Attending Filmmakers & Special Guests

Abramson will be discussing CARBON FOR WATER.
 
Evan Abramson is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer born and based in New York City. Together with his wife Carmen Elsa Lopez, he writes, directs, shoots, edits and produces. In 2010 they formed Cows in the Field, a production house dedicated to telling the stories of people whose lives are impacted by social and environmental crises around the globe — and on finding solutions. Their 2011 documentary Carbon for Water premiered at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival in Toronto, winning Best International Short Film. Other awards include the Sir Edmund Hillary Award for Environmental Film at the Mountain Film Awards, Best Documentary Short at the California International Shorts Fest, Best Documentary at the Love Your Shorts Film Festival and Highly Commended at the Development and Climate Days Film Festival at COP17 in Durban. In 2010, Evan’s multimedia documentary When the Water Ends won Best Short Film at the Tutti nello stesso piatto International Food, Film & Videodiversity Festival and was also nominated for a Webby, a World Press Photo and an Online Journalism Award. A self-taught filmmaker, Evan was a photojournalist previously, and his images have been published widely, including The Atlantic, National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Guardian Weekend Magazine, FT Weekend, The Sunday Times, BBC Online and Courier Japan.

Adato will be discussing PARIS: THE LUMINOUS YEAR.
 
Perry Miller Adato is a major figure in the art of biographical and historical filmmaking. Her 1970 documentary, Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me is one of the key pioneering works of the historical documentary genre. Using revolutionary techniques that have been widely imitated, her film makes use of old photographs, letters, readings, art objects, songs, newsreel footage, and interviews to bring its subject to life. In 1977 Adato became the first woman to receive the prestigious Directors Guild of America Award for her film Georgia O’Keeffe. Adato went on to receive that same award three more times for Eugene O’Neill: A Glory Of Ghosts (1986), Carl Sandburg: Echoes And Silences (1982), and Picasso: A Painter's Diary (1980).

Agostini will be discussing MAN WHO STOPPED THE DESERT, THE.

Dr. Paola Agostini is a Senior Economist in the Africa Environment Department of the World Bank. She holds a PhD in Economics, since 1995, from University of California San Diego, and a Master of Art in Social Sciences, since 1990, from Universita Bocconi, Milan, Italy. Ms. Agostini is currently the GEF and TerrAfrica Coordinator in the Africa Environment Department of the World Bank. She is in charge of coordinating projects in Africa financed by GEF (Global Environment Facility) dealing with Biodiversity, Climate Change, Land Degradation, Sustainable Forest Management, International Water, and POS.  She is also coordinating the TerrAfrica Partnership a program to promote Sustainable Land and Water Management to reach multiple benefits in Africa of improving livelihood, mitigation, adaptation and conservation.

Ali will be discussing "TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES": PERSPECTIVES FROM WATERTON-GLACIER INTERNATIONAL PEACE PARK and TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES: PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSBOUNDARY CONSERVATION IN THE CENTRAL ALBERTINE RIFT VALLEY.
 
Saleem Ali is Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and the Director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security at UVM's James Jeffords Center for Policy Research. He is also on the adjunct faculty of Brown University’s  Watson Institute for International Studies and the visiting faculty for the United Nations mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica). Dr. Ali's research focuses on the causes and consequences of environmental conflicts and how ecological factors can promote peace. Dr. Ali is also involved in numerous nonprofit organizations to promote environmental peace-building and serves on the  board of The DMZ Forum for Peace and Nature Conservation  and  International Peace Park Expeditions in the United States and on the board of governors for LEAD-Pakistan. 

Barrows will be discussing THERE ONCE WAS AN ISLAND (TE  HENUA E NOHO).
 
Edward Barrows is a Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology at Georgetown University. His research focuses on arthropod biodiversity and conservation and scientific communication. Barrow’s teaching includes forest ecology and biology undergraduate and graduate research. He serves as an advisor for biology students and Environmental Studies Minors and is the Director of the GU Center for the Environment.  He received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Entomology.

Baxter will be discussing YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED.
 
Anthony Baxter founded Montrose Pictures in 2005, in the Scottish coastal town (famous for its golf course) where his family goes back several generations. Previous to that he had worked 15 years as a journalist and filmmaker in Nottingham, London, and Edinburgh, employed by the BBC, Channel 4, and others. His BBC documentary in 2007 exposed the impact of dredging on the coastline of Scotland and other parts of the UK, and deepened his understanding of the threats to Scotland's natural coastal heritage.

Benn will be discussing Ok, I've Watched the Film, Now What?

