Our Team.
Executive Producer
Howie Bierbaum
For over 35 years, Howie Bierbaum has celebrated and supported artists and the arts. Most recently he was Executive Director of the Portland Saturday Market. Bierbaum began his career as Executive Director for Portland’s Echo Theatre/Do Jump!. He then went on to head the Portland Area Theatre Alliance, Portland Symphonic Choir, Third Angle New Music Ensemble and Oregon Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. In 2004 he co-founded and managed Wonder Ballroom, leaving that position in 2008 to become Tour Manager for the band, Pink Martini. He currently serves as a markeing/pr consultant for “Beyond Van Gogh-The Immersive Experience”. As an impresario, Bierbaum has presented works by Quentin Crisp, Ari Shapiro, Storm Large and Eve Ensler. Howie has served as a grants panelist for RACC, OAC and the Oregon Community Foundation. He presently volunteers for the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project and the QDoc Film Festival.
Director/Producer
Joanie Fox
Joanie Fox is a writer/producer/director living in Portland, Oregon that began a career in the arts at the age of 11 dancing with Ballet West. At 17, she moved to Boston to train and dance professionally before moving to New York City to perform on Broadway at Radio City Music Hall with "The Wizard of Oz, Live".
From there, Joanie went on to do national tours and off-Broadway productions before studying acting and moving to Los Angeles, where she landed a recurring role on the hit TV Series ER, along with numerous film and TV appearances including Grey's Anatomy, JAG and The Fighting Temptations.
Joanie produced the North American premiere of "Wedding Dress" at Theatre 40 in Los Angeles after being granted the rights by the family of Nelson Rodríguez, Brazil's most prolific writer, poet and playwright. The play received numerous Ovation awards and began her journey into producing. Fox is also the writer of "Skater Boy" with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films and her original screenplay, "Arranging Mia" was an official selection and award winner at the LGBT Toronto Film Festival 2017.
Fox is the director/producer of the award winning short film documentary, "The Joy Block" and the director/producer of RISE, a music video for the newest single from Pink Martini's, China Forbes. Joanie is currently directing and producing “Beatlore”, a feature documentary about Derek Rieth, late percussionist with Pink Martini who died by suicide in 2014.
Executive Producer
Heather Rieth
Heather was born and raised in the Portland/Vancouver area with her brother, Derek. She has been a nurse for 19 years, specializing in Mental Health, Leadership, and chronic diseases. Her nursing career started in Vancouver, after working as a Certified Nurse’s Assistant and Phlebotomist for several years. She returned to the Portland area after 13 years in Colorado to focus on filming for the documentary and to be closer to her mother and long time friends. She has two amazing daughters and son-in-laws. Her oldest daughter, Kim, is a Deputy for King County, and her youngest daughter, Chloe, is a winemaker in Colorado. Heather is newly married after meeting her husband, Branden, one day after returning to Portland. She has gained 3 wonderful children through her marriage to Branden: Kelsey, Alyssa, and Zachary. She and Branden love music of all kinds, cooking, travelling, rockhounding, and spending time with family and friends through adventures of all kinds!
Director of Photography & Editor
Jacob Pander
Jacob Pander is a Portland, Oregon based filmmaker and graphic novelist. Pander specializes in narrative, documentary, music videos and brand content. Dramatic narrative work includes his award winning feature film, SELFLESS. Currently, Pander is freelance producing for Oregon Public Broadcasting's long running TV series, Oregon Art Beat, profiling Northwest artists. His recent segments on independent filmmaker, Vu Pham, and painter Roll Hardy, were nominated for NW Regional Emmy Awards. Pander also collaborates with his brother, Arnold, working together as the Pander brothers. The two have collaborated on notable comic books and graphic novels including Batman: City of Light (DC Comics), Dissident X (Dark Horse Comics), GirlFiend (Dark Horse Comics), and Matt Wagner's Grendel: Devil’s Legacy (Dark Horse Comics) soon to be an original Netflix series.