FILMMAKERS' BIOGRAPHIES
A.G. Vermouth, Director of BALLOONHAT, has worked for years as an art director and editor. He literally happened upon the Balloon Hat Experience by chance during his own musical research travels in West Africa, and joined the project specifically to create its documentary. He has traveled extensively, authored numerous documentary and experimental shorts, and his design work has received various awards. Mr. Vermouth serves as editor of ZEBRAMEAT, an online quarterly exploring American culture, as he continues to develop film projects. BALLOONHAT is his first feature documentary.
Patty Schumann, Editor of BALLOONHAT, has been a part of the independent filmmaking community for over a decade. She has been the writer, producer, and director on several of her own short films, as well as having helped other filmmakers by working at the Independent Feature Project’s Independent Feature Film Market for two years. In 1996 she began work as a freelance editor before spending four years on staff at a busy commercial post-production house in New York City. Recently Patty returned to the independent scene and is editing and producing a variety of projects including short films, music videos, documentaries and a pilot for television.
Steven Bernstein, Composer of BALLOONHAT’s score is a versatile musical trailblazer. The 50th Annual Down Beat Critics Poll ranks Bernstein’s groundbreaking quartet, Sex Mob, the #1 Beyond Group (a category for artists who push the boundaries of genre classification, with the top ten artists ranging from the Kronos Quartet to Radiohead, Alison Krauss to Outkast). A ubiquitous figure in New York’s downtown jazz scene, Bernstein leads several active bands, including Sex Mob, The Millennial Territory Orchestra, and Diaspora Soul. He spent 10 years with John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, and was the musical director/leader of the Kansas City Band (from Robert Altman’s film Kansas City), and Hal Wilner’s Leonard Cohen and Doc Pomus Projects. He has performed with artists as diverse as Sam Rivers, Roswell Rudd, Medeski Martin & Wood, Aretha Franklin, Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Sting, and Courtney Love. Bernstein composed the music for the prize-winning 2002 documentary “Keep the River On Your Right” and has been the arranger/orchestrator for many films, including Get Shorty, Kansas City, and Clay Pigeons. He has composed for theatre, dance, and television, and his music has been heard on “SNL” and MTV’s “the Real World.” For More information on Steven Bernstein, please contact David Cirilli at Big Hassle Media: 212.619.1360 or cirilli@bighassle.com.
Sex Mob, the downtown jazz quartet who performed BALLOONHAT's score, is comprised of Steven Bernstein on slide trumpet, Briggan Krauss on saxophones, Tony Scherr on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Check their web site out here, but by all means, if you hear about them coming to town, go see them live. It just may save your love relationship.
