Cynthia Lowen is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning writer whose work uses the power of story to catalyze meaningful change. Cynthia is the director and producer of ‘Netizens’ (HBO), a feature documentary about women and online harassment. “Bristling with rightful fury,” says Teen Vogue of the film, ‘Netizens’ follows three women as they confront digital abuse and strive for justice online. Cynthia also spearheaded the ‘Netizens’ Impact Campaign, working with tech companies and advocacy partners including the Anti-Defamation League, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, Facebook, Microsoft, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and others to develop tools to reduce online harassment and foster constructive digital citizenship.
Cynthia is also the producer and writer of ‘Bully’ a feature documentary following five kids and families through a ‘year in the life’ of America’s bullying crisis. ‘Bully’ was nominated for two Emmys, shortlisted for the Oscars, screened at The White House and received a DuPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Journalism. The filmmakers also created The ‘Bully’ Project, a multi-partner impact campaign engaging over 5 million students to end bullying and transform their schools and communities. Partners include Adobe, the American Federation of Teachers, Autism Speaks, BBYO, the Cartoon Network, DoSomething.org, Facing History and Ourselves, GLSEN, JPMorgan Chase, Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Sears, the United Federation of Teachers and many more.
Cynthia has held residencies at MacDowell, the Banff Center, Yaddo, Hedgebook, the Berlinale Talent Campus, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown among others, and received the Hedgebrook Women Authoring Change Fellowship from William Morris Entertainment. She has been a member of the Producers Guild of America since 2014.
Rebecca Stern directed ‘Well Groomed’, which premiered at SXSW and was released by HBO in 2019. She is the producer of ‘Tre Maison Dasan’, a documentary exploring the lives of children affected by parental incarceration (Independent Lens PBS 2019) and the documentary ‘Snowy’ (Sundance 2021). She is the co-producer of ‘Netizens’ with Cynthia Lowen and the associate producer of ‘the bomb’ (Netflix), an innovative installation and film. She started in documentary film as the production coordinator of Academy Award-nominated ‘Cartel Land’ (Sundance, A&E). Rebecca is an Impact Partners Producing Fellow, a NYC Regional Representative of the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA) and a pga accredited producer.
Steffie is a Dutch documentary filmmaker and producer, who graduated from The New School’s Documentary Media Studies program in 2016 with the short doc ‘A Life Before This,’ about the killing of unarmed teen Ramarley Graham by a NYPD officer. She is a 2020 Impact Partners Producing Fellow and the associate producer of ‘Netizens’ (Tribeca, Hot Docs 2018). Recently she was the co-producer of the Netflix original documentary series ‘Race: Bubba Wallace’ and the producer of short dating app thriller ‘Swipe’ which was shortlisted for a ‘Gouden Kalf’, the Dutch equivalent of an Oscar.
Emmy-award winner, Nancy Novack has been editing documentary and feature films for over 25 years. Her work has appeared on HBO, Netflix, Amazon, PBS, Hulu, and ABC; and has been featured at the Sundance, Venice, Tribeca, HotDocs, Telluride, Miami, and New York film festivals. Her films have received numerous awards including several Emmys, Peabodys, and Duponts. She was nominated for the ACE award for her editing of ‘All In: The Fight for Democracy’ and earned an Emmy for Spike Lee’s ‘When the Levees Broke’. Nancy received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeff Sobrato is the Co-Founder and Board Chair of Safe Space Pictures. Jeff—a philanthropist with a passion for film—invests in telling powerful stories that can both educate minds and change hearts. Amplifying the voices of those whose stories may otherwise not be told, his investments catalyze real change for the better on the most critical challenges of our time”
Dexter W. Braff is President of The Braff Group, one of the nation’s leading health care merger and acquisition advisory firms. Since its founding in 1998, the firm has completed more than 370 health care deals. He is frequently interviewed on various topics regarding health care mergers and acquisitions by news outlets including Bloomberg News, CNBC, USA Today, The Huffington Post, The Palm Beach Times, and numerous health care sector journals. Additionally, he is the executive producer of films such as ‘Galveston’ and ‘The Beach House’ and the feature documentary ‘The 5th Man’.
Nicole Shipley is the Co-Founder and President of Safe Space Pictures. She co-founded Safe Space Pictures in 2021, after working in entertainment for 12 years and becoming increasingly frustrated with how the industry treated women. Safe Space is a production company focused on elevating women and minorities within the film industry. She has produced such highly acclaimed films as ‘A Private War’ and ‘The Trial of the Chicago Seven’, and is particularly passionate about projects that have a major social impact.
