Crew
Matthew Millan
DIRECTOR
For a filmmaker, Matthew boasts a truly unconventional background. Born into a Coast Guard family, he grew up in several places, but spent his formative years exploring the Ko’olau Mountains of Oahu, and the Steinbeckian backwoods of Central California. From his mother, Matthew inherited an unquenchable sense of adventure, and from his father an undying love of science that would amalgamate into the cornerstone of his adult life. By the time he graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz, he had already undertaken treks through the wilds of three continents while still graduating with a Bachelor of Science in physics, and receiving special honors on his senior thesis for investigating a groundbreaking hypothesis of the origin of Gamma Ray Bursts.
After spending 10 months traveling throughout Eastern Europe, Matthew moved to Silicon Valley where he worked as an engineer for several years. Unfulfilled by this vocation, he co-founded 180 Films with his college lab-partner. Since then, he has built an eclectic portfolio of narrative films, music videos, commercials, educational series, and documentaries. His work has steered him to some of the most challenging places in the world, from the barren peaks of Ladakh, India to the northern stretches of China. To date, his films have premiered in nearly 50 festivals worldwide, and have garnered a myriad of accolades.
Over the years, Matthew has honed a unique ability to uncover extraordinary stories of individuals, and use them as a lens into global events. When the Arab Spring erupted in North Africa, he traveled to Libya in 2011 to witness the uprising against Colonel Gaddafi firsthand, and uncover such a lens. While there, he investigated the story of a man whose heroic sacrifice led to the liberation of Benghazi from Gaddafi’s yoke, culminating in his award-winning short documentary We Win or We Die. Inspired by the burgeoning music revolution that he witnessed firsthand, he ended up living in Benghazi for a year to document what he described as a music bloom in the shifting sands of The Great Desert. The result is the award-winning high-octane rock & roll documentary Stronger Than Bullets, which premiered on Al Jazeera English in 2016, and has won numerous awards.
Since his completion of Stronger Than Bullets, Matthew has worked on a variety of ambitious projects. Through the summer and autumn of 2016, Matthew collaborated with a former Congressman and a local Evangelical Church to create a series that builds a bridge of understanding between American Christians and Muslims. In 2017, he traveled with renowned journalist Micheal Kirtley first to coastal Morocco to document a music festival featuring an eclectic mix of top musicians from around the world, and then to the balmy shores of Togo to illuminate the ancient religion of Vodun through the eyes of a high priest.
Currently, Matthew is working on Beyond Borders, a globe-trotting adventure series that aims to take on the axioms that dominate civilization. The first ten episodes, with topics ranging from the refugee crisis to the myths that still endure in modern times, will be released by the close of 2018.
Alistair Audsley
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Alistair Audsley has worked all over the globe during the last twenty years as a sought-after marketing consultant both for, and in, emerging markets, such as Russia, Bulgaria, Panama, the Middle East and Libya. His world now straddles the music and film industries. In the music world, he has been executive producer on several international pop albums, as well as being a co-producer of the spectacular interval show at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.
He wrote and produced the critically acclaimed independent feature, The Paddy Lincoln Gang and is an in-demand screenwriter and script-doctor, having written two major European films set for release in 2019.
It was while providing commercial consulting for Magrheb, the commercial security arm of the NTC, that Alistair was drawn to the wider story and staggering diversity of music coming out of the epicenter of the revolution.
After initially providing some advice to the Libyan musicians’ and Matthew Millan’s efforts to launch a music festival, he duly boarded as Executive Producer for STRONGER THAN BULLETS.
Hammuda Abidia
PRODUCER
Hammuda Abidia is a Libyan entrepreneur who came to the United States as a political dissident in the early days of Gaddafi’s reign.
After 36 years of exile, he returned to Benghazi during the opening stages of the revolution and was the original impetus behind documenting the revolution on film, which has ultimately developed into STRONGER THAN BULLETS.
Since then, he founded the Libyan Friendship Association, a charitable organization that focuses on many facets of improving Libyan society, ranging from telemedicine to agricultural projects. In addition, Hammuda has produced several films, including Matthew Millan’s award-winning WE WIN OR WE DIE, a short film of the first four days of the 2011 Libyan revolution.
Harold Millan
PRODUCER
Harold Millan is the U.S Producer of STRONGER THAN BULLETS. Previously, he has been a producer of WE WIN OR WE DIE and provided seed funding for STRONGER THAN BULLETS.
He coordinated festival submissions for WE WIN OR WE DIE, resulting in selection by 15 festivals in four continents.
Harold has represented the film at many of these festivals. In addition to supporting these films, his career include more than 25 years of experience in Information Technology Management and Project Management.
Doug Blush
SUPERVISING EDITOR
Doug Blush is an award winning documentary director, editor, cinematographer, and writer. He received the 2013 ACE Eddie Award for Documentaries for his work as Supervising Editor on TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM, the winner of the 2014 Critic’s Choice Award, and the 2014 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary.
Doug is the editor and an associate producer of the Academy Award-nominated THE INVISIBLE WAR, winner of the 2014 Emmy for Best Documentary. He is co-producer and editor of OF TWO MINDS (about bipolar disorder), a winner of the 2013 Voice Awards. He is the Consulting Editor on the 2014 Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize winning RICH HILL. He was also the editor of other notable films, including WORDPLAY, TROUBADORS, THESE AMAZING SHADOWS, I.O.U.S.A, OUTRAGE, BEER WARS, and FREAKONOMICS.
Jeremy Grody
SUPERVISING SOUND MIXER
With over 20 years of industry experience, Jeremy Grody has sound supervised and mixed more than 60 feature length films, and 100 plus episodes of prime time television shows.
Highlights include Rod Lurie’s 2011 remake of Straw Dogs,Resurrecting The Champ (2007), and two seasons of Showtime’s comedy round table The Green Room With Paul Provenza. In 2012, Jeremy supervised and mixed Kirby Dick’s acclaimed documentary The Invisible War (2012 Academy Award nominee).
Story Consultants
THE THREE AMIGOS
Erik Niel, Benton Quin, and Alex Rea are filmmakers and musicians with an eclectic range of talents.
Erik graduated with a a degree in physics and worked as an engineer before embarking on a career in filmmaking. He is also an accomplished drummer and teacher. Erik played the drums on the underscore for STRONGER THAN BULLETS.
Benton was an epic songwriter and painter, who had his finger on the pulse of rock & roll since his days of hanging out with New York Dolls and Blondie. The energy of the Libyan music reminded him of those early days of punk, so he immediately identified with the burgeoning Libyan counter-culture. Sadly, Benton passed away in 2016.
Alex is a wrestler and a screenwriter, but his true passion lies in playing the bass guitar. Citing Lemmy as his main influence, Alex has developed a trademark style that is both melodic and raw. Alex wrote and performed the underscore for STRONGER THAN BULLETS.
