MICHELLE KOHRS
Director of Photography, “Madison County”

Michelle Kohrs was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She studied visual and media arts at Emerson College in Boston and worked on the History Channel production "St. Peter: The Rock" with Weller Grossman Productions in Los Angeles. Michelle returned to the Midwest to operate her own commercial video production company, Pole'Pole' Productions. The company released a 45-minute documentary on AIDS that Michelle shot on location in Tanzania for Alegent Health in early 2006. Michelle has crewed on a number of independent features and recently served as a camera operator for "Spellbound" producers Sean Welsh and Jeff Blitz.

michelle@aplombfilms.com

Lauren Van Buskirk grew up in rural Iowa, just outside the small farming town of Shenandoah. She studied film and journalism at the University of Southern California. While in Los Angeles, she worked as a production assistant for CNN. Lauren served as a press liaison for the United Way of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and was instrumental in expanding the organization’s work onto the Navajo Reservation. Lauren freelances in media and film and recently was the second assistant director for the short western "Trail End," starring actor Barry Corbin ("War Games"), and was script supervisor for the feature "We Pedal Uphill" by award-winning director Roland Tec ("All the Rage"). In addition to her work with Aplomb Films, she is currently a marketing producer for a multi-million-dollar contracting firm.

lauren@aplombfilms.com

TESSA WEDBERG
Director, “Madison County”

Tessa Wedberg grew up in Fremont, Nebraska, where her father still farms. She studied video, film and print journalism at the University of Oregon, graduating Summa Cum Laude. She worked on documentary projects in Oregon and Ireland and recently produced and directed an award-winning short educational video on child hunger in America. Tessa freelances on commercial projects for clients like the Gallup Organization and has extensive experience in narrative filmmaking. She worked on the short western “Trail End” with Barry Corbin (“Northern Exposure,”), was unit production manager on “Nobody Gets Out Alive” and recently script supervised the feature “Lovely Still,” starring Academy Award-winners Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn. In conjunction with her film and video work, Tessa writes for many publications and is a book editor.

tessa@aplombfilms.com