ADVISORY BOARD

Angela Barranco

Executive Director, North America, Climate Group

  • Angela currently serves as the Executive Director for North America at Climate Group. She brings over two decades of political and policy management experience, including several years in problem-solving, campaign-driven, solutions-focused work on climate, clean energy, clean cars and protecting natural resources, most recently as Undersecretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. Prior to CNRA, Angela served as Chief Executive for River LA, Deputy Chief of Staff at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and led climate and environment outreach for the Obama White House as Associate Director for Public Engagement of the White House Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ).

    Angela’s extensive climate, policy and strategic management skills help Climate Group to strengthen partnerships and networks across sectors to drive impact at this urgent moment. Her strong leadership experience helps focus Climate Group North America on accountability and comprehensive emissions reductions that create a more prosperous future for all. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Environmental & Conservation Biology and is based out of Washington, D.C. with her husband and two children.

Jessie Bluedorn

Founder & Executive Director, The Carmack Collective, Executive Producer, Carmack Productions

  • Jessie is a producer, funder, and organizer working at the intersection of climate and culture. She is the Founder & Executive Director of The Carmack Collective – a philanthropic fund working to combat and dismantle the fossil fuel industry by investing in movement building and culture change organizations, as well as the Executive Producer at Carmack Productions – a multi-media production studio with a focus on climate comedy. Previously, she has worked across the organizing and media sectors in a number of roles including as a Climate Action Fellow at 350.org, a NYC Hub Leader with the Sunrise Movement, and a digital media strategist at Digitas and SocialCode. She has a BA in History and Marketing from Washington University in St. Louis. In her free time, she can be found at the pottery studio, hiking, or doing stand-up comedy.

Owen Davies

Consultant, Advisory Council Co-Chair, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, Board of Directors, Northwest Film Forum

  • Owen Davies is a Minneapolis-based consultant working in the film, non-profit, and climate philanthropy sectors. For two decades, he has worked with leading community-based arts & environmental organizations, award-winning feature documentary film projects, and high-impact philanthropic initiatives focusing on global climate solutions. Owen currently co-chairs the Advisory Council of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Northwest Film Forum. His hobbies include crosswords, cooking, and creative cat photography.

Stephanie Dawson

Producer, line producer, and production manager, founding member, Women Independent Producers, former Co-Chair, Producers Guild of America Green Committee

  • Stephanie Dawson is a producer, line producer, and production manager for narrative, unscripted, and branded content with over 17 years of experience. Her recent credits include MAKING SHAKESPEARE: THE FIRST FOLIO (2023, PBS), DOWN WITH THE KING (2021), MAYA & HER LOVER (2020), DEREK DELGAUDIO’S IN & OF ITSELF (Hulu), and HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL (HGTV). She is currently a producer for the show Great Performances, which airs nationally on PBS from the WNET Group in New York city. She is producing the forthcoming feature film THE RHODORA which she co-wrote with director Maria Matteoli (THE WINE OF SUMMER). She is producing alongside Trevite Willis (CARGO).

    In March of 2022, Dawson was inducted to the Full Sail University Hall of Fame. Stephanie is a founding member of the non-profit Women Independent Producers and a Climate Reality Leader. Dawson was previously a co-chair of the Producers Guild of America Green Committee and continues to work within and across the industry to increase climate storytelling.

Orlando von Einsiedel

Oscar-winning director & executive producer, Founder, Grain Media

  • Orlando von Einsiedel is the director of the Academy Award-winning short documentary, THE WHITE HELMETS, which follows the lives of a group of heroic Syrian civilian rescue workers in 2016. The film was released as a Netflix Original and was also nominated for two EMMYs, including for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. His debut feature documentary VIRUNGA charted the story of a group of courageous park rangers risking their lives to build a better future in the Democratic Republic of Congo. BAFTA and Academy Award nominated, the documentary won over 50 international awards including an EMMY, a Grierson and a duPont-Columbia Award for outstanding journalism. The film was also recognised for its role in protecting the Virunga National Park, winning a Peabody, a Television Academy Honor, and the prestigious 2015 Doc Impact Award. His subsequent feature EVELYN, a deeply personal story and road trip odyssey about the loss of his brother to suicide, won a number of awards including the 2018 British Independent Film Award (BIFA) for Best Documentary. The Evening Standard newspaper called it “Phenomenal” and “Life-changing.” More recent projects include Academy Award and BAFTA winning short documentary LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL), which Orlando executive produced and which grew out of his award winning 2010 short film SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL; EMMY nominated LOST AND FOUND for National Geographic; EMMY nominated CONVERGENCE: COURAGE IN A CRISIS for Netflix; Jackson Wild and SIMA winning FROM DEVIL’S BREATH for MSNBC / Peacock; 5-part Netflix series HEART OF INVICTUS; and recently released acclaimed feature documentaries SCOUTS HONOUR and THE WALK, both of which Orlando produced. 

