Filmmakers

Ray Costa (Writer/Director/Producer)

Ray Costa graduated from Germantown High School, then the University of Memphis and worked in news and public affairs at WHBQ NewsTalk Radio before moving to Los Angeles. In making the documentary, Costa took advantage of his over 20 years in the entertainment industry and asked for advice from seasoned professional on his first feature. He first called Academy Award winning documentary director Jessica Yu (Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien) to ask her advice. Yu's words of wisdom assisted Costa in finding the central theme that would carry the story. Costa describes the documentary, "The documentary plays more like a feature than a traditional documentary. There is a lot of heart and emotion to the stories. It is like Remember the Titans meets Backdraft or Rescue Me." Traveling back to Germantown, to shoot the film, Costa contacted Frank Bluestein, who was his drama teacher at Germantown High School. Bluestein recommended a Germantown High alumnus, Waheed AlQawasmi for the production. AlQawasmi was enlisted as co-producer and the director of photography and he hired the local crew to shoot on the newest state-of-the-art camera, the RED. Additionally, Lisa Lax Casting assisted in searching for the perfect young actors for the reenactment scenes. The film took several trips back to Tennessee for Costa to complete principal photography. The original editing was done by Waheed and final editing was completed by Jake Hamilton (Grace). The film was color-corrected at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California with sound editing and a 5.1 mix at Jet Stream Sound in Burbank, California. Costa went to his award-winning clients and friends for their professional input on the project including Editor/Composer John Ottman (The Usual Suspects, Fantastic Four), Composer Mark Adler (The Rat Pack, Food Inc.), Composer Jeff Beal (Rome, Appaloosa) and director John Swanbeck (The Big Kahuna).


George S. Clinton (Composer)

The film's composer, George S. Clinton, began his professional musical career as a songwriter, arranger, and session musician in Nashville, Tennessee. Clinton’s musical inventiveness and versatility in orchestral and popular idioms have allowed him to contribute memorable scores to numerous hit films from Mortal Kombat to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.