DIRECTOR, WRITER, & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Stan Bush is the founder of Go North Productions, a Denver-based production company. A former reporter at CBS-owned KCNC-TV in Denver, Bush covered politics, business, science, the environment, and the criminal justice system. He won the Edward R. Murrow Award for Breaking News and two Emmy Awards for his reporting on the effect of climate change on wildlife habitats, appearing on The CBS Evening News and CBS This Morning.  

Bush now produces and directs short films, feature films, documentaries, unscripted television, branded content, commercials, and news features.  He is a graduate of Syracuse University and currently lives in Denver with his wife and three children.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Lisa Mao is the former Vice President of natural history content development at National Geographic Channel.  While at National Geographic, Mao developed the Emmy Award-winning series “Secrets of the Elephants” and “Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper.”   Mao also served as an Executive Producer at the Travel Channel overseeing shows like “Man Vs. Food Nation” with Adam Richman and “Bert the Conqueror” with Bert Kreischer.  As a development executive working for various production companies, Mao has created and launched more than 500 hours of television content for broadcasters including Disney Plus, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, and History.  

Mao is also the director, writer and co-producer of independent film “A Tale of Three Chinatowns”.  With a commitment to amplifying the voices of those often in the shadows, Mao’s work features stories that reveal the complex fabric of the human condition.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Aaron Minks got his start filmmaking with a point and shoot camera while on a year-long bicycle trip through South America. That spark led to a passion for visual storytelling and a career spanning documentary, commercial and short-film.  He’s served as director of photography for shows on Outdoor Channel, A & E, The Weather Channel, and numerous short films and independent features. Aaron is drawn to the places less traveled and stories untold, a keen listener and proponent of slow travel. After spending five years based in Southeast Asia covering stories from Nepal to the Philippines and all points in between, Aaron now lives with family on an island in Southeast Alaska.

EDITOR

Summer Simpson is a video editor & script writer whose career spans the gamut of film and video content. She began her career creating programming for National Geographic Digital Studio, & branched out into long-form television programming for the National Geographic Channel International and PBS.

She now works as a contract editor & script writer on a wide array of subjects, including short- and long-form productions about artists, environmental issues and athletes. Her editing credits include numerous shows for National Geographic Television; short-form projects for The Jane Goodall Institute, Google, Al Jazeera English & the Smithsonian; educational materials, branded content & commercials. She also contributed editing for the acclaimed documentary Valley Uprising.

Her projects have garnered several professional honors, including two News & Documentary Emmy nominations, two Webby nominations & an Ellie Award.

Her work is dedicated to learning more about how the natural world operates, & to delve into the mysterious & poignant aspects of humanity.

COMPOSER

Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. Born in Sheet'ka (Sitka, Alaska), Galanin is Tlingit and Unangax; he creates from his perspective as an Indigenous man. His work calls for an accounting of damages done to land and life while envisioning & advocating alternate possibilities. His work spans sculpture, video, installation, photography, jewelry & music; advocating Indigenous sovereignty, racial, social, & environmental justice, for present, & future generations. His debut as Ya Tseen ("be alive," & a reference to his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen) is Indian Yard (a production of Sub Pop Records). Rich with emotional range & sharp awareness, Indian Yard explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through the magnetic expressions of an Indigenous man.

Ya Tseen produced most of Last Call in the North's original score from Galanin's home studio in Sitka. The single "Home" featured in the credit roll is based of a song played throughout the film created by three Skagway musicians.