Bios
Lance Bendiksen
Lance Bendiksen is an Emmy Award–winning composer, producer, and pianist whose work spans film, television, and recorded music.
He has produced and developed numerous recording projects for major and independent labels including Epic, RCA, and Arista Records, working with a collaborative production team whose work has contributed to Grammy Award-winning and nominated projects, as well as gold and platinum recordings.
As a composer, he has scored more than a dozen films and television productions, with credits distributed or streamed through PBS, Netflix, Prime Video, and Saban Capital Group, including The Greatest Good, A Towering Task, Blackwood, and Kill Me Again.
Across both music and film, his work is shaped by an ensemble-based approach to production-treating sound, performance, and cinematic structure as interconnected elements rather than separate disciplines. This perspective informs his direction of The Big New-Mex Review, where music functions as both narrative voice and emotional architecture.
James Chressanthis
Wes Studi
Wes Studi is an acclaimed Cherokee actor and activist whose powerful performances have brought Indigenous stories and characters to the forefront of American cinema. Over a career spanning decades, he has portrayed complex, deeply human roles that challenge stereotypes and honor Native experience, language, and resilience. From his breakthrough roles in films like “Dances with Wolves” and “The Last of the Mohicans” to later work in “Geronimo,” “Hostiles,” and many others, Studi has become one of the most respected Native voices in film. His presence on screen is marked by quiet intensity, emotional depth, and a commitment to authenticity. Beyond acting, Studi is a vocal advocate for Native communities, language preservation, and accurate representation in media. He has used his platform to support Indigenous filmmakers, cultural education, and projects that give voice to stories often left out of mainstream narratives. In The Big New-Mex Review, Wes Studi’s legacy as a storyteller and cultural bridge aligns with the project’s mission: to honor the living traditions, music, and histories of New Mexico’s Indigenous, Hispanic, and Anglo communities, and to share those stories with audiences everywhere.
James Chressanthis, ASC, GSC, cinematographer & director, is a 3-time Emmy nominee for FOUR MINUTES, LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND and the Cannes premiere feature documentary he directed
NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY: LASZLO & VILMOS. He also shot critical additional 1st Unit photography on the Best Picture Oscar-winning CHICAGO.
Chressanthis is known for his camera work on, Oprah Winfrey series GREENLEAF, AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW (FX) starring Jessica Lange, CHRISTMAS IN CONWAY (ABC) with Mary Louise-Parker & Andy Garcia, THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM. He shot & directed the CBS supernatural thriller GHOST WHISPERER for 5 seasons.
Early on he shot break-through music videos for MC Hammer, NWA: STRAIGHT OTTA COMPTON, SMELLS LIKE NIRVANA by Weird Al Yankovich and the legendary Godfather of Soul James Brown.
He is currently shooting the John Travolta and Mira Sorvino musical feature film THAT’S AMORE!
Member: American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), Greek Society of Cinematographers (GSC), Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Cinematographers Guild (ICG)
Maura Dhu Studi
MAURA DHU STUDI Bio for TBNMR
Maura Dhu Studi has had a multi-faceted career in film, theater and music. A producer and writer for Silver Bullet Productions, a non-profit educational film company in New Mexico, she is a two time Emmy winner for the documentary films “Canes of Power” and “However Wide The Sky”. Her other films include “Defending The Fire”, “A Thousand Voices” and “No Greater Act”. Also a singer, while performing at the Cinegrill in Hollywood, she met her husband, actor-musician Wes Studi. Moving to Santa Fe in 1993, they formed the original rock band Firecat of Discord, playing numerous venues in New Mexico and beyond, including the Paolo Soleri, The Lensic Theater, Fillmore West, San Francisco and The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. As a jazz vocalist, Maura performed concerts for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Santa Fe Community Foundation and the Humankind Foundation. She has worked as an actor, directed several plays and staged readings, and taught acting and screenwriting. Maura was inducted into the New Mexico Film and Television Hall of Fame in 2019.
Monty Montgomery
Monty Montgomery is a filmmaker, photographer, and musician based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the founder of Space Helmet Pictures, a video production company whose clients include Hasbro, Century Bank, and the Institute of American Indian Arts. Over the past five years he has focused heavily on music content, shooting live performances and music videos for artists including East Forest, Trey Gunn of King Crimson, and Zivi, among many others.
Monty grew up in the Philadelphia area, where he spent over a decade as a performing musician, playing synthesizer and touring the region with projects including The Great SOCIO and Vertigo Gambler. Having spent years on both sides of the creative process, as both a performer and a filmmaker, he brings a musician's instinct to his work behind the camera.