Makwerekwere: Production Team
Darija Pichanick
Executive Producer/Co-Writer/Director
Darija began her artistic career as an assistant director and producer for stage in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since arriving to the United States as an asylum-seeker from war-torn Bosnia, her focus has shifted to documentary filmmaking and human rights. She started a production company over 10 years ago with the original mission to write, produce and direct films dealing with issues of refugee, torture, and women’s rights, as well as educational videos and programming. Since then her repertoire had expanded to embrace and include other filmmaking genres.
Darija was the recipient of the Refugee Women of Promise Award by the Women’s Refugee Commission in New York for her work with and on behalf of refugee women and children and was featured on television (CNN), radio (99X) and in print (Atlanta Journal Constitution, Creative Loafing).
Darija consults for Amnesty International, the Carter Center and various government agencies, and is a frequent speaker on refugee, immigration and cross-cultural issues. She also has extensive experience in non-profit management and fundraising, and has served on a number of non-profit boards. She is currently board chair of Refugee Women’ Network and past Vice-President of Communications for Women in Film and Television/Atlanta.
She studied comparative literature at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and holds a degree in film and video production from Georgia State University. She is a member of International Documentary Association, Georgia Production Partnership and Women in Film and Television/Atlanta.
Darija likes to leverage her international background and experience to work in other countries, most recently Botswana, South Africa and Scotland. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two kids, three cats and two parakeets.
RKay Butler
Associate Producer/Co-Writer
RKay Butler is an award winning writer with over twenty five years of experience in entertainment and advertising.
In 2008, her first documentary film, China’s Three Gorges Dam: A Flood of Controversy premiered nationally on PBS. In 2009 it was awarded a Bronze Telly.
Her new documentary, Governor in the Storm: Farris Bryant, Florida, and the Sixties, is currently in post-production.
RKay co-wrote and produced several short films for the 48 Hour Film Project and the NYC Midnight Madness Short Film Competition, winning honors in both. Her short film “Janitor Too” won the Award for Best Writing in the Horror category in the NYC Movie Making Madness Short Film Competition. She has also co-authored two film scripts, including “Echota,” which is currently in development with director Valerie Red Horn, one of two Native American directors in the DGA.
Her writing has been featured in publications including The Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Now Magazine, and cinemATL.com. She has extensive experience in writing, art direction, financial management and a decade as one of Atlanta’s premiere talent agents.
RKay is a past president of Women in Film and Television Atlanta. She is also a founding member of the International Board of Directors of Women in Film and Television International.
Portent Ncube
Production Coordinator – South Africa
Portent Ncube, a native Zimbabwean, recently completed his BA in Peace and Conflict Studies with a minor in Development Studies at Solusi University in Zimbabwe. He currently volunteers at the Refugee Ministries Centre in Johannesburg as a Projects Assistant, interacting with refugees and asylum seekers. Portent has also worked as an Assistant Researcher for the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO forum, and as an Assistant Journalist at Bulawayo Agenda researching developmental issues.