Enter the Witnessing Change Video Competition. Because climate change isn't just melting ice caps.
The Witnessing Change Video Competition will be judged by the Climate Cost Project staff and by a guest panel of environmental filmmakers whose bios can be found below.
Sandy Cannon-Brown founded her award-winning production company, VideoTakes, in 1985. In 2013, she closed her corporate offices to work as an independent filmmaker focusing on issues that affect the Chesapeake Bay. Her most recent release, High Tide in Dorchester, addresses climate change, sea level rise, and erosion in Maryland’s most vulnerable county. Sandy and her environmental filmmaking partners, writer Tom Horton and photographer Dave Harp, will premiere a new film about Smith Island, MD this fall.
Sandy was an associate director for the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University, honored as CEF’s first senior scholar in 2013 and named AU’s adjunct professor of the year in 2011. Among her other honors, Women in Film & Video DC recognized Sandy as a Woman of Vision in 1998. She served as WIFV’s president 2011-12.
Early in her career, Cannon-Brown worked for U.S. News & World Report, the Associated Press, Austin American-Statesman, McGraw-Hill, WJLA-TV7 in Washington, DC and KTBC-TV7 in Austin, TX.
She and her husband, Omer Brown, live in St. Michaels, MD with their poodle, Asta.
Peter O’Brien is an environmental media consultant, working with filmmakers and festival organizers to strengthen the impact of films about the environment. He was previously the Executive Director of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital, and is currently a member of the EFF board of directors. He is also a board member of the Green Film Network and of the American Resilience Project, and an advisory committee member of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival and the Cuba Environmental Film Festival. He has advised filmmakers and festivals in the U.S. and internationally, and has served on numerous film juries. A native of Washington, DC, he holds a B.A. in English and American Language and Literature from Harvard University, and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Dayna Reggero is the award-winning director of the Climate Listening Project. Dayna works creatively to cultivate and share hopeful conversations on climate and community through video, film, connections, and collaborations. She has traveled across the United States and around the world, exploring the climate connections that are important to each of us including family, food, faith, nature, business, and community.Dayna weaves together the latest science with inspiring stories from around the globe. Dayna began the Climate Listening Project while working with the Sierra Club in collaboration with the Years of Living Dangerously docu-series. Climate Listening Project collaborators have included the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), National Audubon Society, and Moms Clean Air Force and its stories have reached than 10 million people through websites, social media pages and events. Dana was recognized as an Outstanding Conservationist at the Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards, Best Short Documentary at the Belize International Film Festival, Featured Filmmaker at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Best Environmental Film Finalist at the Boone Film Festival, and Official Selection at the Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival, and has been honored with PR Power Award, Addy Awards, Emerging Leader of the Year and Community Leader of the Year awards.
Kaia Rose is a freelance filmmaker based in New York City dedicated to meaningful and curious filmmaking. She is the creator and director of Climate Countdown, an award-winning web series that maps out the ecology of climate solutions, and as a multi-media consultant at the World Bank, she writes, shoots and edits videos that promote climate awareness and action.
Before becoming a New Yorker, Kaia lived in the UK where she was the lead producer at the BAFTA-winning production company ArthurCox. There she produced, line produced, and production managed commercials, shorts, TV shows and feature films for such companies as Disney Jr, Aardman Animations, the BBC, the UK Film Council and 20th Century Fox TV. She has experience directing, editing and shooting short films, promos, ads, and documentaries and has created content for such organizations as the United Nations, The Juilliard School, World Bank, 350.org, Creative England and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Kaia is a co-founder of the non-profit Craft Film Society and a graduate of the University of Bristol. To see more of her work, visit kaiarose.com.
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