The CONFLUENCE Team

Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker, Christopher Groban, and Marion Lear Swaybill

Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, have over the past forty years produced many critically praised documentaries for public television and other national platforms.

Their work is characterized by a skillful mixing of serious topics with humor and rich storytelling, and several of their films continue to resonate with audiences around the world: the acclaimed People Like Us: Social Class in America, the first American documentary explicitly about the American class system; Vote for Me — Politics in America, a four-hour examination of politics, politicians and voters; and American Tongues, a celebratory and provocative look at America via the way Americans speak; the film was the very first presentation on the PBS flagship documentary series P.O.V. in 1988.

Many of Louis and Andy's films look at American politics in a fresh way, avoiding horserace coverage and focusing on the human side. Postcards from the Great Divide, nine short films that look at underexamined political stories from around the country, was a remarkably prescient look into the politics of the 2016 elections. Their deep dive into New Orleans racial politics, Getting Back to Abnormal, was shown on P.O.V. in 2014.

Christopher Groban is an award-winning director, writer, and editor, whose work has helped raise millions for various humanitarian causes. Groban executive produced and directed a music documentary series for Ovation network, featuring artists like Grammy-winning band Kings of Leon and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. His eclectic background also includes visual design projects for Beyonce, Bruno Mars, and the CFDA Awards among many others, as well as editing Joe Manganiello’s feature documentary La Bare, which played in theaters nationwide.

Marion Lear Swaybill is a Peabody, DW Griffith, and Emmy award-winning television producer, writer and pioneering media executive. Swaybill has written and produced hundreds of hours of programs for PBS, cable and network television, raised upwards of $60mm in production and co-production funds, and developed international co-production financing models that became the industry standards. Recent projects include Consulting Executive Producer, Every Act Of Life, PBS American Masters and Raise Hell: The Life And Times of Molly Ivins, Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals; and Executive Producer, Now Hear This on PBS Great Performances.

Swaybill is on the Advisory Council of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin and has served on numerous not-for-profit boards including professional choral organization Conspirare, ECPAT-USA and Girl Be Heard focused on sex trafficking and social justice respectively, Chairman, Board of Advisors, National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting at the Jewish Museum, and Festival Chair for the UN Beijing + 5 Conference 2000 Film Festival. She also is the author of Oysters: A Celebration in the Raw [Abbeville Press, 2016].