The English Surgeon

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Geoffrey Smith began traveling early, discovering a twin love for movies and storytelling along the way. In 1987 he found himself in Haiti, helping to make a documentary about the country’s first election in 31 years. Following the discovery of a massacre of 21 voters in a schoolyard, Smith was himself shot and wounded. After struggling to recover in London, he decided to journey back to Haiti to find the man who had nearly killed him — and to film the whole thing. The resulting film, Searching for a Killer, won wide acclaim and was aired on the BBC. Smith discovered that the camera can be a powerful, cathartic tool in helping people through difficult periods and went on to build his subsequent work around that concept. The winner of numerous awards, he has made more than 22 films and has worked for all the major U.K. broadcasters.

Rachel Wexler has been working in documentary for 17 years. She specializes in producing international documentary projects for a worldwide audience. She has worked on 10 films for BBC Storyville (including two in production) and has produced films for many award winning filmmakers including Phil Grabsky (The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, In Search of Mozart), Marc Isaacs (Philip and His Seven Wives), Oliver Hodge (Garbage Warrior), and Luke Holland (A Very English Village, More Than a Life). Rachel runs Bungalow Town Productions with her partner Jez Lewis.