    Orlando is drawn to telling inspiring stories of humble heroism from around the world, often combining intimate personal narratives with macro level politics, powerful visual aesthetics, and on-the-ground journalistic muck-racking. He has worked in impenetrable and difficult environments, from pirate boats to countries experiencing conflict, and has won over 100 international film, television, and advertising awards. Orlando is the founder of leading UK documentary production company Grain Media. Formerly a professional snowboarder, Orlando has a degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester and is an alumni of the London School of Economics, where he studied International Development and Anthropology. He lives in South-East London with his wife and young son.

Daniel Goldhaber

  • Daniel Goldhaber is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn. He has directed CAM, and wrote/directed How to Blow Up a Pipeline. His next film, Faces of Death, is in post production. 

Director, screenwriter, and producer

Jeffrey Abramson

Chief Program Officer and Deputy Director, Bridge Entertainment Labs

  • Jeffrey Abramson has over 25 years of experience leading creative business teams at the intersection of entertainment, technology, brand marketing and culture-change. He specializes in innovative creative strategies and guiding teams through uncharted territory.

    Currently, he serves as Chief Program Officer and Deputy Director of Bridge Entertainment Labs, the non-profit Hollywood consultancy for the national movement to depolarize America.  He also leads marketing and strategic partnerships for GATHR, a leader in the Direct-to-Audience film distribution sector. Previously, he led partner product marketing for virtual events and audio storytelling at Meta and was the Head of Virtual Reality Content at Warner Bros. Discovery. He also led strategy for brand and strategic investments at Broad Green Pictures, and was an account director for entertainment communications firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan Lyllis.

    Jeffrey has collaborated with numerous pioneering start-ups and blue chip companies on product and program launches through culture-driven campaigns, including Acura, American Express, Canon, Delta Air Lines, Google, MySpace, REI, and Starbucks. As Co-President of Gen Art (a member-supported arts organization turned experiential and content marketing firm), he was instrumental in creating some of the very first branded content and experiential activations for influencer audiences. Additionally, he served as Executive Director and lead programmer of the annual Gen Art Film Festival for over a decade.

    He began his career in research at Miramax Films and trend forecasters The L Report and The Intelligence Group, a subsidiary of CAA.

    Jeffrey is an advisor to the Recreate Responsibly Coalition and Climate Film Festival and a member of The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. He has previously been a mentor, juror and programmer for various festivals including SXSW, Sundance Film festival and Tribeca Festival.

    Jeffrey lives in Los Angeles, by way of New York City, and originally “hails” from St. Louis Park, Minnesota. 

Lolita K. Jackson

Executive Director of Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Development Capital LLP

  • Lolita K. Jackson MBE is the executive director of sustainable cities at Sustainable Development Capital LLP, a multibillion-pound FTSE 250 climate investment firm. Jackson is a frequent speaker at global gatherings and universities on the topics of climate diplomacy and public and private sector engagement on climate. She previously worked for the NYC Mayor’s Office for fifteen years in a variety of roles, lastly as the Special Advisor for Climate Policy & Programs, where she was the climate diplomat for NYC. Jackson is a member of the British-American Project’s US advisory board, a member of GlobalScot; a trustee of the Jazz Museum in Harlem; a board member of the St Andrew’s Society of New York; and president of the Penn Alumni Class of 1989. She was named to the City & State's “Energy & Environment Power 100” list for 2022 and was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2021. Jackson is a professional singer, having performed on four continents and at Carnegie Hall. She is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, majoring in applied science with a concentration in chemical engineering.

