Shanti Rides Shotgun

Charles Frank has been making short documentaries for close to a decade, beginning with Clint Smith: Beyond this Place in 2015 and the widely shared Junk Mail. He co-founded the production company Voyager, has directed a feature, and is a prominent maker of brand documentaries including the Nike-sponsored Through The Storm. Shanti Rides Shotgun premiered at SXSW in 2025 and won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at AFI Fest.

Daniel Lombroso is the founder of Outerboro Films. He spent eight years building the Oscar-nominated video departments at The New Yorker and The Atlantic before launching his own premium documentary studio in 2025. His debut feature, White Noise, drawn from four years reporting inside the white power movement, premiered in 2020 to critical acclaim, earning spots on Vox's and The Boston Globe's year-end best-documentary lists and The Guardian's "25 films that explain America." His short Nina & Irena, executive produced by Errol Morris, was among the most decorated short documentaries of 2023. His films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and TIFF, and earned eight Vimeo Staff Picks, National Magazine and Livingston Award nominations, IDA, Critics Choice, and Emmy nods, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 spot. His second feature, Manhood, premiered at SXSW in 2026, with Deadline and Indiewire naming it among the lineup's most exciting titles.

Meliz Yilmaz is an Oscar-qualifying Puerto Rican and Turkish American film producer and Head of Production at Voyager, where she has established a reputation for championing ethical production at scale. She brings a decade of experience having climbed the production ladder on feature films, music videos, shorts, commercials, and all things "content" up and down the eastern seaboard. At Voyager, Meliz continues to support the production of innovative projects from bold storytellers, ensuring the countless plates stay spinning across all stages of production. Recent producing credits include A Broken Man, First Days, Shanti Rides Shotgun (2025 Palm Springs ShortFest Best Documentary Short), Unearthed (Scientific American), and In Tandem (Vimeo Staff Pick). She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, with her panther-sized cat and an ever-growing collection of plants.