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).

Sarah Alexander is a Senior Food Organizer at Food and Water Watch, will speak after the film What’s On Your Plate?. She works to promote a healthy and independent food system and works to improve public knowledge on food issues including factory farms, and country of origin labeling. Sarah has worked on issues related to food sovereignty, genetic engineering, and local food security. Her background is in community organizing, strategic campaigning and legislative campaigns, having previously worked with Green Corps, the White Earth Land Recovery Project, and the American Community Gardening Association. Sarah is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied English.

Gilda Allen will speak on a panel after the film When Learning Comes Naturally.  Allen created the Anacostia River Environmental Fair in Anacostia Park to coincide with Earth Day 1997. She hoped it would give District kids a chance to experience the Anacostia River as a vital natural resource and would educate them about how to protect it. Vice President Al Gore and Bill Nye the Science Guy were present and President Clinton mentioned the fair in a morning press conference. Two thousand DC school kids showed up. Overnight, Allen became DC’s environmental educator and was asked to join the city’s watershed-protection division. The fair is still held every year on the first Friday in May. Allen has helped 30 schools set up their own conservation sites as part of the River Smart Schools initiative. Students learn to analyze soil, put in native plants, and create rain gardens that filter pollutants before they can reach the watershed. Allen grew up in Harlem but spent summers on her grandparents’ farm outside Warrenton.

Thom Andersen will be present for a discussion after his film Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer.  Andersen has lived in Los Angeles for most of his life. In the 1960s, he made short films, including Melting (1965), Olivia’s Place (1966), and --- ------- (1967, with Malcolm Brodwick). In 1974 he completed Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer, an hour-long documentation of Muybridge’s photographic work. In 1995, with Noël Burch, he completed Red Hollywood, a videotape about the film work created by the victims of the Hollywood Blacklist. Their work on the history of the Blacklist also produced a book, Les Communistes de Hollywood: Autre chose que des martyrs, published in 1994. In 2003 he completed Los Angeles Plays Itself, a videotape about the representation of Los Angeles in movies. It won the National Film Board of Canada Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival, and it was voted best documentary of 2004 in the Village Voice Film Critics’ Poll. He has taught film composition at the California Institute of the Arts since 1987.

Debra Anderson, director and producer of Split Estate, will speak after the screening of her film. Debra Anderson has been working in the film and television industry for seventeen years as an editor and a producer for channels such as PBS, National Geographic, HBO, A&E, AMC and Biography.

Dr. Pam Anderson, Director General of the International Potato Center (CIP) since May 2005, will speak after the film Potato Heads. CIP is one of fifteen international agricultural research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Prior to becoming Director General, she served as the Deputy Director General of Research at CIP (2002-2005) and as Senior Entomologist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, in Cali, Colombia (1997-2002). She received a M.Sc. in Entomology from the University of Illinois; a M.Sc in Human Ecology from Harvard University; and a D.Sc. in Populations Sciences/Vector Entomology from the Harvard School of Public Health. A leading expert on emerging plant diseases, her research has also included extensive work in agricultural entomology and plant virus epidemiology related to food security and income generation for resource-poor populations. She has worked in Latin America for 30 years and spent two decades working within national agricultural research systems before joining the CGIAR.

Casey Anderson will be discussing Expedition Wild, a film featuring him and his grizzly bear best friend, Brutus. Born and raised in East Helena, Montana, Casey is a fifth generation Montanan and has been involved in Film and Television production for over 12 years.  A wildlife naturalist, Casey has worked on several documentaries.  He recently led two expeditions to Botswana’s Okavango Delta for the HD wildlife series Untamed.  After college, Casey became an animal keeper and trainer at wildlife parks, traveling to elephant orphanages in Kenya, hanging out with crocodiles, and even getting thrashed by a mountain lion.  Casey is married to actress Missi Pyle, and the two now split their time between Montana and Los Angeles.

Karen Anspacher-Meyer the Executive Director of Green Fire Productins will speak after her film Lords of Nature: Life in a and of Great Predators. Karen Anspacher-Meyer and Ralf Meyer founded Green Fire Productions in 1989, an Oregon-based non-profit organization, and over the past twenty years they have produced award-winning films on conservation issues around the world. Their work incorporates conservation success stories and the latest science to foster conservation on issues ranging from protecting coral reefs in the Caribbean and marine life along the Oregon coast to restoring rivers through dam removal to exploring the role of top predators in restoring ecosystems and biodiversity.

Allison Argo will speak after her film Frogs: The Thing Green Line. She is a highly acclaimed producer, director and writer, whose films have won numerous awards including six national Emmys and various Festival awards. Her past films include The Urban Gorilla, Keepers of the Wild, The Last Frog, and The Urban Elephant, for which she won two National Emmys in 2001.  Based in Cape Cod, her production company, ArgoFilms, is dedicated to finding innovative ways of bringing message-driven films to mainstream television.

Franny Armstrong will speak by Skype after The Age of Stupid, her third film, following 2005’s McLibel and 2003’s Drowned Out (2003) - which have together been seen by an estimated 55 million people worldwide.  Her company, Spanner Films, pioneered the "crowd-funding" finance model, which allows filmmakers to raise reasonable-size budgets whilst retaining ownership of their films and the "Indie Screenings" distribution system, which allows anyone to screen independent films. Franny is a Londoner born and bred.

