Bios
Emily Mode
RADIFY Creator/ Writer/ Illustrator
Emily Mode is a New York-based artist and graphic novelist. Her work investigates the complex and subtle intersections between medical practice and access, gender, and sexuality. She has shown video work at the Tate Modern, Melbourne Museum, Artists Space and Roebling Hall Art Gallery and at international festivals including the Kassel Documentary Film Festival in Germany, AbilityFest in India, Vo’Art/InArte in Portugal, and the Philadelphia Medical Film Symposium. Mode won a Juror’s Choice 1st prize at the Black Maria Film Festival and has been awarded grants from The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, and received an artist residency at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). She is currently working on the graphic novel entitled RADIFY. www.emilymode.info
Irene Kuzemko
RADIFY Face Model for Cadence
Irene Kuzemko is an intersex activist from Russia and Ukraine. She’s a co-founder of Intersex Russia/OII Russia, secretary of OII Europe and a member of interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth. https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/this-woman-only-discovered-she-was-intersex-after-watching
Gil Rodriguez
RADIFY Face Model for Alexandra
Gil Rodriguez is a NYC based queer Meisner trained actor. She choreographs and performs with movement ensembles, writes scripts and screenplays, and is a skilled singer and instrumentalist. Gil is “committed to being a positive creative force in the world.”
Caspar Stracke
RADIFY Face Model for Roam Sparks
Caspar Stracke is a filmmaker, visual artist and curator from Germany, living and working in New York City (since 1993) and Berlin (since 2017). His work is situated around the politics of architecture and urbanism, media archaeology and cinema. His films and installation work have been shown in museums and art institutions such as MoMA, The Whitney, New Museum, PS1, Anthology Film Archives, Yerba Buena Art Center, The Hammer Museum, the ZKM, Karlsruhe, ICC Tokyo, Museo Tamayo, Mexico among many others. From 2012 – 2017 Caspar Stracke taught as a professor for ContemporaryArt and Moving Image at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, (Kuva) in Helsinki. In 2014 Stracke organized at Kuva the symposium “The AfterGodard” on conceptual art practices influenced by the work of Jean-Luc Godard, in 2015 “Unravelling Documentarism” on the shifting field of contemporary Art Documentary. Stracke has published articles on filmmakers such as Bruce Conner, Harun Farocki, Jeanne Finlay, Gabor Csazary, Ladislav Galeta and othes. He is the editor of “Godard – Boomerang” an outcome of the 2014 symposium, and a forthcoming publication at Uniarts Helsinki, 2019.
Nina Pick
RADIFY Face Model for Sarah Sparks
Nina Pick is a writer and editor who is passionate about exploring questions at the intersection of spirituality, ecology, and depth psychology. An oral historian field fellow with the Yiddish Book Center, she also loves gathering stories about ancestry and identity. She is the author of two chapbooks, À Luz and Leaving the Lecture on Dance, and is the editor of The Gardener Says, a collection of quotes about gardening. She has also published widely in journals and anthologies. She holds masters degrees from Pacifica Graduate Institute and UC Berkeley and an ordination from the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. She grew up in Western Mass, spent a decade in Northern California, and is delighted to now live outside New York City with her partner and cat. www.ninapick.com
Hans Lindahl
RADIFY Consultant / Reader
Hans Lindahl is a queer intersex cartoonist and writer. Hans has been active in intersex advocacy and activism since 2015, speaking to doctors, lawyers, and state legislatures about intersex issues. Features include The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and Them. Hans previously served as Communications Director for interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, the only intersex-led U.S. law and policy organization. hanslindahl.com
Marissa Adams
RADIFY Letter to Cadence
Marissa recently graduated with a degree in psychology and is a youth member at interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth.
Tobias Blair
RADIFY Letter to Cadence
Tobias is a queer & intersex florist based in BC. He’s been involved in intersex activism since 2012. A founding member of AIC Youth (now interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth), he has been featured in The Interface Project. Tobias continues working towards taking on more advocacy work in his local and global communities.
