PRODUCTION TEAM

Close-up portrait of an older man with gray hair, blue eyes, and a beard, wearing a gray button-up shirt against a black background.

Jeff Bridges is an Academy Award®-winning actor, artist, photographer, and musician best known for The Big Lebowski, Crazy Heart, True Grit, and The Last Picture Show. In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey is his third collaboration with filmmaker Susan Kucera, Jim Swift and Anna Kirsch. He previously co-produced and starred in Living in the Future's Past, which received a Gold Medal from the United Nations for Excellence in Communication. Bridges is using this latests venture to support several conservation organizations with his compensation, including The Vital Ground Foundation, a land trust that directly protects and connects wildlife habitat in the Northern Rocky Mountains.

Woman sitting on rocky terrain with a camera, wearing a black jacket and a red knit hat with a pom-pom, mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.

Susan Kucera is an award-winning documentary director and cinematographer whose work explores the connections between ecology, culture, science, and the human experience. In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey marks her sixth collaboration with producer Jim Swift. Some her films include Breath of Life, Living in the Future's Past, Hot Money, and Wild Genius. Her work has received numerous awards and has been recognized for bringing complex environmental and social issues to audiences through visually compelling and thought-provoking storytelling.

A man wearing a cowboy hat, sunglasses, and a plaid shirt is smiling and hugging a horse's face, which is next to a wooden barn door.

Jim Swift is in the food production business and also a writer and film producer. He founded Rangeland Productions in 2003, which has received multiple awards for films including Living in the Future’s Past, Hot Money, Wild Genius, and In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey. His work explores the connections between people, nature, culture, and the future we share. As founder of the Rangeland Foundation, he supports wildlife conservation, wilderness protection, and rural communities working to coexist with wolves through nonlethal management practices.

A smiling woman with red hair sitting at a wooden table, next to a large bouquet of pink, purple, and white flowers in a glass vase, in a room with beige walls.

Dr. Anna Kirsch (writer-producer) holds a Phd in English Literature from Durham University in the UK. Current work combines academic research with public-facing documentary storytelling focused on mythology, landscape, ecology, and inherited cultural narratives. Co-Producer and writer for Living in the Future’s Past, Hot Money, Wild Genius and In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey. Anna is President and Founding Director, Non-Fiction Film Association.

A smiling middle-aged man with a bald head and gray goatee, wearing a blue shirt and gray sweater vest, against a plain gray background.

Dr. Jon T Coleman (co-writer) is a professor at Notre Dame University where he teaches early American history, environmental history, and the history of the American West. He is the author of several books, including Vicious: Wolves and Men in America. His most recent is The Most Crooked River in the World: The Waters of the Kankakee and the Nature of Time. 

Lauren Big Hair (Montana Associate Producer) whose Crow name is Woman Who Works Good, is Apsáalooke (Crow). Born and raised on the Crow Reservation, she lived there for the first 18 years of her life and later earned two associate degrees. She currently lives in Billings, Montana, where she works as a Project Manager for the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council. Lauren also serves on the board of the Crow Nation Language Club (https://www.crownationlanguageclub.org/home), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the Apsáalooke language. Lauren was instrumental in bringing together members of the Crow Nation to participate in the filming of In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey on the Crow Reservation.

A man with brown hair and a yellow shirt sitting in a recording studio, working at a mixing console with speakers behind him.

Ken S. Polk is a multi-Emmy Award winning and nominated Rerecording Mixer, Sound Designer and Sound Supervisor in both the Film and Television industries as well as an Award winning music Producer, engineer and mixer.  He is also a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, The Cinema Audio Society and The Recording Academy (NARAS). He has brought his incredible expertise to creating the sound design for Living in the Future’s Past and In the Company of Wolves:An American Journey

Man sitting in a recording studio with electronic music equipment including keyboards and synthesizers.

Keefus Ciancia is an award-winning composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his acclaimed scores for True Detective, Killing Eve, The Fall, London Spy, Eric, Made for Love, Great Expectations, and Living in the Future’s Past. A BAFTA and Ivor Novello Award winner, Emmy nominee, and longtime collaborator of T Bone Burnett, he has also worked with artists including Elton John, Jeff Bridges, and Iggy Pop. Ciancia generously donated his talents in support of wildlife organizations in Colorado to compose the score for In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey, creating a richly textured soundtrack.

A smiling man wearing a light-colored fedora hat with a dark band, a patterned shirt, and a scarf. The image is in black and white.

Eric Gilliom is an award-winning composer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist whose work spans film, television, and live performance. Based in Hawaiʻi, he is known for creating emotionally resonant scores that blend acoustic and contemporary influences. For In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey, Gilliom collaborated with Susan Kucera in crafting a additional richly textured musical landscape. Gilliom and Susan have collaborated on Breath of Life, Hot Money, Wild Genius and other films.

A long-haired man performing on stage with a keyboard and microphone, under purple lighting.

Michael Ruff is a Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, keyboardist, and composer whose career spans more than four decades. A BMI Award winner and multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award recipient, he has worked with artists including Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, Rickie Lee Jones, and David Sanborn. For In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey, Ruff additionally collaborated with Eric Gilliom and Susan Kucera to create an evocative score that complements the film's sweeping story of wildlife, landscape, and American history.