Our Team
Maya Sanbar - Director
“Being part of the process of making this film during lockdown has been a really deep experience for all of us. It has been a way of reaching through, across borders. The title FOOTSTEPS ON THE WIND refers to the marks we leave behind on our journeys, and how they are carried to others energetically by the wind’s invisible flow through boundaries.
We have designed the film with characters that encapsulate many different races: the refugee story is planetary. The art of animation allows symbolism for the viewer’s imagination to transgress words: there are many layers to uncover in the treasure hunt of clues within the script. The story is conceived as a storytelling tool for trauma therapy, about all kinds of loss and resilience, whether within or outside the experience of being physically or emotionally displaced."
Maya is an Artist and Filmmaker. Her work in both moving image and installation is centred on the art of storytelling. As a multimedia artist, her work has been exhibited internationally, notably installations at Shoreditch Town Hall in London “Waiting” 2015, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City “Alex in Wonderland” scented experience (2016), and at the Berlin Wall on the 30th anniversary of its fall “Chasing the Light” (2019), "Words on the Hill" at the Coronet Theatre in London (2020). Her production credits include 360 immersion visits to artist studios, and documentaries. Sanbar is fluent in 6 languages, and passionate about crossing cultural boundaries using words with images to bring about a fresh point of view.
Her experience is varied, as is her career. From her beginnings in international law and the United Nations, she has honed the skill of telling stories that have relevance, in both the public and corporate worlds. She takes a keen interest in education as an engine for change – Maya is a Trustee of Madrinha mentoring children to thrive to their highest potential, and she is a Governor of a London state school. Maya Sanbar is a regular public speaker, and helps promote others finding their own voice too.
Gustavo Leal & Faga Melo - Director
“People can’t imagine how is it to be a refugee or what it might be like to leave behind your dreams, culture, and identity to follow a path of uncertainty, in an ocean of the unknown. We hope that this film can raise awareness and make the difference in these people’s lives”
Gustavo Leal, a publicist from Varginha - Minas Gerais, worked as an art director in some of the most important advertising agencies in Brazil such as DM9DDB and Wunderman for global brands like Microsoft, Intel and Chevrolet. In 2013, his passion for storytelling, design and illustration spoke louder and he decided to open Dirty Work, a film production company.
Faga Melo, filmmaker and motion graphics artist, born in São Gonçalo - Rio de Janeiro, studied Cinema in São Paulo and Los Angeles, has worked between production of advertising films, content for Cinema, TV and stages such as Rod Stewart World Tour and Paralympic Games.
In 2016, when their paths finally crossed, they started to work as a Duo and were immediately able to put into practice the combination of their singular taste for things in every opportunity.They are driven by a collaborative and horizontal way of work that aims the contribution of all the people involved in the production, besides, of course, the endless seek of the most original possible way to tell a good story.Passionate about illustration, photography, cinema and animation, Leal and Faga are always looking for new experiments and techniques to evolve in each project they direct.
Sting - Music
“Songs are like empathy machines, whereas you write about a situation while empathizing with the characters in that situation, and then the listener often empathizes with the people in that situation. The situation I was talking about were these families escaping danger in rubber boats trying to cross the Mediterranean to get to safety.
I'm a father; I'm a grandfather. I imagined myself in that situation wanting to bring my family to safety in a very dangerous situation. The word “Inshallah”- which means “if God is willing, then it shall come to pass” - sounded to me like a prayer that people in this situation would be saying. And then the song practically wrote itself.” - 7 time Grammy Award winning singer songwriter Sting
Pedro Paulo de Andrade - Screenwriter
Pedro Paulo de Andrade is a Brazilian director and screenwriter from São Paulo. Andrade is passionate about creative challenges and storytelling. Together, his films accumulate hundreds of official selections and more than 50 awards, including the Ibram Screenplay Award from the Ministry of Culture, the Grand Prize of the Brazilian Film Academy in the Best Fiction Short Film Category and screenings at MoMA in NYC, Festival do Rio, Académie des César's Les Nuits en Or, to list a few.
Recently, among other projects, he wrote four episodes of the TV series “Fathers”, which won the Prodav05 Grant from Ancine. He also co-directed the short film “Framed”, with Luiza Campos and wrote the manifesto for the Opening of the 27th Mix Brasil Film Festival, with great repercussion in the LGBTQI+ scene.
