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Pat
Aufderheide
Pat Aufderheide is the founder and director for the Center for Social
Media and professor for American University's School of Communication.
Aufderheide is the author of The Daily Planet: A Critic on the
Capitalist Culture Beat (University of Minnesota Press, 2000),
and of Communications Policy in the Public Interest: The Telecommunications
Act of 1996 (Guilford Press, 1999), and she is the editor of
Beyond PC: Toward a Politics of Understanding (Graywolf Press).
She has been a Fulbright and John Simon Guggenheim fellow and has
served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others.
Aufderheide is a prolific cultural journalist, policy analyst, and
editor on media and society and has received numerous journalism
and scholarly awards. She has advocated for universal service telephone
policies for the United Church of Christ and has consulted on media
issues for the Benton, Rockefeller, Ford and MacArthur foundations,
as well as a variety of public television organizations.
Aufderheide currently serves on the board of directors of the Independent
Television Service, which produces innovative television programming
for underserved audiences under the umbrella of the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting. She also serves on the film advisory board
of the National Gallery of Art and on the editorial boards of a
variety of publications, including Communication Law and Policy
and In These Times newspaper. She received her Ph.D. in history
from the University of Minnesota.
 Sandi
DuBowski
Sandi Simcha DuBowski's feature documentary, Trembling Before
G-d, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and
was in theatrical release in the United States, Israel, Canada,
Germany, UK, and South Africa. Trembling Before G-d won over
twelve prizes including the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at
the Berlin Film Festival and the Mayor's Prize for the Jewish Experience
at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It aired on BBC, HBO Latin America,
Israel's Keshet Broadcasting/Channel Two, the Sundance Channel,
and other TV stations worldwide. At the World Premiere of Trembling
at the Sundance Film Festival, director DuBowski and Rabbi Steve
Greenberg (the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi) hosted the first-ever
Shabbat at Sundance, and with partner Working Films, an unprecedented
Mormon-Jewish gay dialogue. Since then, DuBowski has traveled to
150 cities across the globe doing over 800 Q & A's, dialogues, events,
and discussions with organizations across faith, sexuality, age,
racial, and Jewish denominational lines.
DuBowski is currently producing a film in progress called "In the
Name of Allah," about the complex intersection of Islam with homosexuality,
currently being shot in Pakistan, Egypt, US, UK, France, Palestine,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, India, Iran, and Lebanon. The
film is co-produced with UK's Channel 4, France/Germany's ZDF/Arte,
MTV's LOGO Channel, and Australia's SBS. He is also the director
of a film in development with Rebbetzin Hadassah, who is the widow
of six big-shot Hasidic rabbis, all of them brothers, and a world-famous
soul trainer to the ultra-Orthodox elite.
 Charlene
Gilbert
Charlene Gilbert is an independent documentary film and videomaker
whose award winning film, Homecoming, Sometimes I am haunted
by memories of red dirt and clay, premiered nationally on PBS
and won the NBPC Prized Pieces Award for Best Documentary. Ms. Gilbert
also co-authored, with Quinn Eli, a companion book to the film entitled
Homecoming: The Story of African American Farmers published
by Beacon Press. Her most recent documentary, Children Will Listen
premiered at the 2004 AFI Silverdocs Documentary Festival and had
its national primetime PBS broadcast premiere in the fall of 2005.
Her films and videos have been screened in numerous international
and national festivals including: The Women in the Director's Chair
Festival, the Chicago International Television Festival, FESPACO,
the Athens International Film and Video Festival and the Philadelphia
Festival of World Cinema. Ms. Gilbert is also the recipient of several
awards and fellowships including the Rockefeller Media Fellowship,
Harvard University's Bunting Fellowship, and the Kellogg National
Leadership Fellowship award. She is currently working on a documentary
project on Juvenile Justice which she hopes to complete in 2005.
Ms. Gilbert resides in Washington, DC where she is an associate
professor in the School of Communication at American University.
 Shira
Golding
Shira Golding is director of education and outreach for Arts Engine,
Inc. Golding is a filmmaker, graphic designer and activist who has
been with the nonprofit Arts Engine, Inc. since 2002. Serving as
the Director of Education & Outreach, Shira co-produces Arts Engine,
Inc.'s projects: MediaRights, YMDi and the Media That Matters Film
Festival. Shira writes and commissions articles on how alternative
media is being used as a tool for social change, organizes workshops
and screenings around the country, helps independent filmmakers
develop their outreach campaigns, and develops curricula and take
action guides for teachers and activists. Shira has moderated and
appeared on panels around the country on the issues of media activism,
youth media distribution and media reform. Prior to joining Arts
Engine, Inc. Shira interned with Women Make Movies and Durrin Productions.
