Chris Burgard was born in Mequon, Wisconsin, the son of a police officer and a cowgirl.  He graduated from Dominican High School in White Fish Bay, Wisconsin where he was captain of the ski team, a football halfback, a member of the jazz band, a singer and an actor in musicals.
He later graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Theater Arts.   While dating a ballerina, Burgard decided to take up ballet dancing and after a scholarship with the Ruth Page Chicago Ballet, he was good enough to become a company member with the Savannah, Duluth and Long Beach Ballet companies.
He moved to California in 1985, determined to become a filmmaker.  He started his motion picture career as Mathew Broderick’s dance double in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  As an actor, he also appeared in commercials, the TV series Tour of Duty and Growing Pains, the films Twice Dead, 84 Charlie Mopic and the HBO pilot, Lessons Learned.
While making his living as a Hollywood stuntman, and riding bulls on the rodeo circuit, Burgard made his directorial debut on the cult horror film The Ruining, which featured Wings Hauser and  Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld). The film was picked up and distributed by Troma.
After starting Little Bonanza Productions with his wife, Lisa, in 2002, he later partnered with producer Jennifer Champagne and editor Todd Sheridan Perry to create BORDER, an investigative documentary on the state of our southern border with Mexico.

Dissatisfied with second-hand media coverage, Burgard and his camera team journeyed down to the U.S. Mexican border and, over a period of several months, interviewed Border Patrol agents, illegal immigrants, Minutemen, politicians, representatives of the ACLU and local ranchers to make a realistic assessment of just how porous our border had become.  The result is a fascinating and startling look into the world of illegal immigration, and, according to the New York Times, “ a terrifying glimpse of…horrors too numerous to mention.”  As Scott Gordon mentioned in The Onion’s AV Club, “Maybe it will take people like Chris Burgard to redeem the American political documentary.”

Co-owner of Max Ink Cafe, LLC and Max Ink Productions, LLC, an animation and effects house/production house in Venice, California, Jennifer oversees all Max Ink business and production issues.
Jennifer is a great supporter of the independent spirit, eager to jump in and lend both her energy and that of Max Ink’s. As a result of this dedication, Max Ink Cafe/Max Ink Productions has contributed to
twelve short films over the past eight years including Blue, Choose Life, The Dancing Cow, Shadow of Doubt, The Story of Computer Graphics, the effects-laden shorts Only Hope and Pearl Harbor II: Pearlmageddon, Betrunner, Nooner, Aubrey Vox, Lonesome Matador and Effloresce (which is currently in post production).

Since starting Max Ink, Champagne has produced the effects on other notable projects such as American Zoetrope’s Jeepers Creepers, NCIS, Infested, Shakedown, the Emmy Award-winning Superbowl XXXII, Dragon Rage, the Black Scorpion series, Profiler, XFiles, Freakylinks, Even Stevens, Players, and Nitro Film’s Logo. The latter won Max Ink Cafe the Animation Magazine Animation Spotlight Award.

Jennifer is also passionate about supporting women in achieving their goals. As founder of Chicks In Film, Champagne connects a group of industry women ranging from Writers to Directors to Producers
to Studio Executives who share resources and strive to empower women in the industry. Other memberships include Chicks Who Click, Women In Animation, IFP West, and Los Angeles Women Aviators.
An accomplished visual effects trade press writer, Champagne regularly contributes articles to Millimeter Magazine, AWN, and DV Magazine, as well as The Digital Media Net Community.

Examples of Todd’s Visual Effects work can be found at the Max Ink Cafe website (www.MaxInkCafe.com) as well as his personal site (www.duckyamuck.com), which also contains his resume, published articles, and additional articles of interest.

Co-owner of Little Bonanza Productions, Lisa’s film experience is relatively new, but she brings a diverse background to the table as Executive Producer of Border.
Lisa graduated with Honors from Queens University in Charlotte, NC where she received a Bachelor of Arts Double Major in English and Communications. Following graduation Lisa moved to New York where she worked as a JFK-based TWA flight attendant, traveling the world.
From there she went on to the role of Director of Admissions for Chatham Hall – an Episcopal Girls Preparatory School in Chatham, Virginia. Lisa later went on to be an Assignment Editor for WSET ABC 13 in Danville, Virginia.
The next decade brought her back to the Big Apple focusing on fashion where she worked as an Assistant Director and later Director of the Flagship Dior Boutique on 55th and Fifth Avenue where she was in charge of the day to day operations and seasonal buy during Paris Fashion Week. At the Flagship Chanel Boutique her primary responsibilities included helping to coordinate special events and managing a sales staff of twenty-nine employees.
This led to creating her own brand, Hand Made by Burgard, a business that focuses on a line of hand-tooled, hand-stitched American crafted works of art which range from camera bags and totes to belts, wallets, and day planners and more recently, made to measure sheepskin, deerskin and elk skin coats. Viewers of Border can see Chris’ prototype elk and sheepskin coats which helped keep him warm during the cold October film shoot.
Under the banner Little Bonanza Productions – a company she founded with her husband Writer/Director Chris Burgard – Lisa oversees all Bonanza business.
The role Lisa finds most rewarding has been as a wife and mother.