Producers
Thierry Daher, Executive Producer & Producer
Thierry Daher is Founder and Executive Producer of CAID Productions; a New York based independent film Production & Marketing Company he created in 2003. Since early 2007, CAID Productions is affiliated with the Vanksen Group, the leading international buzz marketing agency (www.vanksengroup.com) serving the needs of global brands such as P&G, Microsoft, Louis Vuitton, Pfizer and Cartier. Thierry serves as the CEO of the Vanksen Group in North America.
With CAID Productions, Thierry produces and distributes urban and pop culture related films and ensures financing and global distribution worldwide (distribution partners include Canal+, MTVN, Warner, Presidio, GloboSat and more).
Thierry was instrumental in coming up with the original format of the Way of the Bboy, working closely with the talents in the conception phase. He came up with the financing, the campaign events, the online strategy and assets and the distribution structure, and brokered the COOSH sponsorship, that allows a direct-to-consumer distribution of the film (both online and offline): a premiere for an independent documentary.
Through CAID Productions Thierry has produced various viral web campaigns for US and international companies such as Pfizer, Hamelin (Oxford and Canson brands) and Paltalk, whose Elections 08 campaign, in the first 9 weeks following its June 2008 launch, has engaged more than 7 million US online users.
In 2006 CAID produced and released “Just For Kicks,” the first feature documentary about the history of sneakers (sport shoes). “Just For Kicks” (www.JustForKicksMovie.com) won the Best Documentary and Best Film Awards at the 2005 USVI International Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award at the 2006 NJ Int’l Film Festival. It was also featured in more than two dozens major Festivals across 5 continents and thanks to Thierry’s efforts, has secured global TV and DVD distribution (MTVN, Canal+, Presidio, Image Entertainment, Warner). Two years after its initial release, Just For Kicks has been viewed by more than 100 million spectators worldwide.
Prior to entering the film business, Thierry was acting as Co-founder and President of an
E-marketing agency and software Company called CarbonMedia that he started in 1995. CarbonMedia clients included AT&T, France Telecom, AM-FMI, Advertising.com, Screaming Media, RMS-Titanic, Marubeni, several Regional European Governments and the International Advertising Association. Thierry brought CarbonMedia to being, three years in a row (1999, 2000 and 2001), nominated as a Winner in Deloitte and Touche’s New York “Fast Fifty” recognizing the 50 fastest growing hi-tech companies in NY State.
Thierry started his career in 1990 as an international business consultant for the Banques Populaires Group, a European banking institution with more than 22,000 employees. By age 27 Thierry was appointed General Manager of Pramex NA, their North American international marketing division, thereby becoming one of the youngest executive in the Group with executive management responsibilities. He remained in that position until late 1995, when he left the corporate world to start-up his first company.
Thierry has been frequently interviewed and referenced in publications like Wired magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Seattle Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, MicroTimes, Reuters and more.
Thierry Daher holds a Master Degree in international marketing from ISG in Paris, France. He is a graduate from IMUA in Tokyo, Japan. He speaks French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. Thierry’s constant need to experience new areas and his passion for life and effort led him to become an avid skydiver (he holds a USPA “Advanced C License”) and a Marathon runner (NY Marathon 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007).
Joel Asseraf , Producer
Founder and director of Pop Corn Productions.
Launched in 2007, dedicated to the production of film, television and multi media.
Born in Morocco in 1946, Joel Asseraf lived in Paris, France until 1991, where he practiced as a medical doctor, and then moved to Miami with his family.
In the US, he has been the CEO of a plastic manufacture until 1999, and then moved to New York with his family, where he devoted himself to real estate.
Joel’s interest in film began in the early 2000 when he became friends with filmmakers, and producers in New York through his wife ‘s short film festival Be Film The Underground Film Festival (www.befilm.net).
Josh Berman, Producer
Earning his stripes in the music industry and as a member of the Nightlife Board in Seattle, Josh brought executive oversight to the Way of the Bboy as the partnership between the Monkees CAID Productions and Popcorn Productions was brokered.
He has owned his own nightclub, managed restaurants, ran a music company and was a founding member SGTV (Soul Gorilla TV) where Chad, Matt and Jeromeskee first began the Way of the Bboy project.
Along with Thierry Daher, Mr. Berman made The Way of the Bboy a reality by negotiating on behalf of the artists in Seattle. The product of this was a deal that left all parties feeling good about their stakes permitting for the results that would follow.
As the artists made the art, Josh consulted lawyers and read the fine print to ensure the interests of his partners were protected. Still, he maintained Seattle’s top club promotions company and launched the Dyme Def “Space Music” album which has sold 15,000 copies to date.
Mr. Berman also attended Franklin High School in South Seattle and has been a friend to the Massive Monkees since their beginning.
Matthew Chernicoff, Producer
As kids in South Seattle, Matthew was always in the same social circles as the Massive Monkees. He went to college for journalism and put out front page, above the fold, stories about the Crew whenever they performed at the University of Washington. Over time he fell into an unpaid position as a publicist for the crew, soliciting media coverage, writing bios and pitching sponsorship opportunities.
It took about 4 years before Matthew felt confident in his knowledge of breaking but also in describing what makes the Massive Monkees special. He self-financed the beginnings of the production of the Way of the Bboy with Jeromeskee and Chad Ross before partnering with CAID Productions and Popcorn Productions to raise the visibility and production value of the project.
He operated the b-camera, wrote the interview questions and conducted many of the New York interviews in the film. He took all the production stills after buying a HOLGA and a LOMO, and learning about film. He coordinated the Massive Monkees archives (diving into the hundreds of hours of footage he has shot himself, and then converted other archives from the crew itself which was made up of a multiplicity of dated formats). He also arranged all the music licensing and coordinated the release forms for all the bboy interviews.
Mr. Chernicoff has also worked for Microsoft Zune, MSN, MSNBC, The Seattle Post-Intellgencer, NBA Inside Stuff, The Oregonian, the UW Video Department, Nike Youth Camps and chipped paint off the bleachers of the UW Football Stadium.