The Filmmakers
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Producer, Director, Dp, Editor of Things Hidden. Sam Sorich is an award-winning filmmaker and the creator of the anthology film series 8beats (www.8beatsmovie.com). He discovered his passion for filmmaking when first making skateboard videos with his best friend in Bradley, IL, where he grew up as the third of eleven children. In college, he studied philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and Illinois State University, where he encountered the work of René Girard, which had a profound impact on him.
In 2015, Sam founded his production company, Glass Darkly Films.
Shortly after Girard's death that same year. Sam embarked on a globe-trotting journey to interview Girard's family and colleagues for the film. The documentary is dedicated to his wife, Eliana, and their eldest son, Simon Peter. He lives part-time between Colombia and the United States, raising two boys.
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Producer of Things Hidden, Trevor Cribben Merrill is a novelist, literary critic, and René Girard scholar based in Los Angeles. He discovered Girard’s work while living in France, and went on to write, edit, and translate works by and about Girard. He has worked closely with Girard’s collaborators, including Jean-Michel Oughourlian and Benoît Chantre, and currently runs Imitatio, a program devoted to disseminating Girard’s thought. His novel Minor Indignities was published in 2020 by Wiseblood Books. His nonfiction writing has appeared in Compact, First Things, and Genealogies of Modernity, among others, as well as on his Substack, “Writing Fiction After Girard.”
Executive Producers
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Imitatio
Supports research, education, and publications building on René Girard's mimetic theory. www.imitatio.org
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Keith and Suzanne Ross
Founders of UnRival Network, Supporting applications of mimetic theory to nonviolent theology and peacebuilding. Founders of the Raven Foundation and UnRival Network.
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Sherwood Belangia
CEO of ATC Development
Associate Producers
Steve and Andris Berry
Steve is Pastor at the historic 1786 Rupert Meetinghouse in Rupert, VT. Steve founded a Recreation Area, Soup Kitchen, Interfaith Program, Learning Center, and Film Award Program. He has written books and made films. A portion of his eleven-hour interview with Rene Girard is included in Things Hidden. Steve has an earned and honorary doctorate. Awards received for his humanitarian efforts and work in advancing nonviolence and community building include ones from the Mayor of Los Angeles and the United Nations Association. Steve was instrumental in Vermont becoming the first state to adopt the call for the Reversal of Citizens United. The next year he was elected to the Vermont Legislature. In 2024 he is running as the true Independent candidate for the United States Senate from Vermont ( www.votesberry.com).
Creative Partners
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Martin Girard
Narrator, Eldest Son of Rene. Martin Girard was born in 1955 in Bryn Mawr, PA when René Girard was teaching at Bryn Mawr College. His childhood was spent between the United States and France. After college, he started a business distributing and then designing and manufacturing French products in the US. He later sold that business to a Fortune 500 company. Since his retirement in 2014, he has skied and hiked a lot, consulted, managed investments, and spent a good deal of time getting to know his father’s work and world better. Martin and his wife, Dee, have two children, one a baker and small business owner in Phoenix, the other a real estate and finance manager in San Francisco.
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Sean Phillip Johnson
Musical Composer