Confluence > The Team

Louis Alvarez is one of the founders of The Center for New American Media. He and Andrew Kolker have been twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, and have over the past forty years produced many critically praised documentaries that present surprising new insights on society and culture. 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, the first American documentary explicitly about the American class system; VOTE FOR ME, a four-hour examination of politics, politicians and voters; and AMERICAN TONGUES, a celebratory and provocative look at America via the way Americans speak. Their documentaries have been featured three times on POV.

Christopher Groban is an award-winning director, writer, and editor whose work has helped raise millions for various humanitarian causes like DEBRA and Find Your Light Foundation. Some of his eclectic work also includes creating and directing the television documentary series On The Record with Mick Rock, 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. His commercial work includes many clients such as Illumination Entertainment, Amgen, ViiV Healthcare, and Western Governor's University, and has been displayed at the Guggenheim and Times Square. He is currently learning Turkish and seeking the next best coffee.

Andrew Kolker is the other founder of The Center for New American Media. He and Louis Alvarez have been twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, and have over the past forty years produced many critically praised documentaries that present surprising new insights on society and culture. 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, the first American documentary explicitly about the American class system; VOTE FOR ME, a four-hour examination of politics, politicians and voters; and AMERICAN TONGUES, a celebratory and provocative look at America via the way Americans speak. Their documentaries have been featured three times on POV.

Marion Lear Swaybill is an Emmy award-winning television producer, writer, pioneering media executive & communications strategist. She has written & produced hundreds of hours of award-winning programs for PBS, cable & network broadcast, digital & theatrical distribution, raised upwards of $75mm in production and co-production financing and, as Director of CoProductions at WNET, developed international co-production financing models that became industry standards. Swaybill is the winner of two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and a DW Griffith Award, among many others. In addition to her media endeavors, she authored Oysters: A Celebration in the Raw, published by Abbeville Press in 2016. Swaybill is a member of the Advisory Council of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin.

Rob Kuhns has been Editing since 1987. His many credits include, A MURDER IN MANSFIELD (Directed by Barbara Kopple, Discovery ID); “BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD” (also Director, New York Times Critic’s Pick - 2013, Theatrical Release); REDEMPTION (Academy Award Nomination, Best Short Documentary - 2013, HBO); SLEEPER CELL (Golden Globe nomination - 2005, Showtime); THIS IS A GAME, LADIES (also Co-Director, Audience Award AFI Silverdoc Festival - 2003, PBS); and ADAM CLAYTON POWELL (Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary, 1990).

The Center for New American Media was founded in New Orleans in 1979, its mission to take a fresh look at American culture through documentary films that would be accessible to the general public. Since that time, CNAM has produced a series of critically praised documentaries which have twice garnered both the George Foster Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, as well as being presented three times on the pioneering PBS documentary series POV. Topics range from core aspects of American culture (class, race, women’s lives) to international perspectives on America’s influence in the world.