He currently directs two feature films: “The Remains” (in production) and “Open Rehearsal” (in post), in addition to writing the feature film screenplay “Wide Awake”, which was selected by both Spcine's Doctoring Grant and renowned Laboratório Novas Histórias.
Gillian Gordon - Producer
“Producing an animation short during lock-down was a fascinating adventure through Zoom from London, to New York and Brazil. I could never have guessed how brilliantly the collaboration would go. Talented artists and producers around the world gave us their hearts and souls.”
Ito Andery - Producer
“Producing this film was an inspired effort for everybody on the team. It was also a challenge due to our pandemic situation. The film was made in 152 production days during COVID 19 lockdown. We created 8,000 animated frames in 10 acts, and the story is told through 110 scenes, with almost 200 hand illustrated shots. To make this project happen, we’ve involved around 100 passionate people that work in the film industry around the globe.”
Ito Andery, producer and executive producer from Brazil. Also a musician and passionate about all kinds of arts.
I'm very proud of what we have achieved with this film. Knowing that the film will live forever as part of something that will do good and maybe change people's lives makes me very proud.
I like to think I had an important role in bringing the team together and keeping up with the good spirits during the whole process, which took over six months.
Kristin Olafsdottir (Klikk Productions) - Producer
“The growing refugee crisis is a universal problem that concerns us all. Our education outreach program is integral to the movement we want to create with this film. Partnering with schools and NGOs we hope to raise wider compassion and deeper understanding on the plight of displaced and traumatised children. Footsteps on the Wind can truly have real impact.”
Fernanda Zaffari - Producer
Fernanda Zaffari is a journalist with over 20 experience. Newspaper columnist, tv presenter, talk show anchor and radio host, she has been focusing her work in the cultural sector. As an International correspondent based in London for the last 8 years, Fernanda broadcasts live daily to Brazil and hosts a radio program about current affairs. Member of the Foreign Press Association in London, her international coverage stands out in coverages such as World Cups, Oscar Awards, Elections in Europe, The Brexit Referendum, the refugee crises and, most recently, the Covid pandemic.
Executive Producers
Bobby Sager
“With my photographs I seek to share our common humanity and to learn from it.”
Robert Sager is an American philanthropist and photographer, best known for founding the Sager Family Traveling Foundation and Roadshow, a charitable organisation.
Sawsan Afsari
Sawsan is at present the executive director of the Galilee Foundation,which supports the palestinian community in israel through education and cultural initiatives. She is also a co- founder and a trustee of the Asfari Foundation, which focuses on education, civil society and relief programmes.
Hwira’ti Gibin
Story Development
Sita Brahmachari
'It was vital that our engagement with unaccompanied refugee children was rooted in the Arts. We explored through music, dance, writing, conversations and art how and what to tell... the resulting river of footsteps collaged and flowing across the room contain the stories of children who have been forced to walk our world today. These footsteps and the courageous, creative spirits of refugee children and young adults are the heart-beat of this animation. Their call to us cannot be lost on the winds. In its imagery we have scattered sustaining hope-symbols that belong to the refugee children in our stories, a dandelion seed head, a red school-rucksack, fruit from the orchard of home carried across continents by children seeking their human right... a safe place to plant a future.”
Sita Brahmachari is a critically acclaimed author of plays, short stories and novels. She has written widely on refugee experience and is writer-in-residence at Islington centre for Refugees and Migrants and an Amnesty Ambassador for the rights of children.
Onjali Q. Rauf
"Whether it is through endless wars or climate change, growing dictatorships or targeted political persecution, the forced displacement of millions of our fellow human beings, and the pains they are forced to endure for being brave enough to survive, is becoming increasingly inescapable. Sting’s beautiful inclusion of the word ‘In’sha’allah’ (May it be God’s will/God- willing), resonates deep in the bones of every refugee in the camps and oceans and devastated lands they are navigating, and in the hearts of every frontline volunteer too.
I am deeply proud that the voices of the children my teams and I have met across northern France over the years - and whose voices you will hear as this staggering, universally created film ends - are the last to echo that hope-filled word out to the world. It is for our kids, and the coming generations of souls fleeing every fragment of home they know, that the immense works on this video were undertaken at all. And it is with them in mind, that I hope everyone’s efforts, visions and deeply held humanity will be heard and shared."
Onjali Q Raúf is a best-selling English author and the founder of O's Refugee Aid Team, an NGO which supports frontline refugee aid response teams across Northern France and beyond.