She graduated from Cornell University's College Scholar Program
in 2002 with a dual B.A. in Documentary Film and English. Shira
is founder of Third Rail Films and Co-Founder of Activist Media
for Better Living.
 John
de Graaf
John de Graaf has worked with KCTS-TV, the Seattle PBS affiliate,
for 23 years, as an independent producer of television documentaries.
More than 15 of his programs have been broadcast in Prime Time nationally
on PBS. He is also the recipient of more than 100 regional, national
and international awards for film-making. He produced the popular
PBS specials, Running Out Of Time, an examination of overwork
and time pressure in America, and Affluenza, a humorous critique
of American consumerism.
He recently completed two new documentaries, Silent Killer: The
Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger, and Buyer, Be Fair: The
Promise Of Product Certification. Buyer Be Fair was produced
in cooperation with the National Wildlife Federation and the American
University Center for Environmental Media and will be shown March
16, 2006 in the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.
 Robert
Lavelle
Robert Lavelle is the cofounder and codirector of Roundtable, Inc.
Formerly, a vice president at Blackside, Lavelle pioneered methods
for increasing the social impact of documentary films, beginning
with the landmark project, Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil
Rights Years. For the next 13 years, he refined the public engagement
model for Blackside productions and consulted with numerous other
production companies, including Lumiere Productions, Stone Lantern
Films, Paradigm Productions and TV Ontario. After the death of Henry
Hampton (the President of Blackside), Lavelle and another Blackside
alum, Martha Fowlkes, founded Roundtable, Inc. Roundtable has developed
the public engagement model still further, marrying the screening
of a documentary with community dialogue that leads to community
action. Since the birth of the company in 1999, they have launched
public engagement campaigns in conjunction with documentaries on
public education, journalism, race and ethnicity, and public health.
In 2003, Roundtable created Preview Forum, a program that convenes
journalists, filmmakers, community leaders and active citizens for
screenings of excerpts from forthcoming documentaries. These screenings
catalyze deliberative discussions on social issues and provide a
neutral meeting ground for community members with journalists. In
2004, Lavelle served as the co-executive producer and co-director
of Roundtable's own three-part documentary series for public television
- The College Track: America's Sorting Machine. That series
was accompanied by an aggressive community connections campaign
and a national awareness initiative. By working with over 350 national,
regional and local organizations, that project has had significant
measurable results at the local and state levels.
 Cynthia
Lopez
Cynthia Lopez is Vice President for P.O.V. López's responsibilities
for P.O.V. include marketing, branding, and strategic planning while
contributing to the overall business development of the organization.
In addition López maintains oversight of P.O.V.'s Communications
and Marketing department. From 2000-2003, Cynthia López served as
P.O.V.'s Director of Communications. Under her leadership, national
coverage of P.O.V. documentaries in the media increased by 700 percent.
Prior to joining P.O.V., López worked with Libraries for the Future
as Advocacy Director from 1996 to 1999 and developed innovative
strategies to serve some of the nations poorest libraries. Other
work in the public telecommunications arena includes Acting Executive
Director of Deep Dish TV Network and Executive Producer of Satellite
University Network; both projects used satellite technology to distribute
community and educational programming to national public, municipal
and governmental access channels. Her production credits include
Associate Producer of Labor at the Crossroads, an American
Social History Project Production and Associate Producer of a 12-part
series on Televisión Española, Madrid, Spain.
A respected voice in the field, Cynthia López has been invited to
speak at major conferences and institutions, such as the 1997 White
House Conference on Library and Information Services Taskforce,
(Little Rock, Arkansas); the 1993 Advocacy Media Conference, Benton
Foundation (Washington, D.C.); the 1994 Channels for Change Conference,
(Edinburgh, Scotland); and, Community Media 2000, (Cape Town, South
Africa). Educational speaking engagements include Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Graduate School seminar, MIT Technology
and Policy Program; Women and the Art of Multimedia at the National
Museum for Women, Washington, D.C.; and, the National Association
of College Broadcasters at Brown University.
López has been an advisor to the Paul Robeson Fund, the Ford Foundation's
Americans for the Arts initiative, the Rockefeller Foundation and
Latino Public Broadcasting.
 Angela
Palmer
Angie Palmer is responsible for advancing the priorities of CPB's
TV Programming Department and building relationships in and outside
of public broadcasting. Ms Palmer serves as liaison to ITVS, the
National Minority Consortia, the independent film community and
works to enhance the inclusion of diverse perspectives in the programming
and production process. She is also Program Officer for several
CPB funding initiatives, including the Outreach Fund and the Greenhouse
Fund.
A cable television veteran of 18 years, Angie was part of the ground
floor start-up team for the local cable company (now Comcast Cable);
employed for ten years at C-SPAN and was Director of Affiliate Relations
for New Urban Entertainment Television, (NUE-TV) a Quincy Jones/Time
Warner cable venture. Immediately before her transition to public
television, she served as Director of Partnership Development for
New River Media, an independent production company that produces
a weekly public television series.
