Gina Leibrecht

Gina Leibrecht has been working in film since she received her B.A. in Telecommunications and Film from the University of Oregon in 1989. She currently works and resides in San Francisco, working on documentary, commercial, and corporate projects for domestic and international markets.

Gina is currently working as editor with director Owsley Brown on Kè Kontan (the contented heart), a feature documentary about a music school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, set to be released in Summer 2013. Past documentary highlights include On Wayang: My Life With Shadows, which she Co-Produced, Co-Directed and edited and which premiered at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, and Homegrown Bounty, which she produced and directed for the KQED series SPARK. Gina also edited Frank Green’s Counting Sheep, about the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, which aired on KQED’s Truly California series and won a Northern California Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2006; Karina Epperlein’s Phoenix Dance, about a dancer who returns to the stage after losing a leg to cancer, which won San Francisco International Film Festival’s Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Short in 2006, and made the short list of Academy Award Nominations for Best Short Subject Documentary in 2006; Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown, about the pioneering big wave surfer Woody Brown, which was nominated for a Northern California Emmy for Best Documentary in 2006; and Kevin White’s A Land Between Rivers, a one-hour documentary about the history of California’s Central Valley for PBS, which won a CINE Golden Eagle Award for Excellence in Film and Television in 2007. In 1998 she collaborated with the acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Les Blank, on All In This Tea, which she co-produced, co-directed, and edited, and which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007, screened in over 30 festivals world wide, and was broadcast on the Sundance Channel.

Gina has worked with several Bay Area production companies, editing for corporate and non-profit clients including Intel, Symantec, Sybase, Ebay, Guthy-Renker, Stanford University, the California Water Board, ChildFund International, and many others.

Professional Highlights


Return Flight                         Editor, Full Frame Productions, 2011
                                                        Director: Kevin White. Narrated by Peter Coyote. Half-hour documentary about                       
                                                        restoring the Bald Eagle to the Channel Islands in Southern California, after they were wiped
                                                        out by human predation and DDT contamination.

On Wayang                            Co-Producer, Co-Director, Editor, Shadowlight Productions, 2011
                                                        Half-hour documentary on Larry Reed’s journey to becoming a Balinese shadow master.
                                                        Screened February 2011, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.

Training Rules                       Editor, Womanvision, 2009
                                                        Director: Dee Mosbacher. One-hour documentary about homophobia in sports,
                                                        with particular consideration of the Penn State women’s basketball team.
                                                        Winner: Audience Award, Frameline Film Festival, 2009.

Mosquito in the Room   Editor, Filibuster Pictures, 2009
                                                       Director: Clark Brigham. Half-hour documentary on kids asking questions about global          
                                                       warming. Winner, Audience Award, Santa Cruz Film Festival, 2009.

Pirkle Jones:                           Associate Editor, FotoFinish Films, 2008
Seven Decades                        Director: Jane Levy Reed. Half-hour documentary about the life and work of California
Photographed                          photographer, Pirkle Jones.

All In This Tea                          Co-Producer / Co-Director / Editor, Flower Films, 2007
                                                          Feature documentary made with co-filmmaker Les Blank about an eccentric American
                                                          tea importer who travels to remote regions in China in search of the finest teas in the
                                                          world. World Premiere, Berlinale 2007. Screened in film festivals worldwide. Broadcast
                                                          on Sundance Channel.

A Land Between Rivers     Editor, Full Frame Productions, 2006
                                                           Director: Kevin White. Narrated by Rita Moreno. One-hour documentary about the
                                                           history of California’s Central Valley.  Winner, CINE Golden Eagle Award, 2007.

Of Wind and Waves            Editor, David L. Brown Productions, 2006
The Life of Woody Brown     Director: David Brown. Feature documentary about the life of big wave surfing
                                                          pioneer Woody Brown. Nominated: Emmy Award for Best Documentary, 2007.

Phoenix Dance                     Editor / Associate Producer, Karinafilms, 2006
                                                         Director: Karina Epperlein. Half-hour documentary about dance choreographer
                                                         Alonzo King's unprecedented pas de deux created for dancer Homer Avila, who had lost
                                                         his right leg to cancer. Winner: San Francisco International Film Festival Golden Gate Award
                                                         for Best Documentary Short, 2006; Audience Award, Sydney International Film
                                                         Festival, 2007.

Homegrown Bounty         Producer / Director, KQED-TV Channel 9, San Francisco, 2003
                                                         Produced 10-minute documentary for KQED series, SPARK, about the Napa, California
                                                         art collector, Rene di Rosa.

Counting Sheep                  Editor, Green TV, 2003
                                                         Director: Frank Green. One-hour documentary about a wildlife biologist and lion tracker
                                                         who work together to save the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.
                                                         Winner: Northern California Emmy Award for Best Documentary, 2006.

Genghis Blues                       Grant Writer / Research, Wadi Rum Productions. 1997-99
                                                         Director: Roko Belic. Feature documentary about a blind blues musician who travels to Tuva
                                                         to compete in the ancient Tuvan throat singing competition. Winner: Audience Award,
                                                         Sundance ‘99; Nominated: Academy Award 2000.


