creative Team
mike syers
Director
Mike is a Provincetown, MA-based award winning documentary filmmaker & has a long history of national & local non-profit & LGBTQ+ leadership & activism. He is founder of a Provincetown filmmakers collaborative focused on expanding community among filmmakers connected to Americas Oldest Art Colony. Before turning his talent to filmmaking Mike was a senior partner at the global firm Ernst & Young. During 35 year career he co-founded EY’s LGBTQ group in early 2000’s, becoming the first publicly open gay partner at EY and worked with other top tier global companies on LGBTQ workplace matters. He worked with President Obama’s administration and met directly with then Vice-President Biden to help shape the White House’s equality policy, including championing marriage equality. He has served as an advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative and the United Nations on matters of LGBTQ workplace & human rights. Mike has been heralded in the press as one of the pioneering & influential LGBTQ corporate leaders in the United States from 2006 until his retirement.
fermin rojas
Producer
Fermin is a producer/filmmaker, actor, writer and co-founder of DKR Films. He is a member Helltown Players, Desert Playwrights’ Retreat, and The Truro Playwright Collective that presented a reading feature-length play Liberty Talks that will have its world premiere production in fall 2024. DKR’s award-winning documentaries include There Are Things To Do (about LGBTQ activist Urvashi Vaid), Alumbrones, The Black Mambas and King Philip’s Belt : A Story of Wampum, which screened at The Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian. Narrative film credits include executive producer for The Ali’i King, written and directed by Christine Kunewa Walker and consulting producer of Best Place by Marco Calvani. Along with husband Jay Kubesch, Fermin produced Cuba’s first and only gay men’s singing ensemble Mano a Mano, who toured the Untied States in 2016, collaborating with Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC, South Florida Gay Men’s Chorus and GALA Chorus Festival. He has authored numerous ten minute plays, books for musicals and monologues for the stage. Among these are A Twinkle in Time, Destination Holiday, Cold War and Karen:Based on Oh So Many Real Events.
jay kubesch
editor
Jay is a co-founder of DKR and plays an integral role in the operations of the company. He oversees all aspects of production, post-production and accounting. He had edited many of DKR’s films including King Philip’s Belt, There are Things To Do and promotional pieces for non-profit organizations. Jay has a keen vision of balancing creativity with business from his lifelong involvement in his family’s management and development of The Cole Porter Music and Literary Trust. Jay has the distinction of being third cousin to Mr. Porter. He sits on the Board of the J.O. and Alice F. Cole Trust, an NPO benefiting the development of young musical artists. A graduate of Purdue University and a licensed pilot.
Marc Smolowitz
consulting producer
Marc is a multi-award winning independent filmmaker. With three decades of experience in the film and media business, Smolowitz is a director, producer and executive producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films. Wearing many hats across the entertainment industry, the combined footprint of his works has touched 200+ film festivals and markets on five continents, yielding substantial worldwide sales to theatrical, television and VOD outlets, notable box office receipts, and numerous awards and nominations. His long list of credits includes films that have screened at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Venice, AFI Docs, IDFA, DOC NYC, CPH: DOX, Tokyo, Melbourne, Viennale, Krakow, Jerusalem, among others.