Chris
Palmer
Chris Palmer is a wildlife filmmaker. He joined American University
in August 2004 and founded the Center for Environmental Filmmaking
at the School of Communication. In addition to being a professor
on the AU faculty, Chris produces films and gives speeches and workshops
all over the country. He is writing a book called Adventures
in Wildlife Filmmaking and another one on how to father daughters
effectively. Chris is also Vice President of Special Projects at
MacGillivray Freeman Films, the largest and most successful producer
and distributor of IMAX films in the world. He also serves as Chief
Executive Officer of VideoTakes, Inc. where he is President of a
new division dedicated to the production of environmental films,
videos, DVDs and new media. In 1983, Chris founded the non-profit
organization National Audubon Society Productions and served as
President and CEO for 11 years. In 1994, he founded the non-profit
National Wildlife Productions (part of the National Wildlife Federation
and the largest conservation organization in the US) and served
as President and CEO for ten years.
Chris spent over 20 years producing more than 300 hours of original
programming for prime time television and the large format film
industry. His films were broadcast on the Disney Channel, TBS Superstation,
Animal Planet, Home and Garden Television, The Travel Channel, The
Outdoor Life Network, for the Public Broadcasting System and in
the global system of IMAX theaters. His IMAX films include Whales,
Wolves, Dolphins, Bears, India: Kingdom
of the Tiger and Coral Reef Adventure.
Carole
Prest
Carole Prest is Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic for BELL (Building
Educated leaders for Life). Carole joined BELL in 2005 to help the
organization expand their presence in DC, suburban Maryland, Baltimore
and adjacent markets. BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
is a nationally recognized provider of after schools and summer
programming for inner city children living in poverty. The program
started in 1993 serving 1 school with 20 students (whom BELL calls
“scholars”) to serving over 7,000 scholars in 40 schools
this year. Most recently, BELL has been recognized by Fast Company
in its January 2006 edition as one of 25 national non-profit organizations
who are “solving the world’s toughest problems with
creativity, ingenuity and passion.” Carole enlisted the help
of Robin Smith and Video/Action to help communicate that message
in 2005 through the use of video.
Prior to joining BELL, Carole served as Executive
Director of Commonweal Foundation, one of the top 10 private foundations
in Washington DC. Commonweal’s focus was on serving disadvantaged
youth though operating funding as well as capacity building grants.
Many of Commonweal’s capacity building grantees received funding
to help them expand their fundraising capabilities through the application
of new fund-raising techniques and Carole advocated strongly for
these programs and the use of video to tell their story.
Carole has an MBA from Harvard University,
a BA in Physics from Mount Holyoke College and over 25 years of
management experience in both for-profit and non-profit sectors.
She has served as an officer and/or Board Member for 3 NYSE traded
companies and 6 non-profit organizations. Carole lives in Potomac,
MD with her husband and they share pride in the dreams and accomplishments
of their son and daughter.
Judith
Ravitz
Judy Ravitz is President of Outreach Extensions (OE), a national
consulting firm that specializes in creating innovative educational
and community outreach campaigns for media projects. Services include
designing customized initiatives; conducting strategic planning
and community assessments; creating educational enhancements for
new media; forging national partnerships and collaborations; fundraising;
and developing cutting-edge outreach materials, Web sites, grant
programs, and events. In 2002, OE introduced the Reentry National
Media Outreach Campaign, which raises community awareness as well
as facilitates discussion and decision making about solution-based
prisoner reentry programs that foster public safety and support
healthy communities. The previous year, in March 2001, through support
from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, OE launched the ambitious Making
Connections Media Outreach Initiative (MCMOI), which includes the
Reentry Campaign. The overall purpose of any MCMOI campaign is to
strengthen families and communities through providing media resources
to local stakeholders.
MCMOI campaigns in addition to the multi-documentary Reentry Campaign
include Aging Out, Race Is the Place, and Waging
A Living. Notable prior national campaigns have included: American
Family - Journey of Dreams (PBS); American Family (PBS);
Liberty's Kids (PBS); The New Americans (PBS); Matters
of Race (PBS); Legacy (HBO/Cinemax and PBS); This
Far by Faith (PBS); Take This Heart (PBS); Having
Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (Hallmark/CBS);
Jesus (CBS); Brooklyn Family Tale (PBS); Why Can't
We Be A Family Again (PBS); numerous PBS children's series such
as Kratts' Creatures, Noddy, Tots TV, Shining
Time Station, and Disney Presents Bill Nye, the Science Guy;
as well as other series (To The Contrary) and multi part
documentaries (No Time To Be a Child) broadcast on PBS.
