About Media Factory
Media Factory is an Emmy award-winning production company. The company has produced documentaries for PBS (US) and RTÉ (Ireland), educational programs for Canal Cl@se (Venezuela), C.E.O. Women and The Chabot Space and Science Center. Other clients include the National Endowment for the Arts, Lego, Wired Magazine, Discovery Channel Online and Independent Film Channel.
Niall McKay:
Writer/Producer/Director
Location: San Francisco, California and Dublin, Ireland
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View Filmography
Writer/Director Niall McKay’s critically acclaimed feature documentary “The Bass Player: A Song for Dad” was aired on RTÉ (Irish Television) in August and made its North American premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October. It was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Academy Award. It is described as an “absorbing, charming and deeply moving documentary” in the The Irish Sunday Independent. McKay won an Emmy for his documentary “Sikhs in America” about the challenges of being Sikh in the US, which aired on PBS stations nationwide. His work includes documentaries for PBS and dramas for cable television. He co-produced Irvine Welsh’s directorial debut, “Nuts.” Niall is the founder and director of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival and the co-founder of the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival. A former print journalist, Niall’s work has appeared in The Economist, The New York Times and Wired Magazine. You can email Niall at niall@mediafactory(dot)tv
Marissa Aroy:
Producer/Director/Camera
Location: San Francisco, California
View Filmography
Marissa Aroy was named one of the most influential Filipina women in the US last year by the Filipina Women’s Network. She recently directed the educational soap opera series “Grand Café.” In the documentary realm she produced and directed “Little Manila,” for PBS and produced “Sounds of Hope” shown on Frontline World. She received a Northern California Emmy for the documentary “Sikhs in America,” which she produced and directed. Aroy holds a BA in psychology from Boston College and a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley. When she’s not making or watching movies, she’s teaching digital filmmaking at Berkeley City College. You can email Marissa at marissa (at) mediafactory (dot) tv
Press Mentions:
Marissa Aroy: Boston College Alumni Class Notes
SF360: Marissa Aroy Unearths Forgotten Heroes
Grand Café Press:
The Huffington Post: Business-Building Telenovela Launches for Female Immigrant and Refugee Entrepreneurs
Latino USA Radio: ‘Grand Café’ – Empowerment Through Popular Media
Niall McKay Press
The Irish Times –
Download Irish Times Review PDF
Film Ireland Review
McKay’s “tender, deeply personal film … illuminated the summertime schedule…”
The Sunday Independent
“Niall McKay has made an absorbing, charming and deeply moving documentary.”
Film Ireland Magazine
Tue Steen Müller
qianlong.com
Spoiler Alert Radio
Films
The Bass Player, (screening at Mill valley film festival in oct) Irish filmmaker Niall McKay accompanies his fatherJim, a Jazz bass player, on his return home to Ireland following the death of Jim’s second wife Anna in a story about one retired immigrants search for love, adventure and a place to call home.
Without a Net follows the plight of Sophia, a young African mother who is struggling to save her baby from the deadly disease of malaria. Beautifully filmed this intimate portrait takes us from the remote tribal villages to coastal medical clinics where revolutionary new malaria treatments are being developed by Tanzanian scientists.
Sikhs In America, winner of the nor-cal emmy, for best cultural programming. provides a portrait the richly colorful group of indian-americans who live the american dream. But the younger generation finds the life balance hard to navigate as dating, lifestyle and hair-lengths come into question.
Little Manila, (distributed on APT) for PBS Stations was Filled with gambling dens and dance halls, and was a notorious part of stockton, california that in its heyday had the largest population of filipinos outside of the Philippines.
In Development
Oakland the Musicall is a unique documentary musical which marries traditional documentary with the Musical formats. In the film high school kids from Oakland School for the Arts: a performing arts school based at the Fox Theatre in Oakland perform sing their own music as they go about their daily lives:
The Delano Manongs tells the unknown history of group of Filipino farmworkers in Delano, California who toiled under the yoke of racism for decades, then rose up in their twilight years to fight for fair wages and ethical work conditions to help create the united farmworkers union.
Climate Matters. Artist and Pro skateboarder Lee West presents a series of short TV programs that show young viewers (12-25) how to effect environmental change. In the pilot, Lee West investigates the confusing world of “Carbon Offsets”