Amber Ward was born and raised in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. From a very early age, Ward has always had a desire for the arts. She began painting at age 5, dancing at age 6 and playing the piano at age 8. Her love for filmmaking came much later.

Ward studied Visual Communications at the Medicine Hat College in Alberta and upon graduating in 2000 was introduced to film production. Intrigued in the art form, she further explored its possibilities and enrolled herself in the Foundation Film Program at the Vancouver Film School in British Columbia, Canada. She graduated with a 10 minute documentary, a16mm short, a list of credited roles and a new fiancé. The duo soon co-founded Shadow Lane Productions and began putting their education to work. She currently resides with her husband, Jeremy Cleek, in Minneapolis, MN. Common Threads is Amber’s first feature documentary.

Ward incorporates her background of music, fine art and graphic design into each project, which gives each piece a unique style all their own. Her films represent a single idea captured in a moment of time and remain forever imprinted in our minds.

Jeremy Cleek was born in 1981 in Ohio. A son of a military officer, Cleek lived in England, Georgia, and eventually settled in his mother’s native region, New England. He graduated Vancouver Film School in 2002 with two short films, “e-Love” and “Autumn’s Darkness” and currently lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Amber Ward.

From his mother’s fine art to his father’s background in music, Jeremy Cleek has been influenced by art his whole life. At an early age, he began sketching and painting. Along the way, Cleek discovered his parents’ video camera and began imitating SNL skits with his friends. It then led to a more creative and emotional exploration of life through his short films.

Jeremy made his mark in NH when he premiered his first feature film “Up and Down Again” , also produced by Shadow Lane Productions, which premiered in Exter NH in the summer of 2006.

Cleeks talent and willingness to go above and beyond during the color timing process enhanced the documentary, bringing it to a cinematic level.

Ben Cleek is a twenty three year old composer currently residing in Boston. He became interested in music at an early age and has had a vast array of experience in almost every style.

Ben began composing music for a good friend of brother Jeremy Cleek: Ani Pandit, for his short film entitled ‘Milk’. Using a guitar going straight into a free computer he had received from an old roommate and a program called Cool Edit Pro, he dived into the realm of music for movies. Since then, the recording setup has improved along with the experience that makes him no longer newcomer to film scoring, but he still maintains the value of the experimentation developed from the lack of resource from early on.

Aside from film scoring Ben is also an electronic musician as well as a multi-instrumentalist interested in exploring his passion for sound in as many mediums as possible.

Directors Statement