Nonprofit Clients:               NOAA, The Bay Institute, ChildFund International, Stanford University, California Water
                                                          Board, ITVS, Little Brothers: Friends of the Elderly


Corporate Clients:               Intel, Sybase, Symantec, Ebay, ProActiv, Sephora, Gymboree, Supersmile, Heidi Klum



Currently In Production
   
Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation          Producer / Director, Dakini Films
                                                                               A feature documentary on the acclaimed filmmaker Les Blank.
                                             
Butch Anthony (working title)             Co-producer / Editor, Flower Films
                                                                               A feature documentary on the Alabama self-taught artist, Butch Anthony.
                                
How To Smell A Rose                             Co-producer / Editor, Flower Films
                                                                              A documentary about the co-founder of Direct Cinema, Ricky Leacock.

Ke Kontan (The Contented Heart)   Editor,  Owsley Brown Presents
                                                                              A feature documentary about the Ecole Musique Sainte Trinite' in Port-au-Prince,
                                                                              Haiti.

Tings Dey Happen                                  Editor, Ideas In Motion TV
                                                                              A documentary that follows the actor Dan Hoyle to Nigeria, where he performs
                                                                              a one-man show based on his experiences in the Niger Delta.

Relevant Experience
~ Grant writing: National Endowment for the Arts; ITVS; Fleishhacker Foundation, among others.
~ Board member of the 7-Fund, providing funding for social-issue documentary films.

Skills:
Final Cut Pro
Avid
DVD Studio Pro
Photoshop

Education:
BA Telecommunications & Film                        Certificate: Sustainable Development & Climate Change
Minor in Theatre Arts                                             Sonoma State University, 2011
University of Oregon, 1989

Languages:        * German (fluent)        * Spanish (un poquito)

References available upon request.
 
 

Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation
Produced and Directed by Gina Leibrecht
A feature-length documentary about the life and work of the acclaimed filmmaker Les Blank.

This film is sponsored by the

Make a tax-deductible donation to this film. DONATE NOW
 

Since the early 1960s, Les Blank has documented the lives of people living on the periphery of American society; he made some of the earliest films ever on Cajuns and Texas blues musicians. He is also known for following the unmitigated passions of artists and filmmakers who give their soul to their craft, like filmmaker Werner Herzog and restaurateur Alice Waters. His films are not only documents which serve as a preservation of American subcultures, but a celebration of their food, music, and way of being. His intimate, non-didactic style broke new ground in non-fiction film making and, by expanding the notion of what one can make a film about and how to do it, he inspired generations of filmmakers that followed.

Combining a cinema verite style of Blank’s current life with archival footage, still photographs, anecdotes from those who have known him, as well as clips and never-before-seen out takes from his films, filmmaker Gina Leibrecht will illustrate the enigmatic and sometimes foibled journey of the artist’s life, complete with life changing mistakes and accidental inspirations. This film will reveal the creative force behind this legendary filmmaker and the way in which he uses film not as an end, but a means to express those things which he loves most about the world — the spirit and meaning underlying the way we live, and the many little moments that connect us and give birth to giant revelations of the soul — all the while preserving this national treasure’s legacy for generations to come.

In 1998 I began collaborating with the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Les Blank. In 2007 we completed the feature documentary All In This Tea, which was ten years in the making. In All In This Tea, Les Blank followed the world-renowned American tea importer, David Lee Hoffman, to some of the most remote regions of China as he searched for the finest teas in the world, handmade by small farmers for generations.

In February of 2007, All In This Tea had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Since then it has gone on to screen in over thirty festivals around the world, and was broadcast on Sundance Channel in the U.S. and SVT in Sweden.


The New York Times called All In This Tea “. . . a delicious documentary!”

The Hollywood Reporter said that All In This Tea is “. . . an entertaining portrait of an eccentric figure whose passion proves infectious.”

“This film is both delightful and informative at every turn. . .Blank and Leibrecht have done a masterful job of assembling this film.” — The San Francisco Chronicle

". . .packs in more information (not to mention pleasure) per celluloid foot than anything you'll see this year, fiction or non." — Dennis Harvey, San Francisco Bay Guardian

For more information about All In This Tea, or to purchase a DVD of the film, visit:  www.allinthistea.com

All In This Tea is available for institutions in the U.S. through Bullfrog Films.

For more information about Les Blank, and for a complete catalogue of his films, visit: www.lesblank.com

July 22, 2012

5:00 p.m.  All In This Tea screening and tea tasting at Berkeley Art Museum's Pacific Film Archive. With Gina Leibrecht and Les Blank in person, and followed by a tea tasting with David Lee Hoffman.
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries/blank

May 4, 2012

8:45 p.m.  All In This Tea screening @ the Los Angeles Tea Lover's Festival. 
Filmmaker Gina Leibrecht will be present for q&a.

Accolades for All In This Tea

Dipping Into Many Modes
The New York Times, Nathan Lee, June 27, 2008

The World in a Teacup
San Francisco Chronicle, Will Crain, December 8, 2007

Brisk and Agreeable
The Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan, March 14, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle Review
David Wiegand, December 14, 2007