@ourbloodiswine
EMILY RAILSBACK
(director)
Emily is an independent film director, screenwriter, designer & photographer based in Chicago, Illinois. She teaches film at Columbia College Chicago, where she received her Masters of Fine Arts in 2014. Railsback began the production company Burnt Sugar Productions with sommelier Jeremy Quinn. As a team, their work focuses on human stories of culture and identity through the lens of beverage and land. Railsback’s prior work consists of narrative short films, music videos, visual arts, and humanitarian work. She created an award-winning art exhibit based on her work among children in Peruvian slums. With a desire to tell more complex stories, she turned to film in 2012 with a 16mm short film about her grandmother aging called "The First Fall". Railsback has completed 7 short films that have premiered at festivals across the country, and she was the recipient of the Albert P. Weisman grant for her film “WarBaby.” Railsback is currently working on “Ad Astra”, a narrative feature film about a woman of strength in dying small town America, post Donald Trump's election.
ASSYA DIMOVA
(line producer)
BRUCE SHERIDAN
(producer)
ABOUT THE TEAM
JEREMY QUINN
(sommelier)
Tokyo-born, Sofia-raised, Milano-educated, Berlin-experienced, Chicago-inspired, L.A. - based behind the scenes-struck child, Assya has chosen the Creative Producing path because she wants to find and cultivate relationships with inspirational filmmakers who have individual voice. Assya has under her belt 15 years of Bulgarian Folklore Dancing, a handful of festival bound short films, and scripts in various production stages. She sees the role of the Creative Producer as best described by two notorious redheads: the Red Queen from "Through the Looking-Glass”: "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” and Conan O'Brien: "If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.” Her ultimate goal is to produce smart and original films that encourage people to think, feel and laugh.
Jeremy was introduced to wine as a teenager during an academic sabbatical in Paris. An award-winning fiction writer and certified sommelier, he developed his palate over the course of 14 years at Chicago’s Webster Wine Bar. He served there as wine director starting in 2003, dramatically reshaping its 500+ bottle list, and went on to create influential wine lists at Chicago’s Bluebird (2007), Telegraph (2011), and Reno (2013) restaurants, simultaneously directing all four programs. He frequently travels to the world’s leading wine regions, and moved to the Republic of Georgia in 2014 to learn about the origins of wine— working as a sommelier and consultant for multiple restaurants and wine projects. A recipient of numerous awards, including Top American Sommelier (Food & Wine) and Best Wine List Lyricist (Chicago Reader), Quinn has traveled to over two dozen countries for wine research, working grape harvest in five of them over the last decade. He is a vocal proponent of natural farming methods; his views on wine can be heard on multiple radio shows, podcasts, and in print. He is currently exploring the intersections between winemaking, culture, and identity in a number of locations around the world.
Bruce began his film career in New Zealand, where his producing and directing credits include Perfectly Frank, a documentary on the life of writer Frank Sargeson, and Spellbound, which tells the story of seminal rock band Split Enz. He won the 1999 New Zealand Best Drama Award for the tele-feature Lawless, and in 2012 produced Head Games, a highly-acclaimed documentary on sports concussion. His current projects include a feature film called The Mother Road and a non-fiction project called Hunting Daniel. Bruce is working with an international team to create a web and app based service that provides creators with the power to secure, protect, control, and monetize their work. In August 2017 he was appointed to the Advisory Board of a leading U.K. virtual reality company as Key Advisor & Producer focused on developing scripted and documentary immersive experiences across all production and delivery modes.
ANNA LINDHOLM NOA
(editor)
Anna Lindholm Noa is an editor & graphics artist based in the Midwest. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, she received a B.A. in Cinema Art + Science with a focus in post-production and documentary filmmaking, a combination that has allowed her to dive deeply into the non-fiction storytelling craft. In 2015, she co-produced and edited the short documentary, Rainbow Families, a film that was showcased at the Merklinka International Film Festival and Chicago’s Ethnographic Film Festival. In 2017, she worked as an intern for Kartemquin Films, assisting the filmmakers with graphic design, project research, and fundraising campaigns. Currently, Lindholm works as a freelancer, specializing in motion graphics for documentaries and editing non-fiction narratives.
GABRIEL DIB
(composer)
Gabriel Dib is a composer based in Los Angeles. His career started in São Paulo, Brazil and after moving to the US for a Masters in Film Scoring he worked with several composers writing music for TV shows on major networks such as Castle (ABC) and Criminal Minds (CBS). He wrote the music for Miss Beverly Hills Ghost which is among the most awarded web series in the world today. Recently Gabriel has scored the TV show 171 - Negócio de Família for Universal Channel and the feature length documentary Our Blood is Wine by Emily Railsback. Among his upcoming projects is the action film EAS - Esquadrão Anti-Sequestro (Anti Kidnap Squad).
NINO AROBELIDZE
(singer / songwriter)
Nino Arobelidze is a Georgian born singer, composer and producer based in Chicago. Nino received her formal music education from DePaul University. Melding her interdisciplinary influences into her work, she has recorded two solo albums (Nomad and Girl Named Nino) commanding several languages, most distinctly embodying Soul, R&B and Rock. She has toured the U.S. as Girl Named Nino, drawing vocal comparisons to Billie Holiday and Jeff Buckley. Her music has been compared to St. Vincent, Erika Badu and Prince, but musicophiles and concert-goers readily recognize that Nino Arobelidze has a sound uniquely her own.
CJ COVELL
(colorist)
CJ Covell is a Chicago-based professional who specializes in post-production, and colorist services. He has throughly enjoyed his experience working on this film and is excited to help share the story and tradition of Georgian Qvevri winemaking with the world. He thanks Emily, Jeremy, and the producers for the opportunity to work on such an exciting project!