott edited films that have premiered at the Sundance, SXSW, IDFA, Silverdocs, and Toronto Film Festivals. ANPO, a Japanese film about artists’ reactions to the controversial renewal of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security and the continued US occupation of Japan, premiered in Toronto and was honored with a 4-month set of summer screenings at the Guggenheim Museum.

THROW DOWN YOUR HEART, a film about Bela Fleck’s journey to explore the roots of the banjo, won both an audience award at SXSW and Best Music Documentary at SilverDocs.

Dallas Brennan Rexer (consulting producer)

Dallas Brennan Rexer has been producing social-issue documentaries since 1998. She recently produced Christy Turlington Burns’ No Woman, No Cry, a feature documentary on maternal health filmed in Bangladesh, Tanzania, Guatemala, and the USA. Other credits include Camp Victory, Afghanistan, a public television documentary (ITVS) on the National Guard troops who are mentoring the fledgling Afghan National Army; Deadline, a documentary on Governor Ryan of Illinois and the death penalty; Arctic Son; and Election Day, a day-in-the-life-of election day in America.

Mary Lampson (consulting editor)

Mary Lampson is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker and editor. Lampson co edited the Academy Award–wining documentary HARLAN COUNTY, USA and acted as an editor on many other independently produced documentary features. She has worked with Emile de Antonio, Ricky Leacock, and D.A. Pennebaker.

Recent projects include: A LION IN THE HOUSE (Steven Bognar and Julia Reickert), RAIN IN A DRY LAND and WE STILL LIVE HERE (Anne Makepeace), TROUBLE THE WATER (Tia Lessin and Carl Deal), KIMJONGLILIA ( NC Heikin), CAMP VICTORY, AFGANISTAN (Carol Dysinger), ON COAL RIVER (Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood) and QUEEN OF VERSAILLES (Lauren Greenfield.)

She has been both a fellow and advisor at the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Editing and Story Lab.

Colin Gulley (composer)

Colin Gulley is a musician from Maine. He mostly plays banjo. 8 years ago he and two friends accidentally started an Indie Americana Rock band called Toughcats. They tour nationally and recently released their third studio album Woodenball. Colin’s favorite documentary film is Dead River Rough Cut about two trappers in the Maine woods. His favorite fossil is Pertica Quadrifaria.

Lindsay Mann (composer)

Lindsay Mann is a Director, Cinematographer, and Editor shooting shorts, commercials, and music videos in New York City since 2005. He has worked for The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and Vice Magazine. His cinematography has appeared at SXSW and the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker showcase at Cannes. His commercial work plays regularly on cable channels across the greater NYC area. Lindsay has shot Bruce Springsteen in Asbury Park, assisted Haskell Wexler, ASC on a feature, and ran film on Martin Scorsese’s documentary “Shine a Light” about The Rolling Stones. He studied Directing and Cinematography at Boston University.

Lindsay lives in Brooklyn with his wife, but their hearts reside in Maine.

Joseph Robert Nelson (composer)

An active songwriter and composer for films, solo work and performing bands for many years. Recent work includes music composition for documentary short and feature length films and songwriting/performance with the Maine based, nationally touring group Toughcats. Also has experience with location sound, mixing for film and recording/mixing music.