Engel Entertainment

A Walk to Beautiful was produced by Engel Entertainment, the award-winning production company known for producing high-quality series and specials across a wide array of non-fiction genres. Its projects run the gamut from science and history to reality and lifestyle. You can find Engel Entertainment shows airing on such broadcasters PBS, Discovery, National Geographic, Oxygen, A & E, and History Channel.

In 2007 RealScreen, a top industry magazine for non-fiction film and television, named Engel Entertainment one of RealScreen Global 100 – their annual list of the most exciting production companies working in non-fiction film and television.

Engel Entertainment has brought excitement and originality into living rooms - and now, with A Walk to Beautiful, onto theatrical screens.

MARY OLIVE SMITH

Director, Producer and Cinematographer

Winning three Audience Awards for Best Documentary (San Francisco International Film Festival, the Starz Denver Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival) and the Bet Human Rights Documentary at the Docupolis film festival in Barcelona, "A Walk to Beautiful" is Mary Olive's feature-length directorial debut.  The film won this year's Best Documentary by the International Documentary Association.  For more than a decade Mary Olive Smith has produced, directed and written prime-time documentaries for major television broadcasters including the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channels, The history Channel and PBS.  Her work has taken her to more than 30 countries, and her travels to Ethiopia for the making of "A Walk to Beautiful" mark her fifth time filming in sub-Saharan Africa.  Mary Olive joined Engel Entertainment in 1996 after an established career in public radio at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and has a Masters from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

STEVEN ENGEL

Executive Producer, Producer

As President of Engel Entertainment and Executive Producer of all of its projects, Steve is the guiding force behind the company's growth. Previously, he co-founded and managed Enter Entertainment's predecessor companies: Engel Brothers Media (1995) and Cineworks (1978). He is a member of the Writer's Guild of America and an experienced executive producer, director and writer. Steve graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in political science and earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law.