Minding Shadows is produced by So Fare Films, an American film production company and internship program with its operational headquarters in Rome, Italy. Read more about the Minding Shadows Team below.

Jenn Lindsay: PRoducer/Director

Jenn Lindsay is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, social scientist and Ted Talk speaker. She is the CEO and Head of Production at So Fare Films. Since 2005, she worked in post-production as a film editor, story assistant, and independent producer with MTV, the Sundance Channel, Atmosphere Pictures, and Swete Films. Her 2020 documentary short Quarantined Faith won multiple awards at film festivals. Her documentary feature Simulating Religious Violence had its World Premiere in Fall 2024 at the Religion Today Film Festival in Trento, Italy, and will continue on its premiere screening tour through Spring 2025. She has screened her ethnographic documentaries in festivals, conferences, and classrooms around the world, winning awards from the International Society for Religion and Science and the Society for Psychological Anthropology. Jenn earned her Ph.D. in the social science of religion at Boston University, a masters degree in religious studies from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University (2011), graduate training in arts management from Yale University School of Drama (2005), and an undergraduate degree in Playwriting from Stanford University (2001). She is a Lecturer in Sociology at John Cabot University in Rome.

For a decade prior to graduate study, Jenn worked in the film and music industries as a composer, film editor, performer and documentary filmmaker. Her ten albums are available on Spotify, iTunes and at JennLindsay.com.

Andrea Franceschini: editor

Born in Trento, Italy, in 1982, Andrea Franceschini is an independent filmmaker, novelist and scholar. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences (Università IULM of Milan, 2005), a Master's Degree in Television, Cinema and Multimedia Production (Università IULM of Milan, 2008), a Master's Degree in Screenwriting (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia of Rome, 2010), and a PhD in Communication and New Technologies (Università IULM of Milan, 2013). This interdisciplinary background includes the production of multimedia videos, commercials, music videos, short films and feature documentary films, as well as screenplays for television and theater.

Since 2007, he has been working as an independent filmmaker on national and international films about music, arts and social sciences. Many of his works have been selected and awarded in Italian and international film festivals (including Roma Cinema Doc and Religion Today Film Festival of Trento, Italy, Babel Film Festival of Cagliari, Les Arc Film Festival and Ethnografilm in Paris, Lift-Off in London, Classical Arts in Napa, California, Golden Door in Jersey City, and NewsFest in Las Vegas).

Since 2013 he has been teaching Film Production at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, and now at the Trentino Art Academy in Trento, Italy.

Since 2021 he has been working as a filmmaker for FBK, the Bruno Kessler Foundation, in Trento, Italy.

Manuela Barroso: Assistant Producer of Minding Shadows and Business Operations Specialist, So Fare Films

Manuela Barroso is a Brazilian student of International Affairs and Business at John Cabot University, in Rome, Italy. Filmmaking has been a primary passion of hers since her high school years in São Paulo, Brazil, when she had the opportunity to take two film production courses. With extensive experience in management, she organized the biggest Leadership Conference for Brazilian students in Europe (BRASA EuroLeads), also participating and winning awards in Conferences such as the Harvard Congress Model Latin America 2017. In January 2023, she also worked at the TedXRoma Conference welcoming 18 international speakers and sponsors. Since 2022, Manuela has been part of the So Fare Films team, acting as the Business Operations Specialist, and Assistant Producer for Minding Shadows.

The Venerable Sangharakkhita / olivier biraro: Protagonist and author

The Venerable Sangharakkhita Olivier Biraro was born in Rwanda in 1981. At age 17, he started practicing Buddhism and later became the first and the only Buddhist Monk in the Theravada Tradition from Rwanda. He is an inspirational speaker on subjects of inner peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and trauma healing. So far, he has authored seven books on the aforementioned subjects. He addresses private and public schools, universities and religious communities. He teaches Yoga, Tai Chi and Mindfulness Meditation as ways to mend broken communities. Aside from publishing spiritual materials, he translates classic books that aim at awakening the human consciousness. He has translated “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran and “Your Word is your Wand” by Florence Scovel Shinn into his mother tongue. His interests include eastern martial arts. He holds a black belt in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, and has attended several international competitions as a member of his country’s national teams.