Vera Aronow is one of three co-directors, producers, and writers for the film Megamall. She will speak after the screening at the National Building Museum.  Aronow is an award winning producer and editor with over 25 years of experience.   She has produced many projects for multi-national corporations, as well as public television documentaries and programs for non-profits, museums, and personal history videos

Edward Barrows will speak after the film The Age of Stupid.  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.

Bill Benenson, an award-winning filmmaker, will speak after his film Dirt! The Movie. In over 30 years of producing and directing, he has made several documentaries, including The Marginal Way about the fishing and artist community of Ogunquit, Maine, and Diamond Rivers, a first-person account of diamond prospecting in northeastern Brazil. Both were PBS specials broadcast on New York's WNET. With Benenson Productions and its predecessor, BBZ Films, Benenson was a development executive, producer or executive producer on several feature films, including Under the Volcano, The Lightship and A Walk On The Moon. In addition, Benenson was executive producer on Mister Johnson.

Suzan Beraza will introduce her film Bag It. Beraza was born in Jamaica, and raised in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In 2000, Beraza directed the short film Sister & Brother and her film company REEL Thing Productions was born. The focus of REEL Thing Productions’ thought-provoking films is to challenge viewers to examine their choices and be aware of their impact on the rest of the world. Social and environmental issues pervade their work.

Jonathan Bird will speak after the screening of four episodes from his television program Jonathan Bird's Blue World. Bird is a professional underwater cinematographer and photographer.  His films have appeared all over the world, on networks such as National Geographic Channel, PBS, ABC, USA Network, Discovery and even the SciFi Channel.  He has won two Emmy Awards and two Cine Golden Eagles for his work.  He is also the author of seven books of underwater photography.

Joe Bohannon is a 2009 Student Academy Awards bronze winner, for his film A Place to Land. Joe is a filmmaker and an American University graduate student in the M.F.A. in Film and Electronic Media program. He is a producer at NBC NEWS in Washington, DC and has numerous TV credits. Film has always been Joe’s passion and storytelling with words and pictures is what Bohannon hopes to continue doing for the rest of his life.

Jasmina Bojic will speak at John Hopkins University after films from the United Nations Association Film Festival, of which she is the Founder and Executive Director.  Bojic 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, its founder and executive director, and the student members of the Stanford Film Society.

Bill Branch will speak on a panel after the film Division Street.  Branch is an Environmental Analyst with the Maryland State Highway Administration’s Office of Environmental Design.  With a B.A. in Biology, Bill has 35 years of experience in providing solutions to the conflicts that arise between highway construction and environmental protection.  He has written and spoken on various topics including wetland creation, use of native plants in the landscape, the endangered species consultation process, and environmental stewardship. 

Lester Brown will speak after the film Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.  In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. Brown has authored or coauthored 50 books. One of the world's most widely published authors, his books have appeared in some 40 languages. In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy. He is the recipient of many prizes and awards, including 24 honorary degrees, a MacArthur Fellowship, the 1987 United Nations' Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "exceptional contributions to solving global environmental problems." More recently, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Italy, the Borgström Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and appointed an honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Stephan Buchmann was a research entomologist with the USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research in Tucson for 22 years. In 1999/2000, he formed The Bee Works, an independent company conducting pollinator surveys, creating educational and wild lands, and GIS expertise for federal, state and private landowners. His latest work is Honey for the Maya: Life with Stingless Bees.

Dr. Bruce W. Bunting will speak after the film Bhutan: A Kingdom of Happiness.  Dr. Bruce W. Bunting is President of the Bhutan Foundation and the Hon. Consul General for Bhutan in Washington, DC. Dr. Bunting was the managing director and vice president of World Wildlife Fund’s Special Programs and Strategic Partnerships. He first visited Bhutan in 1986 and has been a long time advisor to the Bhutanese government on a variety of issues including the establishment of Bhutan’s national park system, the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation, the world’s first such trust fund, and the Bhutan Health Trust Fund. He has authored several articles, including “Bhutan, Kingdom in the Clouds” for National Geographic Magazine. He received a B.S. in zoology and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Michigan State University.

Joseph Burns will speak on a panel after the film Division Street. Burns grew up in the Mississippi River floodplain near St. Louis, MO.  At age 7, he found highway survey stakes cutting through the heart of the bottomland forest behind his home.  This alarming discovery led him on a lifelong journey to study and protect natural areas.  This journey has lead him to work across the western United States as a wildlife ecologist working on issues related to endangered species and forest ecology.  Burns is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and member of The Wildlife Society, Society of American Forestry, and the Society of Conservation Biology.   He currently serves as the National Transportation Ecology Program Leader with the U.S. Forest Service in Washington D.C.

Peter Byck will be present for a discussion after his film Carbon Nation. Byck has over 20 years experience as a director and editor.  His first documentary Garbage won the South by Southwest Film Festival. In addition, he has edited documentaries for Peter Jackson’s last two films, Lord of the Rings and King Kong.  Peter has also worked as an editor or director for documentaries and promotional shorts for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, MTV, Vh1, BBC, Disney and MGM, for shows and movies including The West Wing, The Matrix, Scrubs, ER and many more.  In 1986, Peter received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts.

James Byrne, a producer at National Geographic Television's Natural History Unit, will speak after the film Africa's Lost Eden. For the past two years, he has been working on a four part series about great animal migrations woldwide. Prior to that, he made three films about lions in Tanzania (including Super Pride and Planet Carnivore: Lions). He has also produced three episodes of the popular Hunter & Hunted series.