PROJECTS ASSISTED BY EMF

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE:



ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA FUND IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS FOR ASSISTANCE. WE CONTINUE TO ACCEPT INQUIRIES FOR STORY AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT CONSULTATION ASSISTANCE.

 

Since 2003, EMF has received and reviewed hundreds of project submissions every year. In many cases we've provided advice and feedback to help project producers make better films and achieve better results in their fundraising efforts. The projects listed below are only those where we've fiscally sponsored, executive produced, provided ongoing advisory services or otherwise or other ways added significant value.

 

EMF has supported and assisted projects dealing with climate change and global warming, alternative energy, earth science, organic farming, urban farming and agricultural practices, marine fisheries, oceans and aquaculture, food safety and security, animals and wildlife, restoration ecology, ecosystem conservation and environmental preservation, social justice, indigenous people and cultures, human health and medicine, green building and growth, urban ecology and industry, and many other issues of general public interest. Read what people are saying about EMF:  EMF TESTIMONIALS

Learn more about project successes: EMF CASE STUDIES.  Please read our "TERMS & CONDITIONS OF PROJECT SUBMISSIONS TO EMF."


PROJECTS LIST

THE ANIMAL FUND - EMF provided support services for the ongoing work of the Animal Fund to save Pacific dolphins.

BLOG4REEL.COM - EMF provided advisory services to this new web-enabled media web site that offers bloggers an opportunity to have their content turned into a film.

BO BOUDART PRODUCTIONS - EMF provided advisory services to the production of Power Paths, a full length documentary and educational outreach project about the visionary efforts of native American tribes to create sustainable energy solutions on their lands in the Southwestern United States. EMF was a fiscal sponsor of Power Paths in 2009.

BON APPETIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY FOUNDATION - Bon Appetit is one of the largest corporate restaurateurs in the U.S. and is a part of the Compass Group, one of the largest food wholesalers in the world. Bon Appetit operates its corporate restaurateur services on organic and sustainable principals. EMF has provided donor advisory services and general consulting on the goals of their new corporate foundation.

EMF provided interactive media and short videos for the foundation's Eat Local Challenge, bringing messages about organic foods and support for sustainable local farming to over 200 Fortune 1,000 companies.

EMF also provided advisory services and showcases the Java Jolt educational project - a national educational program to raise consumer awareness about the ethical, social, cultural and environmental issues involved in the growing and purchasing of coffee.

 

CITIZEN GLOBAL - EMF provides project fundraising and development consulting for the Citizen Global Gulf Coast Newsdesk project for Citizen Global.

 

CLIMATE REFUGEES - EMF provided project and funding consulting services for Michael Nash's Climate Refugees documentary and educational outreach project.

CONNECT MEDIA - EcoTVNews a new business startup venture for Internet distribution of environmental news content. EMF provided development consulting and technical assistance.

 

COEVOLUTION INSTITUTE - The Institute works on pollinator, food web and habitat issues. EMF provided general consulting on fundraising and outreach using media for Polinators.org. 

DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE - Dynamic Earth Project - Sphere of Life - An international digital planetarium show produced by a partnership of The Gates Planetarium at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Thomas Lucas Productions and the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio. EMF provided project development and fundraising consulting.

 

DEPT. OF SOCIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY - MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY - No Family History - A proposed TV documentary on chemical and environmental factors that may cause breast cancer. EMF provided project development and fundraising consulting.

 

EARTH & SKY - The Human World Initiative Radio Series - A new internationally broadcast science education radio series about what scientists are saying about our relationship to the Earth in the 21st century. Earth & Sky is one of the most widely distributed and listened to science education radio shows in the world. Shows will deal with a wide variety of topics including biodiversity, social dynamics, population, alternative energy, natural resources, chemicals & toxics, innovative technology, climate change, agriculture, urbanization, human health, sustainability, and many others. EMF provided project development consulting, grantwriting and fundraising assistance.

 

EARTHVIEWS PRODUCTION & ODYSSE TV - Whale Killer - A proposed theatrical feature documentary on the plight of orca whales in the Pacific Ocean. EMF provided script and project development and financing consulting. EMF also provided consulting regarding the implementation of interactive web site features for OdyseeTV.

