Elaine Velazquez
is an independent filmmaker with decades of experience illuminating important social issues through the power of personal stories. Her work includes Gaining Ground, Moving Mountains (SE Asian refugees facing the culture shock of arriving in America after the Vietnam War); and Some Of These Days (a intimate look at women aging in our society) Her award-winning work has been broadcast nationally on PBS, WNET in New York City, Oregon Public Broadcasting and KPTV Channel 12 in Portland, OR. Her films have been screened at numerous film festivals and venues including Margaret Mead Film Festival, American Film & Video Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Barbara Bernstein
co-produced the film Gaining Ground. She is a musician, composer, performance artist and radio producer. Her award-winning radio documentaries, internationally broadcast on public radio stations, include two pieces about the struggle to stop the Pacific Northwest from becoming a fossil fuel export hub: Holding the Thin Green Line and Sacrifice Zones; Fighting Goliath (the turbulent growth of tar sands development); Sculpted By Fire (the role of fire in shaping western forests and sustaining healthy forest ecosystems); Salmonlands (the cultural significance of diminishing salmon runs in the Northwest) and Rivers That Were (the industrialization of the Colorado and Columbia Rivers).