Kumiko Hayashi was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a documentary film director, producer, and cinematographer. She has pioneered unexplored frontiers in indigenous media. She has presented her work with environmental conservation and indigenous cultures in conferences and gatherings around the world. She is a producer and cinematographer of the film, WOMEN OF THE WHITE BUFFALO (2020), a documentary about the stories of Native American Lakota Women. THE ROOTS AWAKEN is her first directed feature length film.

MIGUEL RAMA TORRES fell in love with Photography at a very young age. When he was 17 years old his Mother gifted him a film camera. From that moment on, a spark lit up inside of him, and he began photographing. With a background in photography and art, a natural shift into filmmaking was inevitable. Rama doesn’t consider himself just a cinematographer, but rather a video storyteller and artist, capturing truth and beauty through the eye of his lens. His diverse portfolio includes numerous documentaries, commercials, short films, music videos and feature films. Cinematography and aerial cinematography have allowed Rama to follow his heart and travel the world extensively. He feels blessed and honored to get to travel the world and share, experience, document and capture a variety of stories, traditions, rituals and diverse cultures. Rama is fascinated by filmmaking and strives to evolve and expand with every project he is involved in. Rama works very closely with the Director/Directors to ensure their vision is met and comes to life on the screen. He captures the essence of that which is wanting to be told and shared. 

RENICK TURLEY has lived his life in the pursuit of knowledge and beauty, and enables others to realize their dreams through the use of film and music. A family history of film and music led to an education in the arts, with an emphasis on film and music. Renick has award winning projects and 5 successful Film Festival productions, Director of Photography for “The Song Within” 2011,”The Ghost of the Cuban Queen” 2012, “HOZHO, The Beauty Way” 2013, “A Journey Into Plants and Flowers” 2014,“The Search for Sustainability” 2015, “Honor Riders” 2016. He is the founder of Sedona Film Productions and continues to enjoy a creative lifestyle sculpting sound and painting with light.

JIMMY PIAGUAJE indigenous filmmaker. He loves meeting new challenges, new places and people, which has led him to actively collaborate with this feature film. He has worked on the recovery of the oral memories of his ancestors, participating in several documentaries about the knowledge of medicinal plants and the struggle of his tribe, the Siekopai people, against the violation of the rights of ancestral territory. He works as a communicator for the NGO Alianza Ceibo, an indigenous partner of the international organization Amazon Frontlines.

THE TEAM

Director & Producer: Kumiko Hayashi

Executive Producers: Igor Konstantinovsky, Dana Lisa Berlin & Gary Berlin

C0-Producer: Renick Turley

Cinematographers: Miguel Rama Torres & Kumiko Hayashi

Associate Producers: Elle Williams & Jimmy Piaguaje

NGO Coordinator: Mayra McCullough