THE CREW
Craig Laurence Rice - Director
Craig Laurence Rice is a long established award-winning filmmaker internationally recognized for his distinguished career in the film, video, television, theater and music industries.
He was also Executive Producer / Director for the feature length documentary Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks for HBO, which was nominated for three Emmy awards, and an NAACP Image Award. The documentary was also selected to the Museum of Television and Radio in the year 2000, and won the Tree of Life Award from The Friends of the Motion Picture Academy.
In Addition, he has been in the DGA since 1984 and has served as a Second Unit director and Assistant Director on about 20 long form and feature-length films including Graffiti Bridge, Purple Rain, Brother From Another Planet and Joe Somebody.
Notable television credits include Producer of We Teach Our Children for CBS, Executive Producer on the nationally syndicated series Million Dollar Idea, Producer for the 90-minute PBS variety show A The Prairie Home Companion 30th, Producer for New Dramas for Television for The Eugene O’ Neill Theater Center for 4 seasons. Laurel Avenue a limited series for HBO, Once Upon A Tree series for Animal Planet.
He has also produced and directed 30 music videos with artists including Prince, Mavis Staples, Mazarati, Patti LaBelle, and Sounds of Blackness.
He has been creatively involved in theater as assistant to Joe Papp at The Public Theater in New York City and was Executive Director of the Alchemy Theater Company for two years.
Rice holds a Production Degree from the University of Southern California Cinema Department, Filmmaking and Photography at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and a Liberal Arts degree from Minneapolis Community and Technical College and studied theater and filmmaking at the University of Minnesota.
Greg Winter - Cinematographer
Greg has worked as a cinematographer for more than 30 years. His first feature film, Detective Fiction, directed by Patrick Coyle, was admitted to the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and subsequently distributed on the Sundance Channel and the Independent Film Channel. In 2004 Greg was the cinematographer for the independent project, Justice, a feature film directed by John Shulman and Jean-Marie Almonor, which was nominated for a 2005 NAACP Image Award and distributed to Black STARZ. The film was also used as a voter registration tool around the United States. In June 2005 Greg photographed Test Tube for director Ann Sorenson. A book he photographed about historic Minnesota quilts was nominated for a 2006 Minnesota Book Award. In September 2007 Greg completed Shared Sacrifice: Rock County in War, which focused on the experiences and impressions of Rock County residents during World War II. TPT included the film in the broadcast schedule around Ken Burns’s The War. In 2008 Greg shot The Egg Timer for director Emily Haddad, the IFP Fresh Filmmaker grant recipient.
He completed The Jingle Dress with director William Eigen in September of 2013. In July 2014 Greg completed photography on Robert in the Bedroom, a short on the subject of Alzheimer’s, for director Cynthia Uhrich, and Domestics, a feature film directed by John Shulman and Jean-Marie Almonor. In September of 2016 he split the cinematographer duties with Buck Holzemer on Charlie Griak's 2nd feature, Nina of the Woods. Greg recently collaborated again with Cynthia Uhrich on “Oh My Stars”, a short film written by regional author Lorna Landvik. In October of 2018 Greg worked again with Ann Sorenson, this time with students from UNWSP, on “My First Funeral”. He is currently engaged on a documentary about Patrick Scully, artist and choreographer, with director Mark Wojahn.
Greg works as a freelance Director/Cinematographer. He also teaches at the University of St Thomas, University of Northwestern-St Paul, and Film North. Greg also served 20 years on the Minnesota Film & TV Board.
Alexandria Davison - Operations Assistant
Alexandria Davison is a Minneapolis based writer, artist, etc. with an affinity for film and filmmaking. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with her BA in English and Cinema.
Specializing in screenwriting and copywriting, Alexandria is currently growing her experience in the entertainment industry as an operations and productions assistant in the Twin Cities. Since 2015, Alexandria has worked with VIA Artist Management, assisting on various video productions, live events, and daily operations. From 2019-2020, Alexandria worked with the Loft Literary Center during the annual Wordplay Author’s Festival as a communications intern. Since 2020, Alexandria has worked as an operations assistant with Craig Laurence Rice on various projects.
Jay Kuvaas - Screenwriter
Jay Kuvaas was born and raised in Western Minnesota, the second son of an Insurance Salesman Financial Planner and a Registered Nurse. He attended the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, where he received a BA in English Literature. His short story, “Sodie Pop,” was featured in the Wisconsin Review, and his screenplay, Two Liars, made the second round of both the Austin Film Festival and Bluecat Screenwriting Competitions. He lives with his wife and two children in a suburb of Minneapolis.
As a writer, Jay’s an onion peeler. He lives to explore the flaws and contradictions of the human condition, to show you why his characters are who they are and do what they do, to make you love, hate, judge and forgive them. He puts them through the hell of impossible choices and wants you to walk with them til they come out the other side.
He creates heroes from people you expect to despise, from places you don’t think to acknowledge. In Can’t Buy Grace, he brings you to a world where fields of black dirt stretch to the blue sky. Where the Bic lighter burns day after day til it quits and you throw it out the window. Where the plastic keychain bottle opener finally snaps in half. Where the same tires crunch over the same gravel til the moment they hit blacktop and you’re GONE.
