People

Jeffrey Travis

Growing up in Argentina, Jeffrey never had a VCR, a telephone or Captain Crunch cereal till he moved to the U.S., but did develop a passion for magical realism literature as well as a love for beef and good wine. Jeffrey got a Master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and has authored three books that have nothing remotely to do with filmmaking. Having mucked around with borrowed video cameras in earlier years, he made his first short film *Busy Signals in 2001 (together with David Taylor as DOS gringos productions). After making Recuerdos de Un Mate he got the preposterous idea of making seven shorts in one year, and so he & David started Project Seven. Jeffrey and his wife, Stephanie, have three children: Maeve, Aidan, and Rachel.

David Taylor

Born in Guatemala under the constant threat of a military or political coup, David experienced his artistic enlightenment in 1993, following his fortnight consumption of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Recently returned from graduate school in Vancouver, Canada, where he studied theology and ancient Greek and Hebrew, he has taken up a post as Arts Minister at Hope Chapel in Austin, TX. As playwright, he’s authored and directed three plays: «Virtues & Lies» (1997), «The Merrygoround» (1999), «Adam & Eve» (2002), and yet has felt that his imagination did not always fit within the boundaries of the stage. Under the influence of surrealism and impressionism, and not a little bit of satire, he’s taken the risk of grabbing a film camera, daring the fates to prove him wrong. Or something like that. I can never take these things too seriously.

Mike Akel

Michael Demetrius Akel was born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Arkansas. He has four sisters and one brother. He credits his dad, for influencing him with a love for film and two of his childhood friends, Chris Mass and Brian McComas for helping shape his view of comedy, drama, and storytelling as a whole. Mike graduated from Southwest Missouri State University in 1994 with a degree in Radio / TV / Film. However, it wasn’t until he moved to Austin, Texas in 1996 that he started pursing acting and filmmaking more passionately. Since living in Austin, Mike has performed on stage in «The Merchant of Venice», «Little Shop of Horrors», and «Nunsense». On television, Mike has been cast in three commercials: «Time Warner», «Dell Computers», and «Army Reserve». Most recently, Mike, along with 3 of his best friends have formed SomeDaySoon Productions, and made four films: «I Miss the 80Õs» , F-3 Film Festival (1998) «Robbers» , Fort Worth Film Festival (1999) «Butcher’s 15», Austin Film Festival (2000), and The Hope Arts Film Festival (2001). «the surprise», Just completed (Mar. 1st 2002). Mike is currently teaching TV / Film at Travis High School in Austin, Texas. «I can’t believe I’m a high school teacher who gets to show kids how to make short films, music videos and commercials, and to top it off, at the end of the month I get paid millions of dollars for it. OK, maybe not millions but I get paid more than I did at Starbucks.» Mike is extremely excited about Project Seven and the opportunity to run the race of making art with such talented and passionate people as you see above and below his picture.