FILM SUBJECTS
Richard Abruzzo
In 2004, Richard and co-pilot Carol Rymer Davis won the Gordon Bennett Cup. In 1992, Richard and co-pilot Troy Bradley were the first team to set world records for duration, distance, and altitude by flying from North America to Africa. In 2003, Richard was the first person to fly solo in a gas balloon on a transcontinental flight from San Diego to Atlanta. Between 1995 and 2004, he was a five-time winner of the America’s Challenge gas balloon race.
Richard’s awards also include the Harmon Trophy for world’s outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut (2001, 2003, and 2005); the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale De La Vaulx Medal; the Balloon Federation of America Shields-Trauger Award; and the Montgolfier Diplome. He was a member of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Board of Directors and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. Richard’s father was famed balloonist Ben Abruzzo.
Carol Rymer Davis
In 2004, Carol and co-pilot Richard Abruzzo won the Gordon Bennett Cup. She began flying hot-air balloons in 1972 and was one of the first female balloon pilots in the U.S. In 1978-1980 Carol won world records in the AX-5 category for altitude, distance and duration. In 1990 she won the World Ladies Cup Saga Japan, and in 2001, she was the Ladies Champion at the US National Championships. With Richard as a co-pilot, Carol won the REMAX National Gas Balloon Race in 2000, and America’s Challenge race in 2003.
Carol’s awards also include the Montgolfier Diplome (1981, 2000), Sabiha Gokcen Medal (2005), and the Harmon Trophy (2005). She was an avid skier, won first place in numerous skiing events, and she was the youngest female to climb all 53 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot-plus mountains.
Retired from the U.S. army, Carol had been a specialist in Diagnostic Radiology. She served as a Vice President, a member of the Board of Directors, and Treasurer for the Balloon Federation of America.
Bill Hughes
Bill is a veteran hot-air balloon pilot and former Navy pilot who has flown everything from jets to helicopters. Bill entered ballooning in the early 70’s and in 1973 helped Malcolm Forbes make a transcontinental flight across the U.S.
Bill has flown competitively and won events throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. He was designated by the FAA as a Pilot Examiner and Safety Counselor and served as “Balloonmeister,” responsible for all operational aspects of balloon events. Under his leadership, events achieved a perfect safety record! Bill has served as a vice president and board member of the Balloon Federation of America and, during winter months, he travels the U.S. teaching classes that help prepare students for their FAA pilot written examinations.
FILMMAKING TEAM
Emi Katayama
Executive Producer & Producer/Director
During her childhood in Japan, this award-winning producer/director was inspired by the iconic book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, an international best-seller published in 1970, written by Richard Bach. Decades later, her feature film, WIND RIDERS, begins with a hot-air balloon pilot who was so inspired by the same book that he adorned his balloon with the image of seagulls in a blue sky.
In 2019, the City of Albuquerque and Balloon Fiesta, the world’s largest ballooning event, sponsored a three-day screening of WIND RIDERS at the historic KiMo Theatre and the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
After graduating college in the U.S., Emi Katayama worked in New York on hundreds of news shows and television programs produced by major Japanese broadcasters for many years.
Emi is also served as a part of jury members of the Harlem International Film Festival. She’s a member of New York Women in Film & Television and Film Fatales.
Michael Rosen
Executive Producer
Michael Rosen is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. He’s the recipient of five Telly Awards, The Fund’s Social Justice Award, the CINE Gold Eagle, and multiple film festival awards. In digital, Michael has been at the forefront. For Matt Damon, he wrote, produced, and directed short docs that filmed throughout India and Haiti for Water.org, the nonprofit Damon founded with Gary White to highlight the water crisis.
Michael launched and ran the first-ever digital production division of the Television Academy – home of the Emmy Awards. For over five years, as Executive in Charge of Production, he delivered over 30 projects annually to NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, United Airlines, and others. He also co-founded and executive produced the “Archive of American Television” (now “The Interviews”) at the TV Academy Foundation for 10 years, in which he produced and directed on-camera interviews with over 500 television legends.
He’s also produced and/or directed projects for Bravo, IFC, USA Films (Focus Features), Apple, and others; and he’s worked in development and production at The Walt Disney Studios, Touchstone Pictures, and Imagine Entertainment.
Ramin Fathie
Executive Producer
Ramin Fathie has produced films ranging from illegal whaling in Iceland (“Breach”), to the partition of India/Pakistan (“The Sky Below”), to numerous national commercial spots, web-based series, event promos and mini-docs. Prior to producing, Fathie served as DP and Editor for such clients as The History Channel, A&E, PBS and over 100 network, corporate and commercial clients, including three Academy Award and Peabody Award winning Directors.
Ramin was the original series DP for the award winning “Onion News Network.” From 1995-1998 he was a DP for the Steven Spielberg founded “Shoah Foundation,” as well as the Academy Of Television Arts and Sciences “History of American Television” project, headed by Michael Rosen.
Fathie graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in cultural anthropology (elected Phi Beta Kappa). As one of only 50 U.S. Jacob Javits Fellows selected across the nation, he pursued an MFA at UCLA’s School of Film and Television. His thesis film, “Still Point,” was nominated for a regional Student Academy Award and selected for screening at Cinefest Experimental/Madrid.