JC Jung

Managing Partner, Global Sustainable Future (GSF) and Anywhere Ventures

  • Jean-Christian (“JC”) Jung is a Managing Partner of Global Sustainable Future (GSF) and Anywhere Ventures. He focuses on the acceleration and financing of clean technologies and large scale projects in Energy, Mobility, Water, Air and Carbon. JC is also an investor and active member of New Lab, the venture platform for Climate & Deeptech headquartered in New York City. JC is an avid traveler and world citizen – he has lived in 7 countries and 4 continents.

Chloe Leland

Creative director and producer, Grain Media (Grace Labs)

  • Chloe is Creative Director and Producer at double Academy Award-winning Grain Media based in London, and heads up their bespoke climate and biodiversity development hub, Grace Labs. Grace Labs focuses on projects which reach beyond the climate bubble and serve as antidotes to apocalypse fatigue and eco-anxiety, motivating action and hope. She is a BAFTA, Emmy, and RTS-winning Exec and Producer with over 20 years of experience in creating internationally-renowned series, prime-time singles, and premium theatrical documentaries in the scripted and non-scripted space. She has held key positions at some of the industry’s top production companies. Projects include FROM DEVIL’S BREATH (MSNBC etc), ONE STRANGE ROCK (Disney), BABIES (Netflix), AMERICA - STORY OF US (A&E), WALKING WITH MONSTERS (BBC/Discovery), CONVERGENCE (Netflix), THE WALK, TIGERS, INVICTUS (Netflix), THE LOST CHILDREN (Netflix) and BUY NOW! (Netflix). Chloe has a long history of transforming complex subjects into compelling narratives and creating films which lead with the heart rather than the head. Impact is embedded into all Chloe’s work from inception. She is currently working on multiple feature documentaries due to be released globally over the next 18 months, which smuggle climate and biodiversity messaging into widely-appealing approaches. 

Manohar Patole

Co-City Fellow and Project Manager for Co-City Baton Rouge (CCBR), Industry Assistant Professor, Center for Urban Science and Progress, Tandon School for Engineering, NYU

  • Manohar “Manny” Patole is the Co-City Fellow and Project Manager for Co-City Baton Rouge (CCBR), a multi-stakeholder approach to economic revitalization through co-governance of public assets in North Baton Rouge. He is an Industry Assistant Professor with NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress at the Tandon School for Engineering. He is also the Director of Communities with a tech startup, Bakery Broadband, focused on bridging the information age gap to underinvested communities in the American Gulf South. His service includes NYU Climate Change Initiative Steering Committee, Board of Directors for the Municipal Arts Society of New York City (where he also serves on their Planning committee), and the City Club Waterfront Steering Committee. He holds graduate degrees in Engineering, Law, and Urban Planning.

Nancy Rosenthal

Founder & Executive Director, New York WILD Film Festival

  • Nancy Rosenthal is Founder & Executive Director of the New York WILD Film Festival (2014-2024). She strongly believes in the power of film to engage audiences in exploration, conservation, and environmental advocacy and to effect change.

    Before New York WILD she made a variety of award-winning films about the natural world for National Geographic.

    Nancy is a member of the Board of Directors of The Explorers Club and a Trustee of Egan Maritime Institute, Nantucket, MA. She is also on the Advisory Board of Wildlife Conservation Society’s REEL WILD Film Festival and Pridelands Wildlife Film Festival. Outside of her love for film she is a passionate conservationist, avid sailor and scuba diver.

Jordan Sjol

Screenwriter, producer, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Arts, DePauw University

  • Jordan Sjol is a screenwriter, producer, and film and media scholar.

    As a filmmaker, he is particularly interested in using genre film to bring challenging ideas to broad audiences. His first feature, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, adapted Andreas Malm’s 2021 non-fiction treatise on the use of sabotage in environmental movements into a heist film.

    His academic research is broadly focused on the ways that film and other communication media impact the global exercise of power.

    Currently based in Greencastle, Indiana, Jordan serves as Assistant Professor of Film and Media Arts at DePauw University.