Blessed Unrest: A Theory of Change

Speaker(s):

• 
  Cori Shepherd Stern

  Producer, Strongheart Group

  CORI SHEPHERD STERN is an Academy Award nominated producer focused on both documentary and fiction film projects. Her most recent film, which she wrote and produced, is BENDING THE ARC - a feature documentary about the epic arc of the global health rights movement through the intimate story of the extraordinary team who led the fight. The film, which premiered at Sundance 2017, was called by The Hollywood Reporter "a stunning documentary...a glorious and uplifting film." Cori's past projects include WARM BODIES, a box office smash for Summit/Lionsgate and OPEN HEART, a 2013 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject. She has a first-look producing deal with Rocklin|Faust, producers of Oscar-winning Best Picture SPOTLIGHT. Current projects include THE ARIZONA PROJECT with Miramax and Adaptive Entertainment, a narrative feature. Cori has also executive produced two virtual reality films: COLLISIONS, which premiered at Davos and Sundance 2016, and FRANCIS, which premiered at the World Bank and WHO in support of world body policy change for global mental health. In addition to film, her experience includes hands-on work as a social change strategist and social entrepreneur. She appeared in the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winning documentary SONITA, working to help the young woman/rapper escape child marriage in Afghanistan and pursue her art. Cori's social justice projects have been featured on BBC, NPR, The Today Show, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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• 
  Heather Rae

  , Producer

  Heather Rae has worked as a producer and executive for more than twenty years. She has been named one of Variety’s Ten Producers To Watch and produced Frozen River, for which she won the Paiget Producer Award. Frozen River won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for two Academy Awards, won two Gotham Awards and was nominated for seven Spirit Awards, winning two. Rae also produced such films as The Dry Land starring America Ferrera which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Magic Valley starring Scott Glenn and Kyle Gallner, which premiered at Tribeca, and Sundance hit Ass Backwards, written by June Raphael and Casey Wilson (Bride Wars) who star alongside Alicia Silverstone, Vincent D’Onofrio, Brian Geraghty and Jon Cryer. Rae also produced festival darling I Believe in Unicorns from writer/director Leah Meyerhoff. Rae produced Netflix Orifinal Tallulah, written and directed by Orange is the New Black writer Sian Heder. Tallulah premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Rae recently wrapped on Olivia Milch’s Blacklist script, Dude, starring Lucy Hale, Austin Butler, Alex Wolff, and Alexandra Shipp. Rae is currently in production on Akicita, the documentary feature directed by Cody Lucich that tells the story of Standing Rock. For Six years Rae ran the Native Program at the Sundance Institute. She has sat on the Board of Trustees for the Sundance Institute and advised to such organizations as The Rockefeller Foundation, IFP, Film Independent, The Ford Foundation, The Tribeca Institute, and First Americans in the Arts. Rae is working with both her settler and indigenous heritage to deepen the dialogue of reconciliation and responsibility in the Americas.

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• 
  Agnes Binagwaho

  Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity

  Professor Binagwaho is a Rwandan pediatrician who completed her MD in General Medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and her MA in Pediatrics at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Dartmouth College and earned a PhD from the University of Rwanda College of Business and Economics. She returned to Rwanda in 1996, just two years after the genocide in 1994 against the Tutsi. Working in collaboration with national stakeholders, health professionals, policymakers, and international partners, she has helped to build a health system in Rwanda that is one of the most equitable and high-functioning in Africa. Professor Binagwaho was named Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in 2017. From 2002-2016, she served the Rwandan Health Sector in high-level government positions, first as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Commission, then as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and then for five years as the Minister of Health. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Professor of the Practice of Global Health Delivery at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Professor Binagwaho’s academic engagements include research on health equity, HIV/AIDS, information and communication technologies (ICT) in e-health, and pediatric care delivery systems. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles. She holds an array of leadership and advisory positions on national and international scale, including but not limited to the African Advisory Board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation; the Advisory Board of the Friends of the Global Fund Africa; the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries; and multiple Lancet Commissions.

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• 
  Tabitha Jackson

  Director, Documentary Film Program, Sundance Institute

  Tabitha Jackson was appointed Director of the Documentary Film Program (DFP) at Sundance Institute in late 2013. The DFP is dedicated to supporting nonfiction filmmakers worldwide in the production of cinematic documentaries that tell compelling stories, push the boundaries of the form, or address contemporary issues including social justice and human rights. In supporting such work, the DFP encourages the diverse exchange of ideas by artists as a critical pathway to developing an open society. Recently supported films have included Cameraperson, Hooligan Sparrow, Whose Streets?, The Look of Silence, I Am Not Your Negro, and CITIZENFOUR. With almost 25 years experience in the field, Jackson is an award-winning Commissioning Editor, director, and producer of non-fiction work. Prior to joining Sundance she most recently served as Head of Arts and Performance at Channel 4 Television in London, where she supported and championed the independent and alternative voice and sought to find fresh and innovative ways of storytelling. She also executive produced a number of projects for Film 4 including Mark Cousins’ cinematic odyssey The Story of Film, Clio Barnard’s hybrid The Arbor, Sophie Fiennes’ essay The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, Bart Layton’s thriller The Imposter, and Iain and Jane’s recent Sundance-winning Nick Cave biography 20,000 Days on Earth.

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• 
  Gillian Caldwell

  President, Gillian Caldwell Consulting LLC, Gillian Caldwell Consulting LLC

  Gillian Caldwell is a Skoll Awardee consulting in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, retreat design and facilitation, executive coaching and transition planning. She served as CEO of Global Witness from 2015-2019, during which time the team generated numerous systems-changing impacts, reshaped strategy to double down on the climate crisis, strengthened its governance, management team and communications capabilities, significantly increased its budget, financial reserves and staff size and opened a new office in Brussels to complement those in London, Washington DC and Beijing. She previously served as Campaign Director for 1Sky (now part of 350.org), which she helped build from inception. 1Sky grew within two years to become the largest collaborative climate and energy campaign in the US, combining over 640 allied organizations, organizers in 23 states, more than 200,000 climate advocates and 4000 “Climate Precinct Captains” across the country. Gillian was previously Executive Director of WITNESS, co-founded by musician Peter Gabriel, using the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. Gillian led WITNESS' rapid expansion over ten years and helped produce over 30 documentary shorts and films for use in systems-changing advocacy campaigns. Gillian also directed a global undercover investigation and campaign on the Russian mafia’s involvement in trafficking women for forced prostitution, and produced and directed an influential documentary film which was televised internationally and helped spur policy changes worldwide. She has received many awards and honors for social entrepreneurship, including an Echoing Green fellowship, the Skoll Award, the Schwab Foundation Award, an Ashoka Award. She was also honored as an MIT Directors Fellow and given a Next Generation Leadership Award by the Rockefeller Foundation. She serves on the board of EarthRights International and the Purpose Foundation.

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