Joanna Benn currently works for the Pew Environment Group and is based in Washington DC in the US. Previously she worked for the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya as a writer/speechwriter and for WWF as part of their Global Species Programme and as a TV producer. She has worked for international news networks, print outlets and non-governmental organizations in various communication capacities with a focus on the environment and sustainability for the past 14 years. In 2008, she won the Terry Lloyd Memorial Bursary with ITN news in London. She has written for the BBC, NatGeo Asia, WWF and The Environmentalist, as well as run training and strategy workshops on environmental communications.

Bojic will be discussing THERE ONCE WAS AN ISLAND (TE HENUA E NOHO).
 
Jasmina Bojic is the Founder and Executive Director of the United Nations Association Film Festival.  She was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia where she attended law school and worked with a well-known radio and television reporter. In 1989, she went to Stanford University where today she teaches documentary filmmaking with a focus on human rights issues. In 1997, she created the United Nations Association Film Festival. The Festival is an all-volunteer effort by Jasmina Bojic, its founder and executive director, and the student members of the Stanford Film Society.

Bonomo will be discussing THE CITY DARK.

Jacqui has a 27-year career in conservation and has experience working in 23 states and territories.  She has held senior positions in the Mid-Atlantic and Pacific Northwest, with experience in policy, land protection, watershed restoration, and all phases of organizational development.  Vice President, Conservation Programs, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pittsburgh, PA, (1999-2008) Vice President, Western Region, National Wildlife Federation, Portland, OR (1997-1998) Director, Western Natural Resource Center, National Wildlife Federation, Portland, OR (1991-1998) Mid Atlantic Regional Executive, National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC (1985-1991)

Bramble will be discussing A FIERCE GREEN FIRE: THE BATTLE FOR A LIVING PLANET
 
Barbara Bramble has been in the thick of the fight to protect the environment since founding the National Wildlife Federation's international department in 1982. In that capacity she started a number of programs, including a citizen's campaign to reform the World Bank and the other multilateral banks. She founded NWF’s Trade & Environment Program in the late 1980's, before NAFTA came to prominence, to reduce the negative impacts of globalization on people and the environment in many different countries. She was an organizer of the main NGO conference during the Earth Summit in 1992, and she chaired the board of the Forest Stewardship Council US. Now, Bramble is dividing her time between NWF’s project to promote modern cattle ranching methods in the Amazon, to reduce deforestation and GHG emissions, and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). The RSB is an international initiative, including both industry and civil society groups, which has developed a third-party certification system for biofuels social and environmental standards. Barbara Bramble is chair of the RSB’s steering board.

Burns will be discussing THE DUST BOWL.
 
Ken Burns has been making films for more than thirty years.  Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made.   A December 2002 poll conducted by Real Screen Magazine listed The Civil War as second only to Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North as the “most influential documentary of all time,” and named Ken Burns and Robert Flaherty as the “most influential documentary makers” of all time. In March, 2009, David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun said, “… Burns is not only the greatest documentarian of the day, but also the most influential filmmaker period. That includes feature filmmakers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. I say that because Burns not only turned millions of persons onto history with his films, he showed us a new way of looking at our collective past and ourselves.” The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of his films, "More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source." Ken’s films have won twelve Emmy Awards and two Oscar nominations, and in September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Ken has been the recipient of more than twenty-five honorary degrees and has delivered many treasured commencement addresses.  He is a sought after public speaker, appearing at colleges, civic organizations and business groups throughout the country. Projects currently in production include The Dust Bowl, a two-part series about the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, which is scheduled for PBS broadcast in November 2012.  Future projects include films on the Central Park Jogger case, the Roosevelts, Jackie Robinson, the Vietnam War and Country Music.

Butts will be discussing SPACE JUNK 3D.
 
Melissa Butts is an award-winning director/producer and is the founder and chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based, Melrae Pictures. Space Junk 3D marks her third 3D film including 3D Sun, co-directed by Barry Kimm and MARS 3D, produced by Twist Films. Ms. Butts began her career with the award-winning PBS series, Newton’s Apple, and continued building an impressive body of work as a multi-genre director/producer in documentaries, narrative film and television broadcasts. Her interest in 3D began while making a HD documentary, MARS: Future Frontiers, which followed the NASA mission in its attempt to find evidence of life on Mars. On this project, the spacecraft carried special 3D cameras, and the idea of using real-life 3D data to bring the audience closer to the science emerged as did a new version of the film, MARS 3D. An early adopter of new technology, MARS: Future Frontiers, was one of just two films to be shot in HD out of 70 in the 2004 AFI Silverdoc’s festival, and went on to win the Audience Award for “Best Short.” Ms. Butts other credits include the narratives, Natural Born Salesman and One Thousand Feet Deep; the documentaries, MARS: Future Frontiers and Past Time; the live webcast, WYCLEF JEAN and the Refugees; Newton’s Apple for TV; and several commercials, including for Namco Bandai, MN Twins, Select Comfort, General Mills, and Target.