Paula
Silver
Paula Silver, former President of Marketing and Publicity at Columbia
Pictures, and the marketing visionary behind such recent feature
film hits as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, synergizes complex
marketing strategies with grassroots campaigns to support her projects.
President/Founder of Beyond the Box Productions, Silver utilizes
a multi-media approach to develop, produce and promote socially
conscious projects through popular culture. She spearheads a number
of key initiatives utilizing the skills she learned early in the
film business in order to generate a broad impact for "Media That
Matters." In addition, she is producing a television series dedicated
to facilitating productive, healthy dialogue between parents and
adolescents through film.
 Robin
Smith
Video/Action President Robin Smith is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker
with 30 years of experience. A graduate of Ohio University (BFA
'72) and Boston University (MS '78), her first documentary was a
personal story about her father, a U.S.M.C. pilot shot down over
Vietnam. CBS News bought rights to the film, which led to a career
as a network news producer with CBS News Sunday Morning with
Charles Kuralt (1978-1985) and NBC News American Almanac
(1985-1987). Robin and her husband, CBS News White House correspondent
Bill Plante journeyed into the jungles of Southeast Asia to find
out what happened that fateful day. This personal odyssey was shared
with a national audience on CBS News Eye To Eye and is the
subject of a photo essay on Dick Swanson's web site.
In 1990, Robin established Video/Action as a not-for-profit production
company to produce educational television and multimedia programs
on a wide variety of critical issues affecting women and at-risk
children. She is a hands-on creative director and oversees a small
production team dedicated to providing a voice for those whose voices
are rarely heard.
Under her direction, Video/Action has completed more than 172 productions
and has been honored with an array of awards. Video/Action productions
have been featured on CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, FOX, BET and The Learning
Channel.
 Lisa
Smithline
Lisa is Vice President of Marketing and Political Distribution at
Brave New Films and Executive Director of Brave New Foundation.
She is responsible for creating Brave New Foundation's alternative
distribution strategies using film as an organizing tool. Previously,
Smithline integrated community organizing and a 16-year career in
film and television production. She is actively involved in several
grassroots organizations including Interfaith Communities United
for Justice and Peace. Smithline has directed peace events throughout
the country and produced regular public affairs shows on community
radio and television stations.
 Robert
West
Robert West is co-founder and executive director of Working Films,
a nationally recognized link between high quality non-fiction filmmaking
and serious activism. Working Films, based in North Carolina and
New York City, was co-founded by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker
and organizer Judith Helfand and has current projects ranging from
high profile efforts, including HBO and PBS broadcasts, to regional
and local grassroots initiatives. Now in its sixth year, Working
Films supports efforts for economic, environmental and social justice.
Trembling Before G-d, Girl Trouble, Oil On Ice,
Deadline, Thirst, Invisible Revolution, On
Hostile Ground, Blue Vinyl, and Two Towns Of Jasper
all partnered or collaborated with Working Films on their outreach.
Working Films was a member of the Sundance Outreach Roundtable in
2002, and the 2003, 2004 Outreach Open House. In recognition of
their successful collaboration of media and social change, Blue
Vinyl and Working Films won the prestigious 2002 Environmental
Messenger of the Year Award from the Environmental Grantmakers Association
(EGA), a "Nice Modernist" award from "Dwell" Magazine, and are a
featured case study in the Council on Foundation's new publication
Why Fund Media.
West is a board member of the National Alliance for Media Arts and
Culture (NAMAC) and the Association of Independent Film and Videomakers
(AIVF).
 Gerardine
Wurzburg
Gerardine Wurzburg is the founder and president of State of the
Art, Inc., an Academy Award® winning multimedia communications company
that creates products for ordinary people facing health and educational
challenges. Among her achievements are the Academy Award-winning
documentary Educating Peter, about the mainstreamed education
of a mentally challenged boy, and its sequel, Graduating Peter.)
Wurzburg has been Principal Investigator and Producer on several
major health promotion campaigns funded by the National Institutes
of Health. National broadcasts related to these campaigns have included
Prostate Cancer: Are You at Risk? hosted by Colin Powell;
Caregivers: The Heart of Home Care, hosted by Dana Reeve,
wife and principal caregiver of Christopher Reeve; and Positively:
The Changing Face of AIDS in America. Wurzburg was awarded Time
Inc.'s International Health Media Freddie Award for Now is Our
Time: Healthy Living for Black Women 40-55, which is hosted
by Debbie Allen. State of the Art has also developed highly interactive
personalized web modules related to several health conditions.
Wurzburg completed her Academy Award® nominated film Autism is
a World, in August 2004. The film has received numerous other
awards including the Autism Society Media Award. Copies of the film
have been placed in 16,000 public libraries in the United States.
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