Fatima Mahmud
RADIFY Letter to Cadence
Fatima is a recent graduate from UC Berkeley majoring in Environmental Science and is a youth member at interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth. Having lived in certain middle eastern countries for most of her life, she has firsthand experience of what it is like to live in secrecy amidst a severely intolerant and homophobic regime with little to no rights as an individual. She is passionate about issues related to the environment, gender, sexuality, social justice as well as being vocal about LGBTQIA+ awareness, rights, and issues. Most recently Fatima was the Director of International Logistics of a student-run NGO called Rural India Social and Health Improvement (RISHI), which focusses on implementing sustainable rural development work in India. Soon she will be heading to Canada to begin her masters at the Univerity of Toronto to pursue research in the environmental field, trying to tackle and find solutions to the issues of today’s everchanging world.
Mari Wrobi
RADIFY Letter to Cadence
Mari Wrobi is a queer, nonbinary & intersex advocate born and raised in Sacramento, California. They currently work full-time at the first and only LGBTQ+ inclusive shelter for youth (ages 18-24) experiencing homelessness in Sacramento. At the beginning of 2019, Mari became a youth member of the international organization, interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth—and their introduction into intersex advocacy started with lobbying for SB 201, a bill in California that would protect intersex bodily autonomy. With their “Intersex 101” educational workshop, they have travelled both the state and nation educating people on intersex existence, intersectionality, and experience. In their spare time, they can be found playing Magic the Gathering (and running an LGBTQ+ MTG group in Sacramento with their partner) and performing spoken word on queer resistance and resilience through art.
Rachel A. Ankeny
RADIFY Bioethics Consultant / Reader
Rachel A. Ankeny is an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar whose areas of expertise cross three fields: bioethics and science policy, the history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, and food studies. She is Professor of History and Philosophy and Deputy Dean Research in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Adelaide. Her research in bioethics examines ethical and policy issues in genetics, reproduction, women’s health, transplantation, and embryo and stem cell research, among other topics. She also has expertise and ongoing research on health and science policy, particularly regarding public engagement. She is formerly an IVF/assisted reproductive technology consumer, and proud mum of son conceived via anonymous donation when she was single.
Piotr Turlej
RADIFY DP/ Photographer
Piotr Turlej graduated from the University of Silesia (Poland) Film School in 2008 and works as a DP, Editor, and Filmmaker. Recently, Piotr moved to the US and started working with independent directors and in the advertising industry. He has participated in projects including: Time of Honor (Poland 2010), Kamchatka (Poland 2012), and The Irishman (USA 2018). He is a member of The Polish Filmmakers Association. www.piotrturlej.com
Stephen D. Holmgren
RADIFY Legal Services
Steve Holmgren is an Entertainment Attorney and Film Producer based in NY and CA – originally from MN. He specializes in independent film and television legal, providing services to projects from Development through Distribution. As a Producer, he has worked with numerous filmmakers including Adam and Zack Khalil (INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./it flies. falls./]), Matthew Porterfield (Putty Hill; I Used to be Darker), Marie Losier (The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye), Cory McAbee (Crazy & Thief), and John Gianvito (Far From Afghanistan feat. filmmakers Travis Wilkerson, Soon-Mi Yoo, Minda Martin and Jon Jost). He was the Founding Programmer at the documentary arts nonprofit UnionDocs, organizing hundreds of screenings and events from 2009-2014, and is currently the head of their Advisory Committee. More info: www.steadyorbits.com and www.uniondocs.org
Robert Seigel
RADIFY Legal Services
Robert Siegel has more than twenty years experience in the counseling and representation of directors, individual producers, production companies, writers, distribution companies and foreign sales agents concerning the development, financing, production, marketing, distribution and licensing of fiction and non-fiction projects. His practice also includes representing performing artists, music recording and publishing companies, talent management companies, book authors, playwrights and digital media content developers and providers. His clients’ projects have appeared theatrically and on network, syndicated, public and cable television and have earned Academy Award nominations, Emmy nominations and awards, Peabody awards and prizes at major film festivals.
To those who have consulted with me who wish and/or need to remain anonymous, THANK YOU for your invaluable feedback.
More to come.