PROTEAN FILMS

We adapt to the demands of story, location, and audience. Based in New York City, we are a client-focused multimedia company collaborating with a broad network of high-achieving media professionals. We aim to be nimble and to efficiently scale our workflow to meet the needs of clients large and small.

Our films harness a wide range of often complex subjects and challenging working environments:

• We interviewed a key Egyptian activist as the tumultuous revolution unfolded and a former child soldier about the fundamental value of respecting human dignity.

• We partnered with the director of the new Broadway musical Motown on a moving examination of race and religion using the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• In the Costa Rican rainforest, we captured gorgeous images of the ecosystem as our equipment dripped with ambient moisture. In collaboration with illustrator Gordon Waltho, we created gripping original artwork and characters for the fantasy book series The Emerald Atlas.

• We produced and hosted a tv talk show amidst the bustle and glamor of Fashion Week. Under tight media secrecy, we filmed as President Obama’s children’s book “Of Thee I Sing” went to press.

• Our interviews with Nobel laureates, a former President and a TED prizewinner have cut straight to the heart of their important work and insights.

Beyond original filmed material, we leverage the power of archival footage, powerful original and published music and photography, and new graphic visuals in creative, engaging formats. We seek to move beyond shopworn narrative clichés and consistently uncover fresh and inspiring storytelling approaches.

Protean Films’ recent clients include large companies such as Random House Children’s Books, The New York Times, and Constellation Wines as well as NGOs and non-profits including the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, The Revenue Watch Institute, and the International Center for Transitional Justice. Protean Films worked with the acclaimed photojournalists of VII Photo producing the video component of  VII Magazine. In 2005, Hanna served as lead editor of PBS Frontline’s Emmy Award–winning investigation, The Storm, produced by Martin Smith of Rain Media. Featuring interviews with key figures, the documentary explored the failure of local and national political leadership during the humanitarian crisis post-Hurricane Katrina.

Over the last decade, Hanna worked as a producer, director, camera operator, editor and supervisor on popular lifestyle, comedy and investigative programs for A&E, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, TruTV, TLC, and others. Additional documentary editing includes work for History Channel, National Geographic, a Smithsonian HD special Uncommon Courage, set during the Korean War, and earlier on Gotham Fish Tales, The Sundance Channel’s quirky look at fishing and water quality issues in NYC boundary waters. Hanna co-edited the New York Times/Frontline co-production Looking For Answers, about the roots of Al-Qaeda, which won a duPont-Columbia Gold Baton award.

Sonia got her start in documentary film and video at Valkhn Film & Video editing programs for The Learning Channel, A&E, The Discovery Channel and PBS. She later served as a lead instructor at the Media Centre de Dakar training Senegalese youth in all aspects of issue-based film-making. During that time, Sonia also co-hosted a community radio show and produced and edited a number of short- and long-format videos including the feature documentary “Poussières de Ville” produced by Films du Crocodile and UNICEF.