Dean Hamer

Dean Hamer is an Emmy Award winning filmmaker, New York Times Book of the Year author, and NIH scientist emeritus with a long history in communicating complex and controversial ideas to diverse publics. He formed Qwaves with partner Joe Wilson to produce insightful and provocative documentaries about often overlooked social issues. Their films have been supported by Sundance, the Ford Foundation, ITVS and Pacific Islanders in Communications, screened and won awards at film festivals across the world including Tribeca, Berlin and Toronto, and used as outreach and educational tools by a wide range of community and educational organizations.

Out in the Silence, the first feature film from Qwaves, premiered at Lincoln Center and became a highly visible model for the use of film for social activism. In 2011, Hamer and Wilson moved to the north shore of O'ahu, Hawai'i to begin work on a series of films about Pacific Islander issues and voices. Their features Kumu Hina and Leitis in Waiting, and the accompanying shorts A Place in the Middle and Lady Eva, have opened the eyes of the world to the lessons to be learned from Polynesia's unique approach to gender and inclusion. Kapaemahu, based on a traditional story of four remarkable dual male and female-spirited Tahitians who brought the healing arts to Hawai’i, expanded the reach of this effort through an Oscar-contending animated short film, nationally broadcast PBS documentary, Penguin-Random House childrenʻs book, and an immersive exhibition at the Bishop Museum.

In addition to his film work, Hamer is the author of several best selling nonfiction books including The Science of Desire and The God Gene, a consultant for the BBC and Discovery channels, and a sought-after lecturer and guest on TV documentaries and news shows including Nightline and Oprah.

Email: Deanhamer@aol.com

HINALEIMOANA WONG-KALU

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu is a Native Hawaiian teacher, cultural practitioner and filmmaker who uses digital media to protect and perpetuate indigenous languages and traditions. She began her film work as a protagonist and educational advisor for the award winning films Kumu Hina and A Place in the Middle, and received a National Education Association Human Rights Award, Native Hawaiian Educator of the year and White House Champion of Change Award for the groundbreaking impact campaigns associated with those films. Continuing her journey to the other side of the lens, Kumu Hina produced the PBS/ARTE feature documentary Leitis in Waiting and award-winning short Lady Eva about her transgender sisters in the Kingdom of Tonga. Hina is also a transgender health advocate, burial council chair, candidate for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and composer of “Ku Haaheo E Kuu Hawaii,” the internationally-known anthem for the protection of Mauna Kea which was honored as Hawaiian Song of the Year in the 2020 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, known as the Hawaiian Grammys.

Email: KumuHina@yahoo.com

DAN GOLDEN

Dan Golden is an Oscar nominated sound and visual designer living in the Boston area. He has collaborated with Daniel Sousa as composer and sound designer for several animated short films inclduing Feral , which premiered at Sundance and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 2014 Academy Awards. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Golden has also worked as a designer for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Olive Jar Studios, Comedy Central and many other studios, and his paintings have been shown throughout New England.

JUDITH LIGHT

Judith Light is a multiple Tony and Emmy award-winning actress, producer, and advocate. She is known for her extensive body of television, film, and stage work, for which she recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Currently seen in HBO Max’s Julia, STARZ’s Shining Vale, and the new Searchlight Pictures feature The Menu, Light is beloved for the pivotal roles she has portrayed in work that has helped to advance LGBTQ visibility and acceptance including The Ryan White Story, Save Me, The Politician, and Transparent - Amazon Prime’s blockbuster series that helped bring mainstream attention to the transgender community and for which she received a Golden Globe and multiple Emmy and Critics’ Choice nomination

Joe Wilson

Joe Wilson is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and human rights advocate whose work with Dean Hamer, his partner in life and film-activism, explores oppression and empowerment among society's most vulnerable communities.

Wilson & Hamer's 2010 PBS film Out in the Silence, a Sundance Documentary Fund grantee, focused on the challenges of LGBT people in rural and small town America and became the centerpiece of a multi-year national campaign to open dialogue and build bridges across socio-political divides. These efforts were highlighted in impact reports by the Center for Social Media at American University and The Fledgling Fund.

Their 2014 PBS films Kumu Hina and A Place in the Middle brought Hawaiian cultural perspectives to the fore in national and international conversations on issues of gender diversity and inclusion. Kumu Hina was supported by Pacific Islanders in Communications and ITVS, won the Audience Award for its national PBS broadcast on Independent Lens, and received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary. A Place in the Middle premiered at the Berlinale and won awards at numerous children's festivals around the world. The film and educational toolkit, available to all for free, are at the center of a strength-based school-focused educational campaign.

In 2018, Wilson & Hamer released Leitis in Waiting and Lady Eva, a documentary feature and short about the conservative south Pacific Kingdom of Tonga's evolving approach to gender fluidity.

Their most recent film, the animated short Kapaemahu, premiered in the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, won an unprecedented five Oscar-qualifying jury awards in international festivals, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2021.

Previously, Wilson served as Director of the Human Rights and Global Security Program at Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, D.C. and Producer of Pacifica National Radio's public affairs program Democracy Now. He received a B.A. in Sociology and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the West African nation of Mali.

Email: QwavesJoe@yahoo.com

DANIEL SOUSA

Daniel Sousa is an Academy Award-nominated animation director who uses the themes embedded in myths and legends to examine archetypes of human nature. Born on Cape Verde, he approaches filmmaking from a painter’s perspective, focusing on the fragility of fleeting moments, memories and perceptions. His short films include Feral, which was supported by a Creative Capital Foundation grant and premiered at Sundance, and Fable, which won awards at festivals around the world. He recently completed animating several native legends for the four-part PBS special Native America, which weaves history and science with living indigenous traditions. Sousa has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, Harvard University, The Museum School, The Art Institute of Boston and the Animation Workshop in Denmark.

Website: https://www.danielsousa.com

DANIEL KARSLAKE

Daniel Karslake is an award-winning director and producer whose work deals with the intersection between spirituality and social justice issues.  His feature docuemntary For The Bible Tells Me So premiered at Sundance, was short-listed for an Academy Award, and described by Entertainment Weekly magazine as “one of five documentaries that has changed the world.” His most recent film For They Know Not What They Do, about four families of faith who discover they have a gay or trans child, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won seven audience awards and three jury prizes in festivals around the world. He is currently executive producing The Radicalk, a feature chronicling the life and ministry of the world’s first openly gay imam in Islam, and 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture., an exploration of how the word “homosexual” first came to appear in the Bible in the year 1946. Previously, Karslake was a producer and director of In The Life, the groundbreaking LGBTQ newsmagazine which aired on PBS in over 140 markets across the nation.