Mark Kurlyandchik
A Soviet-born, Michigan-bred former journalist and documentary filmmaker, Mark Kurlyandchik honed his filmmaking skills at the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism under the tutelage of legendary doc filmmakers Jon Else and Orlando Bagwell. Kurlyandchik's debut feature-length documentary, "Coldwater Kitchen", which he co-directed with Brian Kaufman, premiered at DOC NYC in 2022 and won a James Beard Media Award in 2023. Previously as a camera operator, Kurlyandchik lent his skills to HBO's "San Francisco 2.0" and Netflix's "137 Shots." During his tenure at the Detroit Free Press, Kurlyandchik's short films earned two Michigan Emmy awards and his written work has earned multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.