Filmmakers of a documentary dedicated to the life and work of Yannis Behrakis,
part of which will be shown during Athens Photo World 2019
Veteran war photographer Yannis Behrakis narrowly escapes dying in a violent ambush in Sierra Leone – an ambush in which his close friend and mentor is killed by his side. Faced with this searingly personal loss and the accumulated effects of a lifetime of living in conflict zones, Yannis struggles to keep his ideals of clear eyed, compassionate journalism alive. These documentary excerpts draw from a 20 year journey with Behrakis. Filmmakers Buddy Squires and Kerstin Park-Labella began filming with Yannis shortly after his brutal reckoning on the West African roadside. From Chechnya, the Balkans, and the Middle East to the European migration that arrives on the shores of his home in Greece, this film follows a deeply personal and professional journey of conflict, love, and forgiveness.
Buddy Squires, ASC
Producer / Director / DP
Buddy Squires is an Oscar nominated filmmaker, an Emmy Award winning cinematographer, and a member of both the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His more than 200 screen credits include two Oscar winners, seven
Academy Award nominees, and ten Emmy Award winning productions. Recent releases include The Vietnam War, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story, Betting on Zero, Jackie Robinson, The Last Dalai Lama, and Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman. Squires is currently working on films about Oliver Sacks, Muhammed Ali, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, dancer Diana Vishneva, Country Music, the medical relief organization Emergency, and the Bard Prison Initiative. Buddy Squires’ other credits include The Central Park Five, Rory Kennedy’s Ethel, The Donner Party, American Ballet Theatre, Salinger, Woody Allen, and New York: A Documentary Film. Squires has been the DP for
nearly all of Ken Burns’ major works including The Roosevelts, The Dust Bowl, Prohibition, Baseball, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, and The Civil War.
Kerstin Park-Labella
Producer / Director / Writer
Kerstin Park-Labella has worked throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Central America producing and directing investigative reports and feature documentaries. Park-Labella began her career in broadcast journalism at CNN after graduating from Georgetown University. At Channel One News she produced feature stories traveling to Afghanistan to profile Mujahadeen Leader Abdul Haq and Pakistan to report on nuclear proliferation. Closer to home, she filmed along the US/Mexico border with a “coyote”, followed the homicide squad of LAPD’s Rampart district, and documented the lives of runaway street kids in Seattle. Other productions include An Unreliable Witness, The Harlem Hellfighters, The Shroud of Turin, and People’s Poetry along with biographies of Tony Curtis, Bob Dylan and Marlon Brando. Kerstin produced and directed numerous short films for Human Rights Watch highlighting the work of activists around the world.