Morris Hayes - Musical Director
Music has always been an important force in the life of Morris Hayes. As a child growing up in the small town of Jefferson, Arkansas, music in the church touched his soul and inspired what would become a life-long passion. He majored in Art at the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff but the lure of of music would not be denied. So, Morris ended up ‘faking’ his way into a college band. He didn’t know how to play very well but when the band’s other keyboard player quit, his desire and commitment combined with his natural talent helped him get hired even though he was not fully accomplished at the time.
Morris got his big break in 1991 when Jerome Benton asked him to play keyboards with the Time following the departure of Jimmy Jam Harris. They were big shoes to fill, but they were happy with Morris’s contributions and later that year, he toured Asia with the Time. After the tour, Prince asked Morris to play keyboards alongside Tommy Barbarella in his band “The New Power Generation.” Morris would go onto be in the band for nearly 20 years as well as Prince’s Musical Director.
In addition to Prince, The Time and Maceo Parker, Morris has performed live with some of the greatest musicians of our time including: George Clinton, Larry Graham, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, Kanye West, Elton John, Babyface, Teddy Riley, Carlos Santana, Kenny Loggins, George Benson, Lenny Kravitz, Alicia Keys, Will. I. Am, Mary J. Blige, Q-Tip, Mazarati, Janelle Monáe, Tamar Davis, Maroon 5, Shelia E., Eve, Ani Di Franco, Doug E. Fresh, Stevie Wonder, Questlove, Kool Moe Dee, Sheryl Crow, Nikka Costa, Gwen Stefani, Eve, Angie Stone, D’Angelo, Common, Shanice Wilson, Mike Philips, Erika Badu, Amy Winehouse, Bono and the Edge, Frank McCombs, Vernon Reid, Macy Grey, Angelo Moore, Debra Cox, Bill Banfield, Mica Paris & Mint Condition and many others.
In addition to one of his most memorable performances when he played at the historic Super Bowl half-time show with Prince and the New Power Generation in 2007, Morris was the Musical Director for the official Prince tribute concert in Minnesota in October 2016, following the passing of his friend and musical mentor.
When not on stage performing with, Morris produced tracks for television and motion pictures including: Martin Lawrence’s “You so Crazy”, HBO’s Laurel Avenue, 2018’s “According to Matthew”, as well as some commercial music for both Target and 3M.
Dan Satorius - Producer
A noted entertainment attorney as well as an active film producer, Dan Satorius combines a rare understanding of both the business and creative sides of filmmaking. Satorius has represented clients in the entertainment business for over 25 years. His practice focuses on transactions, intellectual property in the entertainment business. His clients include Academy Award, Emmy Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Peabody Award winning independent producers, writers, and television stations in the film and television industry. He has been named as a “Super Lawyer” in Entertainment Law and a “Minnesota Leading Attorney.”
Satorius received a Masters of Arts in film from the University of Iowa, and his short narrative film, “Fear and Trembling” was a finalist for a Student Academy Award. He went on to earn a law degree from Southern Illinois University.
Following law school he produced award winning documentaries and corporate communications projects while he pursued a career in law. He established a law firm specializing in music which included clients, Prince’s NPG (New Power Generation) Records, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, The Suburbs, and Semisonic among others. He subsequently expanded into a broader range of entertainment work, and developed an extensive client roster in film and television.
Satorius has developed and produced a range of films including “Varian and Putzi,” a documentary by the late Richard Kaplan about an American scholar who rescued a long list of Jewish artists and intellectuals from Vichy France; “Dirty Country,” a documentary about a notorious country musician famous for his obscene lyrics; “The Starfish Throwers,” a documentary by Jesse Roesler about a five-star chef, a twelve year-old girl, and a retired schoolteacher who through their individual efforts to feed the poor helped to ignite a movement in the fight against hunger; “The Peacemaker,” a documentary by James Demo - an intimate portrait of international peacemaker Padraig O'Malley - who helps make peace for others but struggles to find it for himself. He is currently in development on several feature-length narrative projects.
In 2009 he produced TWELVE THIRTY, a dramatic feature-length motion picture written and directed by Jeff Lipsky. The film was in competition at the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival and released January, 2010 to critical acclaim.
Sami Cavravella - Production Assistant
Sami Caravella is a narrative story teller who uses film as her medium. She writes scripts, directs and produces films to entertain an audience. In 2014, Caravella earned an Associate’s Degree in Visual Communication from Madison Area Technical College. In 2018 she received her BFA in Film from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In between her associate and bachelor’s degree she worked on an educational video series for Madison Area Technical College, was a studio assistant at the NBC 15 morning news show in Madison, WI and interned with the Minnesota Film and Television Commission.
Since the completion of her BFA she has continually worked in the entertainment and film industry. She has worked in many different genres of film; her work can be seen in such short films as V., Risers, Luxated Nowhere, FUNeral and Ta-Da I’m Queer. She was a co-host on a comedy podcast called For Fun’s Sake from 2018 to 2021. In 2019 she was a script supervisor on the motion picture Same Girl. She continually works as hard as she can to create and grow as a filmmaker.