Attending Filmmakers & Special Guests

Redford will be discussing THE AGE OF ALUMINUM.
 
Katharine (Katie) Redford, Esq. is a human rights lawyer and activist
who is credited with spearheading a movement to hold international
companies accountable for overseas abuse in their home court
jurisdictions in the Western world, and in doing so, opened up new
possibilities in human rights law. She is the co-Founder and Director
of EarthRights International (ERI), a non-profit group of activists,
organizers, and lawyers with expertise in human rights, the
 environment and corporate and government accountability.

Rogers will be discussing HOT WATER.
 
The 1996 Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences special 'Gordon E. Sawyer Oscar' for lifetime achievement in technology was awarded to Don, representing the gratitude of the motion picture industry for what was then, forty-­three years of involvement, dedication and accomplishment, a career that continues on today. In 2011 Don was awarded the first Fellowship of the Science and Technology Council for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Rogers was a member of the sound crew that received Oscars for "The King and I" and "South Pacific". During 1971-­ 1992 Rogers was Director of Technical Operations at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios during which time his Sound Department staff was recognized with 23 Academy Award nominations leading to 15 Oscars. Over the span of his career in the motion picture industry, Don has had a part in the production of over 1,000 movies.

In July 1996, Don Rogers retired as Sr. Vice President-­Post Production Services at Warner Bros. and accepted a leadership role as President of Real Image Digital, LLC. Don continues to contribute his time and skills toward the development of digital technology.

Don remains actively involved in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and continues to help elevate industry and public awareness of that important aspect of the motion picture art. 

Rogers will be discussing HOT WATER.
 
According to Liz, a thirty year career in the entertainment industry was just the first step toward her ultimate goal – that of being a documentary filmmaker.
Telling real stories are her passion. ‘Hot Water’ is the third of Liz’s documentaries, following the multiple award winning films, ‘On Sacred Ground’ and ‘Catching Dreams’. She started her career in broadcast management, at radio stations owned by Olympia Broadcasting covering the entire western United States and rounded out her expertise in the ‘business’ of the business by working in advertising and commercial production. In the early 90’s she worked for Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and their manager as they toured the world with Frank Sinatra.

She worked with Stephen Paul, renowned sound engineer and microphone guru – whose modifications to Neuman microphones are known to recording engineers and audiophiles worldwide. It was during these years that she began recording and producing jazz artists, doing forensic sound work and integrated software and computer systems design and customization into her work.

She joined Warner Bros. studios in 1994 and helped transition their video and post production facilities to a fully automated computer system for scheduling, billing and reporting during daytime hours – and worked nights on sound mixing stages learning all aspects of the recording process. She retired in 2000 to work with Don Rogers in the development of Digital Cinema through Technicolor Labs and his company Real Image Digital and consulted on the software systems installation and training for Pacific Title and Arts Studio, SounDeluxe and Ryder Sound.

Determined to make a difference, Liz has dedicated her life to her work with groups and companies whose focus is on environment, education and health. She is currently on the board of The Hestia Gaea Foundation whose mission is to support educators in health, nutrition and the environment.


She is also on the board of GardenChef Paul Company, whose founder Paul Wenner invented the Gardenburger and currently is the producer of the GardenBar – a whole food savory bar. Liz has worked with Paul on the development of the GardenBar since its beginning and is currently editing and designing his latest book release, titled “The Power of our Forks”.

Ruhil will be discussing VISION: THE PORTSFUTURE PROJECT.

Anirudh V. S. Ruhil (Ph.D.: Stony Brook University) is a faculty leader and he serves as the Co-Director of the Honors Tutorial College/Voinovich Scholars Program. Ani also is the Ohio Education Research Center’s (OERC) Co-Principal Investigator/Co-Site Lead and participates on the Student Growth Measures Advisory Group for the Ohio Department of Education. He teaches quantitative research methods, policy analysis, and program evaluation for the Voinovich School’s Master of Public Administration academic program, and is a lead quantitative research methodologist/applied statistician for the School and for the DOE-funded project involving the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Since joining Ohio University in 2005 Ani has worked on several evaluations of value-added pilot programs for Battelle for Kids, a multi-year study of post-secondary access and success in Appalachia, public health surveys and reports targeting diabetes in multiple Appalachian counties of the state, and several other projects. His experience and insights has led to ongoing service on an advisory group helping the Ohio Department of Education continually improve how value-added data are utilized in thestate’s school accountability framework, as well as on the Student Growth Measures Advisory Group for the Ohio Department of Education.

In addition to the reports he has co-authored for the aforementioned projects Dr. Ruhil has also published widely on issues of race and representation in local America, state politics and policy, and on urban governance more generally. His published work appears in the pages of the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, Urban Affairs Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Social Science Quarterly, and the Journal of Rural Health. 

Sender will be discussing HARMONY.
 
