Meet Our Main Crew
Joerg Schodl
Co-producer, Cinematographer
Born in Vienna, Austria and came to the United States as a film student. He received his Undergraduate Degree in Film & Television Production from Columbia College Chicago and his MFA in Cinematography from the prestigious American Film Institute. Following his graduation Joerg worked in the high-speed film industry where he was involved in numerous feature film and commercial productions.
In 2007 Joerg began teaching film production at Cal State Northridge and he then moved on to teaching full time at the Savannah College of Art and Design the following year. As a teacher Joerg has developed and taught curricula for specialty courses involving, 360° Filmmaking, Stereoscopic filmmaking, Extended Reality (XR) Production, Photogrammetry, and Unreal Engine Cinematography.
Joerg has also spearheaded multiple productions in Hong Kong and Macao. His work has screened at numerous national and international film festivals as well as on HBO and he continues to photograph and direct short and feature productions while teaching full time in the classroom and online.
Gustavo Hernández Pérez
Writer, Producer and Director
As Filmmaker, Gustavo has won over 10 international film festivals. Growing up within the surreal streets of Caracas, he became a Media communicator at Central University of Venezuela (UCV). His degree project held in conjunction with colleague Yves Briceño Cipollina, consisted on the film adaptation of novel "Dead Houses", which ended up winning the Carlos Eduardo Frías Fund and was nominated for Best Story for TV and Film at the 6th International Latino Film Festival of Los Angeles.
After completing local basic studies in Cotrain and The Caracas Film & TV School, Gustavo is selected to do a MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute (AFI) in California, where he received the AFI Franklin J. Schaffner Fellowship Award for Best Director of the year and The Directors Guild of America (DGA) honored him with the award of “Best Latino Director of the Year” for his thesis film "The Mexican Dream" , also recognized in several international festivals, was national finalist at the 30th Student Academy Awards, invited to Cannes, Sundance, and distributed in HBO for two years.
"Presumption of Death" represents his first feature film as Director.
Howard "Howie" Brande
1st Assistant Director
Howie is a filmmaker currently based out of Miami, FL but originally hailing from the New York City metropolitan area. In 2020 after spending nearly 15 years working in and around the federal government, he decided to make a career transition to his true passion: Film. He has written, produced and directed multiple 48 Hour Film Projects as well as shorts. His background as a project manager in the areas of strategic communications, public relations, marketing and information technology has provided him with the creative, organizational and management talents needed to be an effective Assistant Director.
Also United States Marine Corps Veteran, he is currently the President and Executive Producer at Brain Bucket Productions, LLC where in addition to developing their in-house projects, they provide consulting and advisement for film and television productions to ensure that Veterans and the military are more accurately portrayed.
Praboo T. Ariva
DIT / Editor
Praboo is a Malaysian filmmaker currently pursuing editing with the American Film Institute. He believes that the core of Filmmaking is about being human and grounds his skills in the belief in the human experience when watching a film.
His first feature, "Kid", won several awards and nominations at film festivals around the world, including an honorary mention for Best Editing. With his experience from "Kid" and other short films edited, he is excited to experiment with his ideas with this upcoming feature, "Presumption of Death (POD)".
León Cabezal
Sound Mixer
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, graduated from the Technological Institute of Venezuela, in the year 2000 he began his career as a sound engineer specialized in audiovisuals, which led him to participate in different audiovisual projects through many years.
In 2016 he settles down in the city of Miami where he has practiced his profession thanks to the support of producers and directors who have recognized his work, if there is something he can highlight is that you never stop learning from directors and creators content of this time, "I love the innovation and passion of this world of cinema which we want to project".
Mike Maloney
Makeup Department Head
Mike got its start when he joined a haunted house in his local neighborhood. "I was instantly obsessed with prop design, set design, makeup, fabrication, and everything surrounding the haunted house industry".
When he was about 19 years old, he finally got the position of his dreams, a Makeup department head. "This put me in a great situation to grow as an artist, create my heart's content, and teach. I taught Practical Effects, Airbrushing, Prop design, and Set design".
He has been professionally working as a Makeup artist since 2018.
Dexter Jiang
Camera Assistant
Born in China, Dexter is currently doing his thesis film for undergraduate studies at Savannah College Art & Design.