Ryan Harrington is a film and television industry veteran of nearly 20-years.He is an Academy-Award and PGA-nominated and Peabody, Emmy and IDA-winning producer, as well as a frequent panelist, speaker and jurist at industry events around the world. Currently, Ryan is the Head of Documentary at Safe Space Pictures.. Most recently, he was the VP of Nat Geo Doc Films, where he EP’d the Academy-Award® nominated, Peabody and Emmy-winning The Cave, Emmy-winning ‘The Nightcrawlers’, ‘Sea of Shadows’, ‘Rebuilding Paradise’ and docs ‘Fauci’, ‘Becoming Cousteau’, ‘The First Wave’, ‘Torn’, ‘The Rescue’ and ‘Sophie and the Baron’.
Ruth Ann Harnisch is the president of The Harnisch Foundation, supporting the work of effective leaders and creative communities working to advance gender and racial equality and diversity, with a focus on women and girls. THF has given grants to the Sundance Women Filmmakers Initiative and established a program of professional coaching for each of the female filmmakers selected for the SWFI program, as well as supporting Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Diversity Initiative and Film Fatales. Ruth Ann has executive produced several award-winning films including ‘Netizens,’ ‘Unrest,’ and ‘The Hunting Ground,’ among others.
Gabriella is a Colombian-American documentary filmmaker drawn to stories of home, migration, and climate justice. A 2020 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow and 2020 Impact Partners Producers Fellow, Gabriella has been supported by Catapult Films, ITVS, IFP, IWMF, BAVC, and New Orleans Film Society, among others. Her work as a cinematographer has screened at festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Full Frame, and Hot Docs. She’s currently producing two features and directing two short films between Colombia, Morocco, and the US.
Barbie Leung is a ICG Local 600 cinematographer with a dark lyrical visual style, as showcased in Todd Bogin’s feature ‘Left With Only Rain.’ Notable documentary features include ‘Unladylike’ (AFI Docs 2020), and CNN Film’s ‘Sh*tshow: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia.’ Her camerawork has screened at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Fantasia, and Outfest. Leung is a 2021 recipient of The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Vision Mentorship Program, and is a ReFrame Rise fellow (class of 2022-2024) co-presented by Hulu and the Sundance Institute.
Gil Talmi is an Emmy nominated film composer, sonic activist and recording artist with a passion for socially conscious films. Blending his traditional orchestral background with tasteful modular electronics and eclectic world music sensibilities, Talmi has created a signature sound that can be heard in many award winning productions worldwide. Some of Gil’s most recent work includes original music for ‘Lead Me Home’, ‘Jacinta’, ‘White Noise’, ‘Captains Of Za’atari’, ‘ALL IN: The Fight For Democracy’ and ‘The Great Hack’.
Katharina Stroh is the co-founder of Superteam Fancy, an award-winning Brooklyn-based edit house and an Emmy Award-nominated Editor with experience in documentaries, branded content, and television. All of her films have screened at major film festivals, including ‘Snowy’ (Sundance ‘21), ‘Well Groomed’, (SXSW ‘19, Hot Docs ‘19, HBO Sports) and ‘For Flint’ (Tribeca ‘17). Katharina is a Fulbright Scholar from Germany and currently resides in New York City.
Eliza has been working in the social-issue documentary field for 20 years as an impact strategist, producer, and television executive. She is the founder and managing partner of Red Owl, an impact strategy and production firm where she creates and executes all aspects of campaigns including overall strategy, partnership development, the production of educational resources, and tracking, measuring, and evaluating impact. Recent campaigns include ‘Disclosure’, ‘Belly of the Beast’ and ‘Roll Red Roll. Prior to founding Red Owl, Eliza served as Vice President of Content Strategy and Engagement at the PBS documentary series POV, leading the Community Engagement, Communication and Programs departments.
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Safe Space produces media to inspire action on the most pressing issues of our day.
Board member and CEO of Safe Space, Jaden’s noteworthy experience in media, technology, and venture informs the Safe Space Foundation’s impact investing strategy. Jaden is the co-founder of VC-backed Pietra, a creator economy infrastructure company, Wells Levitt, a C-Suite strategic consulting firm focused on media & technology, and previously CFO for Robert Downey Jr.
Chrisi Hornback is an Associate Producer at Safe Space Pictures. A graduate of The University of Michigan, Chrisi is also a writer and an actress who has been working with Safe Space since its inception. As an advocate for intersectional feminism, she aims to help tell stories that otherwise would not get told.
