Richar Kane is an independent director whose work is focused on the intersection of art and contemporary American life. Previous film releases include, J. Fred Woell: An American Vision, I Know a Man … Ashley Bryan, Imber’s Left Hand, and 15 others, all part of the Maine Masters collection, a New England Emmy-nominated series of portraits that airs on public television. With partner Melody Lewis-Kane, their company, Kane-Lewis Productions, has worked for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the White House Office of Technology Policy among many others. Kane-Lewis produced the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s 50th anniversary film Protecting the Nature of Maine, an indie doc ROCK SOLID: The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium and the classic award-winning documentary M.C. Richards: The Fire Within. From 2007-2016 Richard served as chair of the Maine Film & Video Association.
Melody Lewis-Kane is a potter, arts educator and filmmaker and is the primary consultant on all arts and education films produced by Kane-Lewis Productions. She is the “Lewis” partner in their production company and often acts as producer and interviewer. For Imber’s Left Hand Melody’s role was co-producer, interviewing several subjects and participating in all editing reviews. She was the producer of the documentary M.C. Richards: The Fire Within, selected for 12 film festivals winning Best Film at the Image Gazer Film Festival, and produced a series of arts–in-education teacher training films for the John F. Kennedy Center Education Department. Melody produced and co-wrote Arts & History: Storytelling funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Kennedy Center Education Department. She is the author of four arts-in-education curriculum guides including the guide that accompanies the Maine Masters film Stephen Pace: Maine Master, a film that was nominated for a New England Emmy Award. She is now guiding the development of a Resource Guide for Teachers and Librarians for I Know a Man … Ashley Bryan, in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.