 

ECHO MOUNTAIN PRODUCTIONS - EMF has provided funding support, project development services and distribution consulting for Echo Mountain Productions since 2006. Projects include:

 

Paradise Rising - A proposed cable television movie based on the true story of the saving of Crystal Cove in Laguna Beach, California. EMF provided script development advisory services.

Planet of the Humans A proposed theatrical feature documentary / environmental comedy by Jeff Gibbs, co-producer of Fahrenheit 911. EMF provided story and project development consulting and editorial assistance.

The Last Stand - Heroes at Ballona Wetlands - A feature documentary about the struggle to save the last major wetlands in Southern California. EMF assisted in securing PBS television distribution for the film as an episode of Natural Heroes, for which it won a National Telly Award. EMF is the fiscal sponsor of this project.

South Central Farm - A feature documentary about the struggle to save the largest urban organic farm in the world. EMF provided funding and educational outreach support for this award winning film. EMF is the fiscal sponsor of this project.

 

EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE - EMF provided editorial assistance for Chris Palmer's latest book on wildlife filmmaking, "Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom" (Sierra Club Books, 2010).

 

EMF SHOWCASE - An Internet outreach service provided by EMF to bring cutting edge media to our members. Projects showcased include The Bio DaVersity Code and The Mouth Revolution by Free Range Studios, Call of Life, by the Species Alliance,  Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff, The Truth About GMOs, and more.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM OF MARIN - Marin Environmental Film Festival 2005 & 2006 - A 3 day regional film festival with community events to raise awareness about environmental issues and sustainable living. The Festival was a collaboration of local and regional educational nonprofits, NGOs and green corporations. EMF was the founding sponsor and provided ongoing consulting, fundraising and technical assistance.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA INITIATIVE - Environmental Media Initiatives Council - a nonprofit startup with the goal of attracting corporate marketing funds to finance educational environmental media and events. EMF provided business venture development consulting and other technical assistance.

 

FILMMAKERS COLLABORATIVE - How on Earth - A four part PBS television series on the restoration ecology movement in the United States. EMF provided project development consulting.

 

FILMMAKERS FOR CONSERVATION -  Filmmakers For Conservation is a global community of passionate people who work in, or have an association with, the global film and television industry.  Bob Silvestri served on the International Board of Advisors from 2005 through 2008.

 

FREE RANGE STUDIOS - Store Wars Flash media Internet digital short - A parody of Star Wars using animated vegetables to highlight the importance of organic foods and sustainable agriculture. EMF structured a distribution collaboration with Bon Appetit Management Foundation's Eat Local Challenge an event held at 200 Fortune 1,000 corporations around the U.S. to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable farming and food buying practices.

 

GREEN TV - Counting Sheep - TV documentary special on the conflict between preservationists for big horn sheep and preservationists for mountain lions. Featured as the first episode of KQED's Truly, CA TV series. EMF provided fundraising assistance.

 

GREENFIRE PRODUCTIONS - Common Ground Oceans Campaign - A grassroots, media-based, community activities campaign to raise awareness of and promote responsible public policy on the need for marine protected areas off the Oregon Coast. EMF provided fundraising consulting.

 

HABITAT MEDIA - EMF has provided a wide variety of services and support for this nonprofit filmmaker. Projects include:

Saving Our Seas - A film short (24 minutes) on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture issues, around the world, this film will be included as an episode of the KRCB Natural Heroes 2006 series. EMF provided editorial and fundraising assistance, and made a grant toward its production cost.

Farming the Seas - Feature length documentary about the environmental impacts of the fish farming industry around the world and its effects on our health and food security. Winner of multiple awards including a national Emmy. EMF provided funding and development support.

Sustainable Fisheries & Aquaculture Teaching Pack - A nationally distributed educational lesson plan and companion video, distributed through PBS, educators and collaborative NGOs. EMF provided fundraising assistance.

