Our Team
Elyse Neiman Seiter
Director
Elyse Neiman Seiter is a two-time Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, veteran TV producer, and INELDA-trained end-of-life doula. She is the founder of Gone West, a practice devoted to preserving stories through professional legacy interview films, and Mindful Films, which offers workshops that teach families to document their loved ones with care and intention, and produces film/TV/digital content around life and death.
A graduate of the New York Zen Center’s Foundations in Contemplative Care program and a longtime hospice volunteer, Elyse weaves her background in documentary storytelling with contemplative practice to create films that honor life, love, and the choices we make at the end. Her feature documentary, Riding Home, is currently in post-production.
Morgan Hagney
Title: TBD
Morgan Hagney is a death doula, green burial and human composting innovator, an Adjunct Professor of Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and the Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Lead at L’Oréal USA. Morgan is passionate about working toward a more just, equitable and sustainable future when it comes to death and dying. Morgan is featured in this film as Jan’s death doula and is also working behind the scenes on the film’s brand and marketing strategy.
Tom Pittenger
DP / Camera
Tom Pittenger is a Seattle-based cinematographer focused on mission-driven films that highlight people, culture, and impact. He has over a decade of experience producing films for clients like Sony, Airbnb, Eddie Vedder, Sports Illustrated, HBO, and A24, among others.
This is Tom’s first foray into the death space, and he is deeply honored to collaborate with Jan and Elyse on such a meaningful project. He approaches the work with humility and care, striving to create imagery that is both honest and beautiful.
Shira Golden
Researcher
Shira Golden is a multimedia artist, professional, and educator passionate about nonfiction storytelling. Working across audio, animation, and film, she embraces texture, abstraction, and layered forms to tell nonfiction stories in resonant ways. Much of her work explores heavy or emotionally complex topics, always approached with curiosity and a desire to blend sobriety with unexpected moments of levity or play. She recently won an award for her audio project, “What It's Like to Live Without the Right to Die.”
Shira supported Elyse with research on grants, funds and film festivals for her feature documentary, Riding Home, and is now creating a pitch deck for this film. She’s currently working on her MFA in Integrated Media Arts at Hunter College, CUNY.