Who We Are

Creative Director/President

Ben Kalina MFA (Film and Media Arts, Temple University) is the owner/operator of Mangrove Media in Philadelphia, PA.  He has won awards for his films Diorama, Education on the Rosebud Reservation and Radical Notions, including grand prize awards at film festivals in the United States and Europe.  Ben has been producing video content for non-profit and for-profit organizations for over a decade, primarily for fund-raising and social media purposes.

Mr. Kalina is the Associate Producer and Outreach Coordinator for A Sea Change, the critically acclaimed documentary about ocean acidification which premiered in March 2009 and had its broadcast debut on Discovery’s Planet Green network in September 2009.  A Sea Change is currently screening around the world at festivals and grassroots events.  Mr. Kalina currently has two documentaries in production, Shored Up about surfing and beach replenishment on the coast of New Jersey, and Plan C for Civilization about geo-engineering.  He is a board member of the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association in Philadelphia, where he lives with his family.

Director of Photography

Jen Schneider is a cinematographer based in Philadelphia.  Her credits as Director of Photography include Anderson Monarchs, a Sundance Grant-funded feature documentary about an all-girls soccer club in South Philadelphia, which was selected to participate in this year’s Good Pitch program at Tribeca and is produced by Green Film Company (Freakonomics, By the People, For the People); “The_Source”, an interactive web series currently in development, awarded Best Drama and Best in Fest at LATV Fest, Best Drama at ITVFest, and was official selection at New York Television Festival; “RADAR,” nominated for Best Documentary of 2010, a series of 3-minute webisodes on Babelgum that highlight the innovations and creative practices of emerging artists.

Jen’s shooting work has garnered awards and recognition from such institutions such as the Mid-Atlantic Emmys (for her work on Emmy-nominated “On Canvas: Melody Gardot”), Eastman Kodak and CINE, and her work has screened in festivals and venues across the country and internationally.  Work samples and resume can be found at www.touchyfilms.com.