Who We Are

Philosophy

Family Legacy Productions helps people tell their stories in the medium of narrative cinema. We feel honored to be chosen by our clients in this process. Because each movie arises from the unique stories of our clients and their families, every movie is unique in content and structure. We don’t have a cookie-cutter formula. Our clients are co-collaborators, making decisions with us every step of the process, and we work to serve each family’s particular needs and sensitivities.

We aim to make all of our interactions with our clients and interviewees as comfortable as possible. We make the complex process of making a movie a fun adventure for you and your family. We work with your location and schedule to set-up filming days and arrange the transfer of home movies, photographs, and family documents. Both the process of making the movie and the end result help families connect over their shared experience and history.

People

Watch to learn more about founder Arielle Nóbile

Arielle Nóbile, Founder & Director

Arielle Nóbile, an alumna of the world-renowned New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, is the producer/director/editor at Family Legacy Productions, which she co-founded with her husband Nicolás in 2005.

A North Shore native and New Trier alumna, she has been involved with multiple professional theater, independent film, and documentary projects. She has conducted over 200 interviews on three continents and in two languages (Spanish/English). She has interviewed people from all walks of life, from hypnotists to Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Madres de la Plaza de Mayo to suburban homemakers. She became passionate about making life-story documentaries when her grandmothers wanted to capture their families’ histories. To date she has completed 50 Family Legacy Productions, and is currently working on 16 more.

Before founding Family Legacy Productions, Arielle was on the faculty at the Second City Training Center in Chicago and the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston. Her strong background as a director and instructor in theater and film makes her the right person to help you tell your story. She looks forward to helping you create your legacy video.

Nicolas Nóbile, Co-founder

Family Legacy Productions would not have come about if it had not been for the calm, patient, and wise guidance of Arielle’s husband, Nicolás. Nicolás is an author, lecturer, teacher, and modern alchemist. These days Nicolás is busy with his own business, Alquimia9, but he still runs the quality-control department at Family Legacy Productions—each and every movie made here is carefully screened by Nicolás before you receive your final copy. Being a Virgo he is very good watching with a critical eye, but nearly every time after watching one of our movies he tearfully looks at Arielle and says, “That was wonderful!” Those three words signify that he completely understands what all the late nights and long hours over the months it has taken to make each movie were all about. And he agrees that it was all worth it.

Kelly Connolly, Associate Producer

Kelly is a Chicago native. She met Arielle in Joyce Piven’s scene study class when they were both high school freshman. Back then, Arielle had braces and wore a black leather jacket and she had glasses and wore her Catholic school uniform. Now they dress alike. She spent her high school years doing theater and circus arts in Chicago. She majored in philosophy at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and spent semesters working for political asylees in Austin, Texas, on organic farms in France, building homes with Habitat for Humanity in South Africa, and in the Pacific working on a second volume of the history of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau. Since returning to Chicago she studied English Literature at Northeastern Illinois University and writes fiction.

Kelly is a wearer of many hats at Family Legacy Productions, from writing the newsletters, helping families get their photos and home movies organized, boom operator/production assistance, second brain to Arielle and more. She loves working with Arielle to help families tell their stories through video.

Ramiro Cazaux, Animator

Ramiro runs his own animation studio Yozux Animation (www.yozux.com) which he founded with his colleague and friend Sam Yousefian. Yozux is an animation and visual effects services company with expertise in a variety of different animation styles that includes hyper realistic 3D, traditional cartoon style 2D, and mixed media animation.

Ramiro graduated with an MFA in Film, Animation & Digital Arts from USC Cinema School Division of Animation. He has directed two short films: “The Christian Knight” (stop motion, 16 mm) and “Red Eden” (CGI, 35 mmm-HD).

Originally from Argentina, Ramiro’s background is in Art Direction with a BFA in Production Design, from the Universidad del Salvador (Buenos Aires). He has worked for television, theme parks, and for major shows in Argentina. Ramiro and Nicolás grew up on the same street and have remained life-long friends. Ramiro is responsible for bringing the Family Legacy Productions’ logo to life through animation, and looks forward to helping your family bring their history to life should you wish to incorporate any of his skills in your project.

Sara Phillips, Associate Editor/Producer

Sara is a Wilmette native and has been friends with Arielle since first grade! She studied Radio/Television Production at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Sara is responsible for helping with production and editing on many of the web videos on this site, as well as editing some full-length projects. She is also an assistant editor at Harpo Studios.