Max Asaf | Director & Producer

Max Asaf is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and producer based in Chicago. His short, “Bad Hostage”, premiered at the 2024 Sheffield Doc Fest and went on to win multiple Jury Awards, and was short-listed for the 2025 International Documentary Association Awards and the 2026 Academy Awards.

Max’s career has spanned both producing and fundraising. He served as the development coordinator at the acclaimed Kartemquin Films where he helped raise over $5 million for documentaries like Minding the Gap and America to Me. He has served as a producer on projects from award-winning documentary filmmakers including as the Co-Producer of “Collision Course,” an upcoming feature documentary on the 1981 PATCO strike from Kindling Group, “The Last Drop,” a short sci-fi fiction film exploring the overlooked signs of relationship abuse.Max is a proud member of the Documentary Producer’s Alliance and continues to collaborate with filmmakers across fiction and nonfiction projects.

Ingrid Roettgen | Editor

Ingrid Roettgen is a documentary filmmaker and editor. In her decade of experience crafting indie nonfiction film, she has worked as a producer, editor, post-production supervisor, archival producer, and more. Ingrid was a 2025 True/False Film Festival Ringleader and a 2019 News and Documentary Emmy® nominee. She is a member of the Alliance of Documentary Editors. A midwest native, Ingrid currently splits her time between Chicago, IL and St. Louis, MO.