Collaboration makes a better world, here are some of our favorite partners…
NICK MIDWIG is an award-winning cinematographer collaborating with Irene as Director of Photography on each of Vermilion’s films since 2016. Nick has a decade of experience setting the visual tone for critically acclaimed feature films, television series, and commercial campaigns.
Nick has worked on several films with Vermilion, including Moonlight Sonata and the Emmy-nominated documentary feature Beware the Slenderman. His other feature credits include National Geographic’s Paris to Pittsburgh and 12 O’Clock Boys.
Nick also served as the series DP for two seasons of the National Geographic series Mars, which was executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. The series was nominated for an IDA Award for Best Episodic Series and called “visually gorgeous” by The New Yorker.
Whether filming scientists in Antarctica, Shaolin monks in China, or complex starscapes in the Atacama Desert, Nick pairs well-developed vérité shooting instincts with a particular talent for creating high-end, cinematic visuals.
STACY LORTS has been developing and producing film and commercial work for twenty years. She helms Vermilion Films’s slate of production and development projects as well as producing Vermilion’s I Am: Celine Dion and their upcoming documentary feature with HBO Max.
Stacy started her career working in development at former Fox 2000 Pictures, assisting on films such as The Devil Wears Prada and Walk The Line. She later served as Executive Director of Development at Laika Studios, optioning and developing stop-motion animation films including Kubo and the Two Strings and the upcoming Wildwood. Her commercial experience includes overseeing global commercial production for a Portland based advertising agency and production company for more than eight years.
SYDNEY RAFTER joins Vermilion Films as an associate producer with nearly a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. A Los Angeles transplant, Sydney’s has worked in talent representation, casting for film & television and film festival coordination after graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
Sydney’s previous work includes Netflix’s The Do Over, Lionsgate’s Dirty Grandpa, Searchlight’s Gifted and Birth of a Nation, BBC’s Living the Dream and WGN’s Underground.
PETER RICHARDSON was a producer on Trees and Other Entanglements, and was Director of Photography on Saving Pelican and One Last Hug. His thoughtful and compelling documentary work has gained widespread recognition, including the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and an Emmy nomination for his documentary, How to Die in Oregon.
More recently, Peter has directed non-fiction series with Netflix, the Oprah Winfrey Network and Participant Media. When not busy traveling the world directing his own films, Peter brings his expert vision and sensibilities to the Vermilion team.
NIGEL JAQUISS is the lead investigative producer at Vermilion, leveraging his career in print journalism to support his work at Vermilion. Nigel has focused his reporting on abuses of power. He received the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for revealing a former Oregon governor’s sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl. Nigel’s other awards include three first place prizes from the group Investigative Reporters and Editors, a National Press Foundation Chairman’s Citation for reporting on corruption in Oregon, and three Bruce Baer Awards, given annually to Oregon’s top reporter. Nigel received the 2015 Investigative Reporters & Editors Medal for stories that led to the resignation of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
He has been a reporter for Willamette Week in Portland, Ore. since 1998. Prior to working as a reporter, he traded oil in New York and Singapore for 11 years. Nigel graduated from Columbia University’s School of Journalism, where he studied with Vermilion’s founder, Irene Taylor.
JULIE BEGEY SEUREAU is a Producer at Vermilion. Paris born, now New York based, Julie started her career in France working for the Walt Disney Company. In 2011, she moved to New York to pursue a MFA in Creative Producing at Columbia University. Since then, Julie has established herself as an independent documentary film producer and has worked on a variety of acclaimed documentary features and docu-series for HBO (including the Academy Award winning short Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press One), Apple (The Me You Can’t See, The Line), Showtime (American Jihad; Enemies: The President, Justice and the FBI), CNN (Death Row Stories), A&E (CultureShock; JailCam), Netflix (Weapon of Beauty), Amazon (The New Yorker Presents) and PBS (Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story).
BRIAN KINKLEY was the animation director for Moonlight Sonata and created the animation for Vermilion’s signature hummingbird logo. Learn more about his work at kinkley.com
SNOW DOWD graduated from Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts in Toronto and earned an MFA in arts leadership from Seattle University. She enjoys working collaboratively to create design solutions for print and screen. The branding materials and film title designs done for Vermilion over the past 15 years are some of her favorite projects.
KAI DE MELLO-FOLSOM joins the Vermilion Team as a Line Producer and Post Supervisor. A recent transplant from Los Angeles, Kai’s background in the entertainment industry spans nearly two decades and started as a performer, before transitioning to assistant directing, production management and a healthy mix of creative and logistical producing.
As an avid explorer and on-the-ground filmmaker, Kai brings wide experience and a varied perspective to any type of creative production. His most recent documentary credits include Sketchbook, Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U and Obi Wan Kenobi: A Jedi’s Return for Disney+, as well as the Star Trek fandom cult-hit What We Left Behind.