Stuart Sender has an eclectic background as an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, broadcast journalist and screenwriter. His credits include producing and directing the Academy-Award® nominated documentary Prisoner of Paradise which also received a Directors Guild nomination and won the prestigious Grierson Award for best documentary on film. Stuart also executive produced The Garden which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature.

Stuart began his career at CBS news, then worked as Senior Producer of the weekly PBS series South Africa Now, which won a Polk Award for excellence in journalism and a New York Emmy for best newsmagazine. He produced the first exclusive interview with Nelson Mandela following President Mandela's release from prison; and was Senior Producer of the documentary Mandela: Free At Last.

Stuart has worked around the globe: in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin, Capetown, Delhi, Managua and Hanoi; from the huts of peasant farmers to the offices of industry titans; lobster fishing off the coast of Scotland and searching for Spirit Bears in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest; filming sacred Buddhist ceremonies in India and a Ku Klux Klan cross burning in Pennsylvania; and working in war and conflict zones in Nicaragua, South Africa and the Middle East.

Stuart is a partner in Balcony Films, a Los Angeles based media production and consulting firm. Stuart produces and directs much of Balcony Films award-winning content which has featured some of our best-known public figures and personalities, including: His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Shamir, KKK Grand Dragon David Duke and performers such as Will Ferrell, Jason Alexander, Felicity Huffman, Rosario Dawson and Stevie Wonder.

His current work includes writing the story for THE VOW starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum; and the screenplay adaptation of the acclaimed eco-thriller The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Vaillant.

Start has a bachelor’s degree in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz; and a Masters Degree in Journalism from Columbia University.

Bergman Sender will be discussing HARMONY.
 
Julie Bergman Sender has a unique mix of experience: as a Hollywood Studio Executive, as a producer of feature films and independent documentaries – including an Academy Award nominee – as well as creating groundbreaking and innovative content, social and viral campaigns online, on the air, on radio and on the ground.

Most recently she served as Executive Producer of Harmony, A New Way of Looking at Our World. Harmony, a film and primetime television special produced in collaboration with HRH The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles), aired on NBC as the cornerstone of the network’s Green Is Universal programming.

In addition to producing studio and feature films, Julie is Executive Producer of The Garden, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best feature documentary. And Harmony, which looks at solutions to the global environmental and economic crises, won a Cinema for Peace Green Award during the Berlin Film Festival - and is scheduled for release internationally in the fall of 2011. www.theharmonymovie.com

Julie also put together the unprecedented global partnerships for Harmony, including an alliance with TckTckTck.org, an international consortium of environmental and social groups with membership totaling in the tens of millions of members.  

Julie and her husband Stuart Sender are partners in Balcony Films, Inc., a Los Angeles-based media production and consulting ï¬�rm.  Balcony Films award-winning content and public service campaigns often feature well-known personalities actors and performers.

Julie has been invited by the U.S. State Department to travel to the Middle East and speak about the impact of women, technology, new media and storytelling at conferences in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. She also blogs for the Huffington Post.

Julie lives in Los Angeles with her husband Stuart and their daughter Emily.

Sharp will be discussing HOW I BECAME AN ELEPHANT.
 
Synthian Sharp, is an activism renaissance. As a screenwriter, filmmaker, author, and the lead singer for the activist rock band, Exit Ophelia, he has proudly contributed footage and music to projects for HarpSeals.org, PeTA, HSUS, Students for a Free Tibet, Greenpeace, ARME, and Artivist, including the films, American Meth, Skin Trade,  Life, Believe, and Shaun Monson’s upcoming film: Earthlings 2 “UNITY”.

Shaw will be discussing THE AGE OF ALUMINUM.
 
Dr. Christopher Shaw is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology
and Visual Sciences at the University of British Columbia and holds
cross appointments with the Department of Experimental Medicine and
the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. He is the author of more than
100 peer-reviewed articles as well as numerous book chapters and
special reviews. Shaw has edited four books on neuroscience themes.

Shen will be discussing LA SOURCE.
 
Patrick Shen is the founder of Transcendental Media (TM), an independent production company that produces feature documentaries to “agitate the sleep of mankind.” Shen made his feature directorial debut in 2005 with the critically-acclaimed Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality which was hailed by critics as “being one of the most ambitious films ever made” (PBS 106.7 Australia) and “moving and thought-provoking” (NBC). Beautifully photographed in eight different countries and three years in the making, Flight from Death was awarded seven “Best Documentary” awards at film festivals all over the United States. In 2009, Shen released The Philosopher Kings which premiered to sold-out audiences at the AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival, opened theatrically in Los Angeles in May 2010 and premiered on The Documentary Channel in September 2010. Hailed as being a “terrific documentary about janitors” by the SF Chronicle, the award-winning film interweaves the personal stories of eight janitors who work for some of the America’s top universities. Shen is currently developing some feature narrative projects as well as a reality TV show based on The Philosopher Kings.

