PRESENTED BY
Taira is a writer, director, and producer from Goa, India. A member of the Explorers Club 50 2023 cohort and Jackson Wild Media Lab 2019 fellow, she tells deeply moving, character-driven stories that explore the relationships between people and the natural world. Her films are developed alongside impact campaigns to address the social justice and environmental issues central to the films she creates. Taira received her B.A. in Psychology in 2013 from Occidental College, where her focus was on fostering empathy in youth. Since graduating, she has incorporated what she’s learned into the several award-winning short films that she has written and directed. Her directorial debut, Turtle Walker, won the Grand Teton Award at the Jackson Wild Media Awards, and premiered at DOC NYC in 2024. It has since screened at over 60 film festivals across the world.
Chet Thomas is a seasoned producer and director with over 30 years of experience in the film industry. Through his company, Flet Chet Entertainment, and in partnership with Darrin Fletcher, they currently have three series greenlit with Angel Studios, all of which they are slated to direct and produce.. Chet has directed and produced 13 documentaries throughout his career including the 18-time award-winning documentary Waterman, narrated by Jason Momoa.
Chet recently produced the Lionsgate box-office hit The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which is being heralded by critics as “an instant Christmas classic.” Before becoming a producing partner with Gerald Molen (Schindler’s List) on The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Chet worked with Gerald on Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report. Prior to that, he worked at DreamWorks for several years, where he first served in the story department, collaborating on such projects as Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Deep Impact, among others. He quickly moved to feature development, where he played an active creative role with Jason Hoffs (Edge of Tomorrow) in the development of Meet the Parents, Mouse Hunt, Road to Perdition, Small Soldiers, and The Terminal.
Elisabeth has served as President of Storyboard Media since 2017 working with her partner, Philip Kim, to create a production, finance and global sales company. Storyboard Media has co-produced a multitude of films including ‘FREAKS’ (starring Emile Hirsch and Bruce Dern); 20th Century Fox’s German horror film, ‘HEILSTATTEN’, ‘ARKANSAS’ (starring Liam Hemsworth, Vince Vaughn, John Malkovich and the late Michael Kenneth Williams) ‘THE COMEBACK TRAIL’ (starring Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Tommy Lee Jones); ‘MARLOWE’ (directed by Neil Jordan and starring Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange and Diane Kruger). The company has also served as a sales agent to many films including most recently, ‘A GREAT DIVIDE’ with Ken Jeong, ‘LINE OF DESCENT’ with Brendan Fraser, ‘ALICIA IN WONDERLAND’ with Ella BleuTravolta and Sasha Luss and most recently sold ‘LOOKING THROUGH WATER’ with Michael Douglas and David Morse which was released in late 2025.
Elisabeth has served on the Board and Executive Board of IFTA in addition to being part of other Film organizations, including BAFTA and WIF. With a big heart for Animals, she is on the Advisory Board of anti-poaching Organization, STOP POACHING NOW! as well as mom to many animals.
Laura Kutnick grew up around the world, but raised her own family in a small green community in rural Connecticut. Graduating in film studies from Dartmouth College, she went on to pursue film theory at the Sorbonne and later business and communications at the U of Penn. She went on to work as communications consultant for the Aspen Institute and then on several of ABC network’s Emmy award winning documentaries before becoming health producer on CBS nightly news. Her drama examining the fragility of nuclear disarmament ran briefly in 2018 and her biography of her parents’ contemporary art collection was released by Sotheby’s the same year. Currently, Laura is president of the Dale and Laura Kutnick Foundation which has been pivotal in the success of many non-profit initiatives which address climate change.
Alex Rivest is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained PhD Neuroscientist. His research has been published in two of the most highly renowned scientific journals, Science and Nature Neuroscience. Alex grew up in an environment where curiosity and question-asking were highly valued, and he has dedicated his life to helping teach others about the wonders of the world. As an educator, he received the Angus MacDonald Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at MIT, and founded the non-profit Blue Kitabu, which built a sustainable primary school in central Ghana. Alex produced and co-directed CANARY, which won best “Feature’ at the Jackson Wild Media Awards & the Blue Water Film Festival for Best Eco Impact Film.