American Treasures Undersea - A proposed PBS TV documentary on the need to establish marine protected areas in U.S. waters, and around the world. This project was an outcome of Habitat Media / EMF's Ocean Education Project Initiative. EMF provided project development and fundraising consulting.

Priceless - EMF provided fine cut editorial assistance for Steve Cowan's award winning documentary about the connection between our corporate controlled "democracy" and our social and environmental crisis.

 

HARMONY - EMF provides advisory services to the Harmony Global Initiative and Educational Documentary Project produced by Balcony Films / Julie Bergman Sender and Stuart Sender.

 

THE HIVE STUDIOS - EMF has provided a wide variety of services and support for this new film production company. Projects include:

Red Hot Green China -  A feature length documentary that explores that irony of how China, the country with the biggest environmental challenges, may end up being the world's best hope to solve our shared environmental problems. EMF provides fiscal sponsorship and project development advisory services for the documentary and educational outreach project. The Man Who Saved Us Trillions - The Art Rosebloom Story - EMF also provides project development advisory services.

 

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGY AND CULTURE - EMF provided general consulting on production and rights issues, with regard to a TV documentary being made about the groups work.

 

INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE FILM CENTER - Bob Silvestri joined the Board of Advisors in September 2005, and has been asked to be the keynote speaker at the 2006 International Wildlife Film Festival. The keynote addressed the pressing need to incorporate more content on important environmental issues, into mainstream entertainment programming, and discuss alternative financing methods for factual media.

 

At the Tarkio Retreat EMF brought together a collaborative team that included collaborating with Peter Broderick of Next Wave Films, writer director Judy Irving (The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill) and producer Phil Fairclough Grizzly Man).

 

EMF President, Bob Silvestri, will be making a keynote address and facilitating other presentations at the IWFF in May of 2010.

 

KRCB TELEVISION - Natural Heroes - EMF was a founding sponsor and provided programming development and production consulting assistance for this Emmy Award winning national public television series on environmental issues and solutions, for the 2005 and 2006 season. Natural Heroes, produced by PBS Affiliate station KRCB and Greentreks Networks, is the first and only independently produced, national public television series dedicated to showcasing independent films with one common theme: real people making a difference for the environment. Issues covered have included clean water, alternative energy, transportation, oceans and fisheries, sustainable living, social justice, green building, habitat and environmental protection and conservation, toxics and pollution and a variety of other topics.

 

For Love of Place - A proposed TV documentary on the history of the saving of the Golden Gate National Seashore and Marin Headlands National Recreation Area open space. EMF provided project development consulting.

 

LODGE 9 PRODUCTIONS - EMF provided project development and advisory services for the international production of Green China Rising - a television series and feature length documentary about China's attempt to create sustainable growth.

 

MAYFILMS - Academy Award winning filmmaker, Marianna Yarovskaya, journeys to the most ecologically pure places on Earth: the Altai region of Russia, Yunnan province in China, and the jungles of Peru, in search of the last remaining great shamans of the world, to tell their stories and share their environmental and human health messages to the general public in a feature documentary, Shamans. EMF is providing fiscal sponsorship, project development, fundraising and distribution advisory services.

 

MEDIA POLICY CENTER - EMF provided fundraising assistance for the Wiland-Bell award winning PBS production of Edens: Lost and Found. Dale Bell and Harry Wiland are the only two filmmakers ever named as Ashoka Fellows.

 

NATUREBREAK.ORG - EMF provides fiscal sponsorship and fundraising consulting services to Vanessa Serrao's popular video / social networking web site and programs about nature and animals.

 

NOAA NORTHWEST HAWAIIAN ISLANDS RESERVE - The Sea is our Sanctuary Television news programming and grassroots events to raise awareness and community support for the importance of creating a permanent marine protected area in the NW Hawaiian Islands. EMF provided general project and fundraising consulting.

 

OCEANS 360 PRODUCTIONS - Oceans 360 - A proposed international photography and fundraising event to bring attention to the importance of oceans in our lives. EMF provided project development and fundraising consulting.

 

SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY - The Line Islands Expedition A proposed TV documentary on the Scripps Institutions historic research expedition to the Line Islands in the Pacific, one of the last remaining pristine reef ecosystems in the world. EMF provided project development, distribution and fundraising consulting.

