THE PEOPLE

Vanessa Reiser

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER

Vanessa Reiser is a filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. She earned a BFA in Film and Television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In the late 1990s, film school was all analog, and learning to shoot on 16mm film and edit on a Steenbeck editing console taught her the foundational craft of filmmaking. There’s something about slicing into film with a raw razor blade that gives one pause before making an edit! It was at NYU where a documentary class with the legendary filmmaker George Stoney provided focus to the rest of her career. It became clear that true stories told with patience, honesty and care were the ones that moved her most. 

Her career began in the editing room, and that foundation and instinct for rhythm continues to inform her choices behind the camera. She often works as her own cinematographer and editor, keeping her sets deliberately small and intimate. It's an approach that creates space for her subjects to be fully and honestly themselves.

For more than two decades, her work has taken her into classrooms and concert halls, artists' studios and living rooms, and into the lives of children waiting to be chosen by a family.

THE ONLY DAY WE HAVE, her documentary feature about people with young-onset Parkinson’s disease, was presented by Austin PBS and aired nationally on PBS.

Courtney B. Cook

PRODUCER

Courtney B. Cook is an Austin-based documentary producer, educator, and cultural strategist, and an Assistant Professor of Public History and Documentary Film at Texas State University. They produce CRADLED BY GRACE and are the creative director for community engagement for Layers of Place: Austin, an MIT Open Documentary Lab augmented reality and participatory public art project that had its world premiere at SXSW in 2026.

Cook’s work bridges documentary film, public media, and community engagement, with a focus on supporting creative communities, mentoring emerging filmmakers, and expanding opportunities for collaboration. They serve on the Community Advisory Board for Austin PBS and are a founding organizer of Austin’s chapter of The Video Consortium. Cook has mentored filmmakers through Austin Film Society, SXSW, and Austin Film Festival, and served as a panelist at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and Camden International Film Festival. They are active in the Documentary Producers Alliance, Future Film Coalition, and Global Impact Producers Alliance. Before joining Texas State, Cook led educational impact strategy at POV/American Documentary for nearly seven years.

Debbie Hiott

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Debbie Hiott is a media consultant and the former general manager of KUT News, Austin’s NPR station, and KUTX, the Austin Music Experience. She also served as the executive director of media operations at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication.

Before going into public media, Debbie spent 28 years as a journalist at the Austin American-Statesman, starting as a reporting intern while she attended Southwest Texas State University and spending her last seven years as the paper’s top editor. Debbie is a two-time jurist for the Pulitzer Prize, and a former member of the NPR Board of Directors and Station Resource Group.

She currently serves on the boards of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and Headliners Foundation, as well as the advisory council for the Texas State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

  • Ephraim Owens

    TRUMPETER

    Born in Dallas, Texas, jazz trumpeter Ephraim Owens is one of the most sought-after musicians in Austin and beyond.

    Ephraim picked up the trumpet at the age of eight and honed his craft at the prestigious Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, an incubator for top jazz talent.

    Among his peers were pianist Fred Sanders, saxophonists Keith Anderson and Keith Loftis, and trumpeter Whitney Russell. It was the legendary trumpeter Roy Hargrove, a fellow student, who inspired Owens to pursue jazz professionally. In 1996, Owens moved to Austin, where he quickly became a staple in the city's jazz scene. He has played with acclaimed groups such as King Valentine’s Octet, the Texas Eastside Kings, Concerto Grosso, and the Texas Trumpets. He has performed at Austin’s most iconic venues, including The Elephant Room, Speakeasy, Antone’s, Sullivan’s, the Flamingo Cantina, the Continental Gallery, Monks, and Reed’s Jazz Club.

    Owens has toured and performed with renowned artists like Mumford & Sons, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin, and most recently, Tedeschi Trucks Band. His contributions to jazz and the broader music community were solidified when he was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2017.

  • Sam Lipman

    COMPOSER

    Sam Lipman is an award-winning composer known for his vibrant orchestral colors, lyricism, and dramatic storytelling. His works have been performed by ensembles such as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. His recent ballet MoonFall premiered to a sold-out two-week run in May 2024 and earned 12 B. Iden Payne Award nominations. He is currently composing a new work with Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann and Texas Poet Laureate Carrie Fountain. In film, he has orchestrated for Terrence Malick’s WAY OF THE WIND and co-scored Richard Linklater’s WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE. His score for SOUTHWEST OF SALEM was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Based in Austin, Lipman teaches Media Composition at the University of Texas.

  • Austin Symphony Orchestra

    Founded in 1911, the Austin Symphony Orchestra is the city's oldest performing arts organization, presenting classical masterworks, pops concerts, and innovative programming throughout Central Texas. With 80+ professional musicians, ASO reaches 150,000 patrons annually through diverse performances and free community events. Education is central to ASO's mission, connecting with 25,000 students yearly through comprehensive initiatives that explore symphonic music across disciplines. As a cultural anchor and economic driver, ASO strives to be the most relevant, inclusive, and innovative music organization in Texas, reflecting the diversity of the Austin community it serves.