MAMA/M.A.M.A.: MSBP MOVIE: Filmmakers

About the Filmmakers

“Mama/M.A.M.A.” is the provocative investigation of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a perplexing psychological disorder where a mother secretly but deliberately harms her child in order to get the sympathy and praise of others and the attention of the medical community. What emerges over three years of scrutiny are disturbing questions related to the medical profession’s arrogant use of the diagnosis, the possible contribution from the pharmaceutical industry, and its grievous impact on families.

After graduating from Harvard University, de la Peña began her journalism career reporting on Los Angeles area gang members, before interning at CNN. After a stint in Mexico through the Fund for Investigative Journalism, de la Peña became a stringer for Time and then a correspondent for Newsweek.

De la Peña left print journalism in 1991 to pursue documentary film. Her in-depth investigation into worker safety led to a position as an associate producer for HBO. Her first documentary, “Death On The Job,” was nominated for an Academy Award™.

Through her production company, Pyedog Productions, de la Peña continued her investigative work in pieces for the BBC’s “Omnibus & Inside Story,” A&E’s “Investigative Reports,” and HBO’s “America Undercover,” among others.

De la Peña’s eclectic career next took her into television drama where she penned two pilots for CBS, worked as a staff writer for the “New York Undercover” and wrote an episode of “The Practice.” She also co-produced “Unabomber: The True Story.”

After designing and programming an Internet horror series, de la Peña worked with Sony Pictures Entertainment as a web content creator. She has also written articles for Premiere, Texas Monthly, and Buzz Magazine.

De la Peña, producer Amy Sommer and editor Greg Byers first worked together on the critically-acclaimed “The Jaundiced Eye,” the story of a wrongfully-convicted child abuser. “The Jaundiced Eye” premiered at The Toronto Film Festival and is currently airing on the Sundance Channel. The three teamed up again to create “Mama/M.A.M.A.”

De la Peña is currently working on a documentary about the recent destruction of civil liberties in America in association with Robert Greenwald Productions and Public Interest Pictures.

In 1995, she co-founded SomFord Entertainment. Their first feature documentary, “Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” examined the 1993 tragedy in Waco, Texas was nominated for an Oscar and earned an Emmy. Her second documentary, the critically acclaimed “The Jaundiced Eye” is about a wrongfully convicted child abuser. Her latest film, “Mama/M.A.M.A.,” questions the validity of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, arguing that in many cases doctors’ over medication of infants may be the real cause of their infirmity rather than the mother's mental illness.

In addition, Sommer served as the co-executive producer of “Unprecedented: the 2000 Presidential Election,” an investigation into Florida voting irregularities. She is the Executive Producer, along with Andy Vajna, of “Freedom’s Fury” an exploration of the Hungarian Water Polo Team and the political backdrop against which they competed in the 1956 Olympics. Documentaries in the works include one on gay subcultures in sports and another on the US Disabled Olympic Ski Team.

Narrative films include “Blue Car” (Miramax) starring Agnes Nixon; “Teknolust” (Think Films) starring Tilda Swinton; “Food for the Heart,” (Creative Light Worldwide/Razor Digital) starring Jorja Fox and “Deadly Little Secrets,” (Think Films/Main Line Releasing) starring Craig Sheffer, Dylan Walsh, Dina Meyer, and Michele Hicks.

Sommer holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, and a M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia Univesity. She serves on the board of The ACLU of Southern California, The Pacific Hills School and is founder and head of Wellesley Women in Entertainment.

Mary Carson (Co-Producer - United Kingdom)
Mary Carson has worked as a researcher and producer for numerous print, radio and television outlets for the past decade. Her documentary credits include “The Disappeared,” “Denied Access,” “Zeitgeist,” “Asbestos Report” (which she also directed), “The Force is Not with You” and “The Secrets of Psychiacs.” Prior to that she was a researcher and assistant editor for several books including Howard Marks’ Book of Dope Stories. She began her career as a staff reporter for the Londonderry Sentinel, North West News Agency and Sunday News. Carson is currently producing a documentary investigating links between government-sponsored deterrents (such as tear gas) and increasing rates of child cancers.

Diana Zock (Co-Producer - United States )
Diana Zock has worked on the last two films with de la Peña and Sommer: as co-producer on “Mama/M.A.M.A.” and associate producer on “The Jaundiced Eye.” Her other credits include production coordinator on “Superman” (2004), “Sahara,” “Blast from the Past,” “Pleasantville” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (also associate producer); production supervisor on “The Cider House Rules;” and segment producer on “Big Brother 3.”

John Given (Composer)
John Given began his musical career at the age of seven, when he snuck into an older brother’s room to experiment with his trumpet. He helped pay his tuition at Boston’s Berklee College of Music by playing bass professionally, turning to the world of composing when he discovered that his affinity for film music surpassed even his love of performing. Given has composed music for a dozen feature films and over two hundred episodes of television, among them: “Young Americans,” “Doug’s First Movie,” “Stephen Spielberg Presents: Toonsylvania,” and “Disneys Aladdin” television series, for which he earned an Emmy Award™.

Byers’ feature documentaries include: “Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial,” a finalist for the 2000 Academy Awards™; “Tom Hanks Presents: Return With Honor,” which premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival; “Running On The Sun: The Badwater 135” for director Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory); and “Close to Home,” directed by Peabody Award-winner Vanessa Roth for the Mark McGuire Foundation (which competed in the 2002 Sundance Film Festival). Byers has also edited a number of multi-camera television variety shows and single camera television documentaries.

Graham D. Smith (Director of Photography - United Kingdom)
Graham D. Smith has been a documentary cameraman for over 23 years. He has shot over 32 television documentaries in the last ten years alone, including “Blood of the Vikings,” ”Modern Times,” “The Real King Edward VII,” “Inside Story,” “Cutting Edge,” “Soldiers to Be,” “The Builders,” ”Short Stories” and ”Classic Ships.” Awards include the Chicago Film Festival’s Golden Plaque for the BBC’s “Traces of Guilt,” and the New York Television Festival’s Gold Medal for Best Documentary for Granada TV’s World in Action “Lords of the Rings” (investigation into Olympics Games scandals.)

Bestor Cram (Director of Photography - United States)
In 1982, after a tour in Vietnam and postgraduate film studies under cinema verite pioneer Richard Leacock, Bestor Cram founded Northern Light Productions. Since then Cram has served as an award-winning director, producer and cinematographer whose credits include cinematography work on the Emmy Award™-nominated Discovery Channel special “Mysteries of the Sea: Freak Waves” and the 1995 Academy Award™-winning documentary, “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision.”

Cram has received numerous professional awards, including a Massachusetts Media Fellowship. His latest independent project, “Unfinished Symphony,” premiered in the Documentary Competition at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and won first prize at the One World Film Festival in Prague, as well as in the New England Film and Video Festival. He is also the Massachusetts representative to the International Quorum of Film and Video Producers.