Who We Are
Beth Murphy
Founder/Director/Producer
Beth founded Principle Pictures in 1999 to do what she loves doing most: meeting inspiring people, telling great stories, and using media as a catalyst for good. She enjoys connecting with audiences and connecting audiences in meaningful ways with our world. Beth has led production crews to all corners of the world, often in war-torn or developing countries in order to focus on human rights and international issues.
She has directed, produced, written (and in some cases narrated) nearly 20 documentary films for national and international media outlets including The Sundance Channel, The History Channel, Discovery International, Lifetime Television, The Sundance Channel, Discovery Health, PBS, NHK, and numerous international outlets. For her work on BEYOND BELIEF (Tribeca Film Festival, Sundance Channel), Beth received the One Shared World International Outreach Award from American Women in Radio and Television. She’s now running a nationwide impact campaign with the film designed to foster cross-cultural understanding in collaboration with the Fledgling Fund, Teachers College of Columbia University, PBS LearningMedia and the Mass Humanities Council.
Beth is the author of Fighting For Our Future (McGraw Hill, 2002), a companion book to her film with the same title. The book was heralded by the Library Journal as doing the cancer community “a vital service.” She is a contributing author of Open My Eyes, Open My Soul.
A Little More Personal
Beth’s grandfather was a boxer, and she teaches aerobics and spinning. She has her MA in Int’l Relations and International Communications from Boston University – her Dad’s alma mater, and studied documentary filmmaking at the George Washington University Documentary Center. She is on the boards of the International Institute of New England and the Woods Hole Film Festival. Beth lives on Cape Cod with her adventurous family – husband, Dennis, and daughter, Isabelle. She knows her mother’s meatballs are better than all the rest.
Inspirations
Intrepid travelers, loving parents, palindromes. The homeless man in front of the Pine Street Inn who wrapped his coat around the shoulders of a homeless woman. Feeling the power of Cape L’Agulhas, watching the story of Vince Papale, listening to Randy Pausch’s last lecture, holding Isabelle’s hand while looking at the stars. Schubert’s Ave Maria and Eminem’s Lose Yourself. Reading Jonathan Kozol. Remembering Randi Rosenberg, Tracy Pleva Hill and Wendy Jo Sperber. The 82-year-old woman who takes her aerobics class every Friday morning.
Kevin Belli
Director of Photography/Senior Editor
Kevin Belli is a Boston-based editor and cinematographer. His extensive credit list includes the History Channel’s FLYING PYRAMIDS—SOARING STONES, Discovery Channel’s FLU TIME BOMB, Lifetime’s FIGHTING FOR OUR FUTURE, and Discovery Health’s BREAST CANCER LEGACY. Kevin was the Editor and Co-Director of Photography for the Sundance Channel’s BEYOND BELIEF and was co-editor and Director of Photography on the short documentary DIVIDING LINES. Most recently he is completing work on the feature-length documentary THE LIST and traveling back to Afghanistan to complete filming on another feature WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS.
Filmography
Beyond Belief, Flying Pyramids–Soaring Stones, Flu Time Bomb, Fighting For Our Future, Breast Cancer Legacy, Dividing Lines: Reporting From the West Bank, The List, What Tomorrow Brings
A Little More Personal
Before taking up filmmaking, Kevin spent 7 years touring the United States as singer/guitarist with his garage rock band Creature Did.
Inspirations
Films: Crumb, Don’t Look Back, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Music: anything Jeff Tweedy is involved with, Flaming Lips – Clouds Taste Metallic, The Pixies – Surfer Rosa, Fugazi – Repeater
Beth Balaban
Producer/Editor
Beth Balaban is a documentary filmmaker in the Boston area who works as a preditor (producer/editor, ha!) and cinematographer. She often says that filmmaking is a lifestyle, not a job. For Beth, the world is entirely comprised of stories, images and sounds that beg for capture and interpretation. Much to her delight, her work at Principle Pictures takes her around the world with a camera in hand, and grants her an irreplaceable creative family.
Beth has worked as the special features editor on Beyond Belief(2007) and as an associate producer for The List(2012). She also produces, edits and shoots for many of the branded films at Principle Pictures. Her academic background includes a B.A. in psychology from Boston University and an M.F.A. in media arts from Emerson College. She directed her first film, Peace and the Quiet, as her M.F.A. thesis project.
A Little More Personal
Beth is a travel addict. She lived in Spain and is fluent in Spanish. She spent a year in Israel, where she discovered her passion for filmmaking — and for teaching.
She currently works as a Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Extension School. Beth is also a film festival enthusiast, volunteering over the last few years as a theater manager for the Camden International Film Festival and the True/False Film Festival.
Inspirations
Despite working in non-fiction, Beth finds creative provocation in the narrative work of John Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger, William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Bowles and Isaac Asimov. She looks toward talented female directors like Beth Murphy, Barbara Kopple, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, Heather Courtney, Clio Barnard and Kathryn Ramey as inspiration and encouragement in her artistic development.
Nathan Tisdale
Production Manager / Associate Producer
Nathan Tisdale is a Massachusetts native with over six years experience working in film and television. In addition to Production Management duties at Principle Pictures he also serves as a cinematographer and editor. As part of the team, he enjoys the opportunity to travel and share stories from around the world. Nathan was a camera operator and associate producer on THE LIST.
A Little More Personal
Nathan was a costumed tour guide at some of Boston’s famous landmarks and considers himself an unofficial ambassador for the city of Boston. He also lives in the past as a student of ancient and medieval history.
Inspirations
Fiction and non-fiction authors such as George Orwell, Stephen E. Ambrose, Robert Graves, William Blum. Films such as Angst essen Seele auf, Roger and Me, Operation Filmmaker, Waiting for Guffman.
