Michael Cain is an award winning documentary filmmaker with over 20 years experience in the entertainment sector. Michael will serve as the co-director and producer of STARCK PROJECT.
A native of Dallas, Michael received a Master in Fine Arts | Producing from the American Film Institute (AFI). Michael has produced and executive produced over 20 feature-length films for HBO and SHOWTIME. He has produced commercials and music videos, working with talented directors such as David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers), Christopher Taylor (The District) and cinematographer Wally Pfister (Three-time Oscar® Nominee, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Prestige).
Michael directed and produced the award-winning feature documentary TV Junkie (Special Jury Prize, 2006 Sundance Film Festival). In March 2007, TV Junkie aired on HBO as part of the Addiction Series. This series received the Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Science (The Emmy® Awards). Hollywood Reporter called TV Junkie “the most powerful” of the four films included in the HBO series.
Following the success of TV Junkie, Michael partnered with the New York Times to produce the Curriculum Film Faces of Addiction which received an AVA Award and was nominated for a PRISM AWARD.
Michael is Co-Founder and President of M3 Films LLC and Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of The Dallas Film Society, host of the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF). Michael served as Artistic Director for both the Deep Ellum Film Festival and DIFF and has been named as one of the Top 10 Festival Directors in the country.
Michael is currently developing the Trinity Film Fund which will finance up to $50 million in independent films.
Electronic funk revolutionary, Wade Randolph Hampton, aka DJ WishFM, has always preferred exploring the outer perimeters of dance music. He is a musician’s Jack-of-all- Trades. Wade will serve as a Producer on STARCK PROJECT with a focus on music-licensing and original score.
Wade splits his time between the studio and the rush of live environment. He has produced the soundtrack for Sony Pictures Classics Groove on the Kinetic/Warner Brothers label. Groove was nominated for ‘Best Film Under $500,000’ at the 2001 IFC Independent Film Awards. The soundtrack sold over 100,000 copies in 24 countries. In 2002, Wade contributed to the remix album for Darren Aronofsky’s Oscar winning film, Requiem for a Dream, which was released on Thrive/Sony/RED Records. In 2006, Wade served as Music Supervisor for the documentary TV Junkie which won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize.
Wade has produced 5 highly celebrated compilation CDs and two original artist albums for San Francisco’s groundbreaking Zoe Magik label. On his own labels, Domestic Recordings and La Belle Epoque Musique, he released his own debut album and albums for American dance music stalwarts Mark Farina, Symbiosis and Westside Chemical.
Cementing his reputation as a true historian of American dance music, Wade has spent two decades headlining at the world’s largest music festivals and being featured in 19 television and film documentaries; including MTV’s True Life series, CBS’s 48 HOURS, and the late Peter Jennings heralded Ecstasy Rising .
Wade has DJ’ed at Timothy Leary’s funeral, produced for Traci Lords, learned from Derrick Carter, DJ’ed with Perry Farrell, Paul Oakenfold and Trainspotting’s Irvine Welsh and he still finds the time to serve as Director of Marketing for Dallas’ hottest entertainment group, N9NE, owner of the Ghostbar.
Dennis Bishop is a producer with a distinctive style and ideology. His career defies stereotyping as he thoughtfully chooses each project, resulting in a broad range of eclectic credits. He has twice worked with Academy Award winner Horton Foote on A Trip to Bountiful and 1918. Dennis will serve as a producer on STARCK PROJECT with a focus on transitioning the documentary to narrative and television.
A Dallas native Dennis began his film career as a Location/Unit Manager on David Puttnam’s highly acclaimed Local Hero, written and directed by Bill Forsyth. He quickly climbed the ranks to Production Manager and Line Producer on projects including: Promised Land, developed at the Sundance Institute, and Daddy’s Dying: Who has the Will? and Kid Brother which won the Grand Prix des Ameriques at the 1987 Montreal Film Festival.
Dennis joined HBO Pictures as Director and later Vice President of Physical Production. During his three-year tenure he oversaw twenty-seven of HBO’s most acclaimed cable movies, garnering over fifty major awards. Following HBO, Dennis executive produced two features for Joe Roth and Roger Birnbaum’s Caravan Pictures: the Hollywood Pictures’ comedy hit Houseguest and Walt Disney Pictures’ soccer movie, The Big Green.
After co-producing Paramount’s The Evening Star, featuring Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine, Dennis took on the TNT adventure-drama Two for Texas, directed by Rod Hardy and starring Kris Kristofferson and Tom Skerritt, a project rich in his native Texas’ history, Dennis was instrumental in the authenticity of story and visuals; a full-scale replica of the Alamo façade was created. Dennis’s next project was the remake of the classic, Inherit the Wind, directed by Dan Petrie, Sr. for MGM/Showtime.
Dennis’ experience led him to oversee production of Universal Pictures’ box office hit, The Fast and the Furious. He then went on to be Co-Producer/UPM on NASCAR: The IMAX Experience, directed by Simon Wincer (Lonesome Dove) for IMAX/Warner Bros. Dennis’ first two TV pilots were picked up to series: the critically acclaimed Dexter for Showtime and CANE for CBS.
Dennis has relocated back to North Texas to serve as the Program Director of the Motion Picture Production program at KD College in Dallas and as the Director for the Lone Star International Film Festival in Fort Worth.
Melina McKinnon, a South-African immigrant and proud Texan, is the co-Founder and CEO of M3 Films, a Dallas-based production company, founded in 2003 which specializes in the production of concert films and documentaries.
In a partnership with Dallas mega director King Hollis, Melina has produced a trifecta of successful concert films: ARGUE WITH A TREE for Universal Music’s Blue October; LIVE AND VERY ATTRACTIVE for Grammy Nominated Sony Music artists Bowling for Soup; and LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT for the King of Austin Music Bob Schneider.
An award-winning filmmaker, Melina is currently producing the STANLEY MARCUS documentary; the first film in a multi-part series that will focus the lens on visionaries who shaped Dallas and created outward growth by nurturing local roots.
In 2011 she and two partners launched the Trinity Diversified Film Fund Advisors which will finance up to $50 million in independent films. As a compliment to her production work Melina has produced 15 film festivals in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas and Santa Monica, California.
Melina was the recipient of the 2011 Women in Film Dallas Achievement Award.