CROWN OF THE CONTINENT: ALASKA’S WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS
Crew Biographies
John Grabowska, Writer/Producer/Director
John Grabowska has worked as a radio and television reporter, a legislative analyst on
Capitol Hill and as a rural development worker in Central America, teaching subsistence
farmers how to manage the killer bee for fun and profit. He has been writing, producing
and directing documentary films since 1991, specializing in the environment and
American History. His films have been screened at festivals around the world and have
won numerous awards, including the Earthwatch Film Award, the George Signey
Independent Film Competition at the San Louis Obispo International Film Festival, a
Gold Hugo from Chicago Intercom and numerous CINE Golden Eagles, Golds at
Worldfest Houston and Telly Awards.
Steve Ruth, Cinematographer
Steve Ruth holds a degree in biology and has conducted extensive field work on the
Olympic peninsula, making him uniquely suited to move into natural history filmmaking.
He has served as principal photographer on numerous award-winning historical and
environmental documentaries, filming in diverse and remote locales from tropics to the
subarctic. He has photographed all of John Grabowska’s documentary films.
Todd Boekelheide, Composer
Todd Boekelheide started in film as a member of American Zoetrope, Francis Ford
Coppola’s San Francisco production company. In 1976, he worked as an assistant editor
on Star Wars. then went on to edit picture and sound on The Black Stallion. His interest
in music for film led him to study composition at Oakland’s Mills College. He is also an
accomplished re-recording mixer, winning an Academy Award for mixing the music in
the film Amadeus. Todd has scored several feature films and documentaries, including
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse; Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven and
Regret to Inform.
Barbara Burst, Editor
Barbara Burst founded and oversees the creative editorial department of Roland House, a
post-production facility in Arlington, Virginia. She cuts documentaries and features for
both independent productions and clients such as PBS, National Geographic, The
Learning Channel, Discovery, and CNN. Her work has won numerous awards, including
the Washington Film Council’s Peer Award for her work on the independent
documentary called you don’t know what i got. Barbara has been a guest on numerous
festival panels and juries and teaches Editing Theory at American University.