+ Irene Zabytko

Co-director, producer, writer and film editor Irene Zabytko is the award winning author of the novel about Chornobyl, THE SKY UNWASHED. This is the highly acclaimed book on which the documentary film LIFE IN THE DEAD ZONE, and the film short EPIPHANY AT CHORNOBYL are based. She is also the author of a short story collection, WHEN LUBA LEAVES HOME, many articles, and is completing her third book of fiction. She was awarded numerous fellowships which include The Ragdale Foundation, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, The Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony, The Alden B. Dow Creativity Center, and will be a 2008 writer-in-residence at The Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes Station, California where she will be writing a companion book of essays about filming in Chornobyl. She has studied filmmaking with Dov S.S. Siemans and with the B.B.C. in London.

+ Peter Mychalcewycz

Co-director, film editor and cinematographer Peter Mychalcewycz, originally from Key West, Florida, majored in broadcast communications at Flagler College. During his college years, he visited Ukraine, the home of his paternal grandmother. The trip inspired him to attend the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard University where he studied Ukrainian language and culture. Currently, he lives and works in New York City where he is a freelance camera operator and director, and has worked with The History Channel, A&E, The Sundance Channel, and MTV networks. He has also directed and filmed several award winning short films and documentaries. His works have premièred at the Olafest Latin American Heritage Film Festival (Orlando, Florida), Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, and Dallas International Film Festival among others.