A Walk to Beautiful was produced by Engel Entertainment, the award-winning production company known for producing high-quality series and specials across a wide array of non-fiction genres. Its projects run the gamut from science and history to reality formats that they produced for the top names on television. Engel Entertainment was named to the 2007 RealScreen Global 100 - the magazine's annual list of the most exciting production companies working in non-fiction film and television.
For over 20 years, Engel Entertainment has brought excitement and originality into living rooms - and now, with A Walk to Beautiful, onto theatrical screens.
Winner of the International Documentary Association's Best Documentary award in 2007 (beating Oscar nominees Sicko and Taxi to the Dark Side), A Walk to Beautiful is Mary Olive's feature-length directorial debut. It was also winner of three Audience Awards for Best Documentary (San Francisco International Film Festival, the Starz Denver Film Festival, and the St. Louis International Film Festival) and Best Human Rights Documentary at the Docupolis Film Festival in Barcelona. For more than a decade, Mary Olive Smith has produced, directed and written prime-time documentaries for major television broadcasters including the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channels, The History Channel and PBS. Her work has taken her to more than 30 countries, and her travels to Ethiopia for the making of A Walk to Beautiful mark her fifth time filming in sub-Saharan Africa. Mary Olive joined Engel Entertainment in 1996 after an established career in public radio at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and has a Masters from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
As President of Engel Entertainment and Executive Producer of all of its projects, Steve is the guiding force behind the company's growth. Previously, he co-founded and managed Enter Entertainment's predecessor companies: Engel Brothers Media (1995) and Cineworks (1978). He is a member of the Writer's Guild of America and an experienced executive producer, director and writer. Steve graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in political science and earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Amy joined Engel Entertainment in 1997 after nearly 10 years with National Geographic Television, where she was nominated for two Emmys for research on the National Geographic Explorer series. Amy frequently shoots video in the field and is an experienced sound recordist. She graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A. in environmental economics. Amy is a certified scuba diver and conversant in German.
Allison joined Engel Entertainment in 2003 after working in development at Revolution Studios. Previously, Allison served as director of development at Chicagofilms, Bob Balaban's New York-based production company, where she worked on the Academy Award-winning film Gosford Park. Allison received a B.F.A. in drama from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Andrew's recent credits include Dark Yellow, a film starring Melora Walters (Magnolia) and John Hawkes (American Gangster, Deadwood), and Until the Light Takes Us, a feature documentary chronicling the history, ideology and aesthetic of Norwegian black metal music. He also edited the prime-time documentary series Family Bonds for HBO and the Emmy-nominated Frontier House for PBS and Channel 4 (UK). Born in England and now residing in New York City, Andrew has worked extensively in Europe and the USA. He specializes in long-form documentaries and drama. Andrew is currently editing Kiddie Ride, a feature film starring James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and Famke Janssen (X-Men, Nip/Tick).
Tony Hardmon is an award-winning cinematographer who specializes in filming verité documentaries. His credits include programs for HBO, PBS, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and MTV. He has collaborated on several films with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus. These credits include The Execution of Wanda Jean (HBO), Girlhood (TLC), and Juvies (A&E). Recently he photographed The Boys of Baraka (PBS), a documentary that received numerous awards including the Special Jury Prize at South by Southwest, Grand Jury Prize at the Newport Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at the Atlanta Film Festival and the 2005 NAACP Image Award. Other credits include Hard Road Home (Director: Macky Alston/SXSW), Search for the Santa Maria (Discovery Channel), and Beyond Conviction (MSNBC). He was also an additional cinematographer on the Academy-nominated feature documentary Jesus Camp (A&E). He recently shot for Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, focusing on the state of healthcare in America, and G--Made in America, a feature documentary about the Los Angeles Crips and Bloods street gangs directed by Stacy Peralta.
Jerry Risius is a cinematographer and producer who has been filming and field producing for independent features and television documentaries for over 15 years. His work has appeared on HBO, PBS, National Geographic Channel, Travel Channel and the BBC, among others. His recent films include The Devil Came on Horseback: Darfur in Chad (Breakthru Films/HBO), Unzipped (Miramax) and the independent documentary Our Brand Is Crisis, winner of the 2005 IDA Feature Documentary Award. Jerry's work has taken him around the world, from Uzbekistan and Armenia to Laos to Panama. On the African continent he has filmed in Chad, Ethiopia, and South Africa (Children/South Africa for Harpo). He also filmed several segments for Oprah's Christmas Kindness show. He has worked as an adjunct visiting professor at the School of Visual Arts, the New School for Social Research, and the Main Photo/Film Workshops in Film Production.