Soukup will be discussing LOST RIVERS.
 
Katarina Soukup is an independent producer who brings with her ten years as documentary and multimedia producer with the internationally acclaimed filmmakers behind the Canadian cinema classic Atanarjuat The Fast Runner (Camera d'or Cannes 2001). While at Isuma, she produced and co-wrote the documentary Kiviaq versus Canada (2006) with renowned filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk. Soukup founded Catbird Productions in 2006, producing the documentaries Umiaq Skin Boat (Hot Docs 2008) and Where The Children Dwell (2009) by award-winning director Jobie Weetaluktuk, and Tusarnituuq! Nagano In The Land Of The Inuit (2009) by Felix Lajeunesse, which aired on Radio-Canada, ARTV, APTN, and SVT-Sweden. She recently completed the cross-platform documentary Lost Rivers (Opening Night Film Planet in Focus and DC Environmental Film Festival, CPH:DOX, One World Film Festival Prague, Big Sky Documentary Festival) for Radio-Canada/ ARTV. She is currently in production on Burgundy Jazz, an interactive documentary, and Last Days of Vaudeville, a feature documentary by award-winning filmmaker Helene Klodawsky.

Stern will be discussing THE LOST BIRD PROJECT.
 
Andy Stern is an Associate Professor of Neurology at The University of Rochester but now devotes himself fully to raising awareness about the environment through activities of The Lost Bird Project.  Andy is a Zen Buddhist practitioner and author of numerous essays on a range of topics including the environment, memory and the nature of knowing, mostly from a Zen perspective. An art lover and amateur sculptor, he is married to Todd McGrain’s sister Melissa.

Stewart will be discussing VISION: THE PORTSFUTURE PROJECT.

Robin Stewart is a Senior Project Manager at the Voinovich School of Leadership & Public Affairs at Ohio University. Robin manages community economic development projects focused on community revitalization and economic recovery efforts in the Appalachian Ohio region. In addition, Robin conducts feasibility studies and qualitative research, and provides technical assistance to nonprofit and local government organizations. Robin has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Capital University and Master of Public Administration from Ohio University. A native of Southeastern Ohio, Robin is proud to call the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains home. 

Stewart will be discussing REVOLUTION.
 
Rob Stewart is an award-winning biologist, photographer, conservationist and filmmaker. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Stewart began photographing underwater when he was 13. By the age of 18 he became a scuba instructor and then moved on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, studying in Ontario, Jamaica and Kenya.

While on assignment to photograph sharks in the Galapagos Islands, Stewart discovered illegal longlining, indiscriminately killing sharks within the marine reserve. Stewart decided to make a film to bring people closer to sharks. At the age of 22 he left his career behind and embarked on a remarkable journey over four years and 12 countries, resulting in the epic Sharkwater.

Sharkwater has been hugely successful, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and winning a "Canada's Top Ten" award. Sharkwater made history with the largest opening weekend of any Canadian documentary, and was the most award-winning documentary of the year, winning over 35 awards at prestigious film festivals around the world.

Stewart has just completed his second film, Revolution, a groundbreaking documentary that has already received both critical and audience acclaim at film festivals, winning Audience Award for Best Doc at the Atlantic Film Fest; Most Popular Environmental Film Award at the Vancouver Intl Film Fest; and was a runner up People's Choice Award Documentary and the most popular Canadian film at its premiere at the Toronto Intl Film Fest. Revolution will release in theatres in the Spring of 2013, with a companion rich digital media component.

Stone will be discussing LONESOME GEORGE AND THE BATTLE FOR THE GALAPAGOS.
 
Gregory S. Stone is Chief Scientist for Oceans and Executive Vice President at Conservation International (CI).  He pioneered research in Antarctica on marine mammals and later ice ecology and has written prolifically for science and popular publications and has lectured throughout the world.  He is a specialist in undersea technology and exploration and has logged thousands of hours SCUBA diving in all five oceans.  His numerous accolades and professional associations include being named a National Fellow of the Explorers Club, awarded the Pew Fellowship for Marine Conservation and the National Science Foundation/U.S. Navy Antarctic Service medal for his research in Antarctica.  He’s been named one of the five “Bostonians of the Year” by the Boston Globe in 2008.  Today, his work with CI focuses on global solutions for the oceans which include a metric for measuring ocean health, fisheries management, and ocean stewardship.

Suarez will be moderating the panel discussion of BIDDER 70.

Ray Suarez – author and host of National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation and now Senior Correspondent of the PBS television program, the PBS NewsHour, is well-known for his expertise and insights on quintessentially American issues, including politics, demographics, race, and religion - including his most recent book, “The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America.” An observer of the changing nature of society, Ray has been covering the global health beat for more than 30 years and has traveled the world observing and reporting on society and the health of our world.