 

SPECIALTY STUDIOS - LOBITOS CREEK RANCH 

Tongass - EMF acted as fiscal sponsor of this feature documentary and educational outreach project about the preservation of the largest remaining temperate rain forest in North America. 

 

Burning the Future - EMF assisted the producer in securing U.S. distribution through Specialty Studios for this feature documentary and educational outreach project about the devastating environmental and human health effects of coal mining in the United States. 

 

So Right So Smart - EMF provided advisory services to Specialty Studios to help develop effective fundraising and outreach strategies for this feature length documentary on green / sustainable businesses.

 

SURFRIDER FOUNDATION - EMF worked with Surfrider Foundation to incorporate The Last Stand documentary into the Respect the Beach educational program throughout coastal California. Respect the Beach (RTB) is an award-winning coastal educational program that includes field trips, classroom lectures, handouts, video, and hands-on projects designed to explain coastal watershed processes, shoreline ecology and coastal areas stewardship to K-12 students and community groups. The Respect the Beach program is brought into classrooms by Surfrider members, who represent ocean environmentalism from the surfer's perspective, and who are role models that students can relate to. Copies of The Last Stand were made possible by a grant from the Project AWARE Foundation.

 

THOMAS LUCAS PRODUCTIONS - The Rising Sea - Proposed NOVA/PBS and BBC TV documentaries presenting evidence of global climate change using state of the art computer visualizations based on actual NASA and NOAA satellite data. EMF provided project development, content and editorial consulting, and financing assistance.

 

THE ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA CONFERENCE INITIATIVE - A proposed conference on environmental issues for national media companies. EMF provided general project development consulting.

 

THE WILDLIFE PORTAL.TV - EMF provides fiscal sponsorship and fundraising advisory services for theWildlifePortal.tv, a new online video channel showcasing National Geographic television host Jake Willers. The new web service provides videos and teaching tools about animals and their environment, to the general public and K-12 schools.

 

TILAPIA FILMS / CHRIS METZLER PRODUCTIONS - EMF provided advisory services and secured international television distribution for the award winning documentary, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea. EMF provides advisory services to the filmmaker about projects in development, on an ongoing basis.

 

TURTLE RESTORATION PROJECT - The Last Journey of the Leatherback - A TV documentary on the need to protect leatherback turtles and their habitat worldwide. EMF provided distribution advisory services resulting in the film being included as an episode in the Natural Heroes national public television series for 2006.

 

WESTERN STATES COLLEGE FOR PERFORMING ARTS AND HUMANITIES - Great Dams of Idaho, A History of Water Rights and Wrong - a local PBS TV program on Idaho water issues. EMF provided project and fundraising consulting.

 

OTHER ASSISTANCE:  

 

EMF advised Nancy Kates, who was working on behalf of The Tides Foundation, for her study of how to use media effectively to bring about environmental change.

 

EMF advised Roundtable Media, who was working on behalf of The Ford Foundation, for their study of how to effectively finance media on controversial issues.

 

EMF has reviewed and offered one-time advice and guidance to hundreds of other filmmaker applicants who have submitted materials and requested advice, support and assistance.

 

PROJECTS DEVELOPED AT EMF:

Home Sweet Home - EMF developed a proposed cable television series highlighting the global impact and environmental footprint of the way we live and build our homes.

The Ocean Education Project - EMF developed the Ocean Education Project to work collaboratively with filmmakers and NGOs, to raise public awareness and provide access to educational information about the importance of protecting marine habitats and species.

The Documentary Project - EMF concluded its extensive investigation into alternative methods of financing factual programming on controversial issues, in 2008.

 

The Board of Advisors for the Documentary Project included:  

Katy Chevigny - President, Arts Engine / Media Rights

Terry Lawler - Executive Director, NY Women in Film & Television

Chris Palmer - Center for Environmental Filmmaking School of Communication.

Sandra Ruch - Executive Director, International Documentary Association

Gail Silva - Former President, Film Arts Foundation