Roni Avni is an Israeli director, video editor, and photographer. Born and raised in Haifa and now based in Tel Aviv, she is a graduate of the cinematography department at Minshar College for Art and holds a bachelor’s degree in humanities. Wild City (2024) was her directorial debut, winning Best Short Film at both the Tel Aviv Film Festival and the Blue Water Film Festival. Her work combines sharp visual storytelling with a deep sensitivity to place, identity, and human connection. Roni is now developing her first feature-length project, continuing to explore stories rooted in contemporary Israeli life with her striking visual style.
Jason Reisig is currently a tenured professor of Animation at University of Southern California, where he teaches both advanced 3D character animation as well as the MFA Thesis class, overseeing the animated short projects of the graduate’s final year. Jason was the co-director on the 2018 Warner Brothers feature animation Smallfoot. With over 20 years in feature animation, Jason spent most of his career with DreamWorks Animation. He was the Head of Character Animation on Home and the final chapter in the Shrek series, Shrek Forever After. For the latter he was nominated for a VES Award in the category of “Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture”. Concurrently, as the Animation Department Chair at DreamWorks, he worked on the interaction design of DreamWork’s NextGen character animation software, Premo, for which he recently received a SciTech Technical Achievement award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. Jason was also a supervising animator on the animated features, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda 3, Kung Fu Panda, and Over the Hedge as well as many holiday specials, shorts and other ancillary projects.
Daniel Kreizberg is an award-winning filmmaker. His most recent animated short film “anyone lived in a pretty how town,” narrated by the late global icon Dr. Jane Goodall, had its World Premiere in 2025 at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. His debut animated short “Tahlequah the Whale: A Dance of Grief,” which he wrote, directed and narrated in 2023, was awarded a Special Mention at the Oscar-qualifying Animayo International Film Festival. Appearing in 40+ festivals in 20 nations, it received a number of further accolades including the Canuto Prize at DocsMX, a Grand Jury Prize at the Blue Water Film Festival, an Honorable Mention at the Jackson Wild Media Awards (“the nature equivalent to the Oscars”), a Telly Gold award and more. The film is currently being shown in educational settings by Good Docs.
Daniel’s work has been supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Princess Grace Foundation, SOGEDA Monaco, the Jane Goodall Institute, and the Alex Nair Bhak Foundation. His production partners include the Grammy-winning Higher Purpose Productions, the STUDIO New York, and Meinart Animation Studio, while he produces under his own banner Heavenly Archer Pictures. Born in Berlin, Germany, Daniel resides in New York City.
Born in Rome on July 13, 1960, Federico Fiecconi is the CEO and Creative Director of GraFFiti Creative, a production house and creative agency based in Milan, Italy.
A lecturer in film history, advertising, and communications, he is also a respected animation historian and critic, having written over 300 articles, essays, and monographs on animated film, comics, and illustration.
Federico has curated more than 20 exhibitions and events, including The Art of the Simpsons (2017); Bruno Bozzetto: Animation, Maestro! at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, created with Diane Disney Miller; and Disney: The Art of Telling Timeless Stories, for which he served as scientific consultant and catalog editor in collaboration with the Walt Disney Animation Research Library. He was also Artistic Director of the Cartoon Preview Festival in Asolo (2003) and BergamoToons (2017).
Since 2006, Federico has been Executive and Delegate Producer of the Zecchino d’Oro Toons ’n Tunes animated series, winner of Best Cross-Media Animation Production at Cartoons on the Bay. He is also the creator and producer of the award-winning series AcquaTeam, honored internationally with titles including Best Short Animation (2022) and Best Animated Feature Film (2025) at the Blue Water Film Festival.