First to Fall
TFI Suppport
Logline
First to Fall follows a group of young civilian expatriate ‘rebels’ on their 8-month journey to liberate their home country. They give up comfortable, stable lives in order to take up arms against a corrupt regime and risk their lives in a brutal, chaotic war.
Rachel Anderson
Director
Rachel, a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, had her first stint in Egypt on a Fulbright funded journalism program studying foreign correspondence and conversational Arabic. Moving to Cairo in 2010, she assisted in launching and creating feature videos for the multi-media segment of English/Arabic publication of Ahram Online. She also successfully produced the first international series of the U.S. based non-profit event Open Show, allowing Egyptian photo/video artists to showcase their work. During the 2011 Egypt revolution she worked as a videographer and field producer for PBS Frontline documentaries: "Gigi's Revolution", and "The Brothers". Her photography during the uprising was printed in Elle, Marie Claire, The Pittsburgh Tribune, The Greek Herald, and online for PBS ("People Power", "Celebration in Cairo"), MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, and CNN. Her footage of the uprising is also being included in multiple long form documentaries including BBC’s “This World”.
Mike Lerner
Producer
Oscar-nominated producer, Mike Lerner has been producing arts, travel and popular culture documentaries for twenty five years. He has produced films in most countries around the world from the Middle East to South America and from Central Asia to the Far East.
He has produced films for BBC, Channel Four, Five, ITV, Discovery, HBO, PBS, Arte and Travel Channel; the subjects include Picasso, Turkmenbashi, The Sistine Chapel, Hawkwind and Afghanistan. He has won numerous awards including, Academy Nomination for Best Documentary Feature, 4 Sundance Awards (Grand Jury, Best Director, Audience, Cinematography), Grierson Award for Best Documentary, Prix Italia, nominated for 2 Royal Television Society Award and 2 IDA Awards, Cinema Eye Award, Independent Spirit Award, Gotham Independent Film Award, Winner of Alfred Dupont Award, Winner Best Documentary Moscow Film Festival, Winner Harrell Award for Best Documentary Camden International Film Festival.
Tony Gerber
Producer
Filmmaker Tony Gerber is the co-founder (with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage) of Market Road Films. He is the director, producer and cinematographer of the award-winning and critically acclaimed film FULL BATTLE RATTLE about life inside the US Army’s Iraq simulation in the California desert. FULL BATTLE RATTLE was developed with a grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund and had its World premiere at the 2008 Berlinale and went on to win the Special Jury Prize at its US premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. In addition to independent films and television commissions, Gerber collaborates with cutting edge visual artists Allora and Calzadilla, Ann Sofi Siden and Matthew Barney. Gerber is a two-time Emmy recipient and has filmed, directed and written over half-a-dozen documentaries for the National Geographic Channel, filmed in some of the most remote regions of the world. He most recently directed and produced the 2-hour special Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron for National Geographic Channel.