CENTER FOR PROGRESS AND JUSTICE
1420 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Saturday February 22, 2:00 PM
Panelists/guests: Laurel Harris, Hossein Martin Fazeli, Mark Shapiro, Dave Crete, Melissa Daniels.
Moderator: Tina Cordova
Lights, camera, activism. Your film has a message and you want — no, you NEED — the world to hear it. What is the role of independent film as it relates to activism and what inspires filmmakers to be change-agents? Activism defies political party affiliation. So why is film so important to the process and how do you tell your story?
Laurel Harris is an award-winning writer-producer and actress, (perhaps best known as Willem Dafoe’s wife in the screen adaptation of Dean Koontz’s best selling novel, “Odd Thomas,” and for the American Girl film, “Saige Paints the Sky,” opposite Jane Seymour.) Her extensive TV Credits include ABC, NBC, CW and Disney, and feature films with STARZ and Paramount. As a producer, Laurel’s garnered an EMMY, multiple TELLY Awards and more. She’s worked with many notable figures, including Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, while traveling the world to film their stories alongside teams from the BBC and PBS. During these adventures, Laurel developed a passion for creating media highlighting underserved populations under her Laurel Leaf Productions banner. A respected voiceover artist, her narrations in the Nobel Legacy Film Series, SHIRIN EBADI: UNTIL WE ARE FREE and THE DALAI LAMA – SCIENTIST—which received a standing ovation from a standing-room only crowd— premiered for two consecutive years at the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, and received international critical acclaim. Laurel’s passion for nature and adventure keep her exploring new and familiar places. Closer to home, she’s most proud of her role as “award-winning Aunt” to four fabulous nephews.
Director Hossein (Martin) Fazeli has shot in more than two dozen countries. He is an avid human rights and environmental rights activist and has lectured around the world about the power of film to change lives and has held workshops with students at various educational institutions such as SFU (Vancouver), SOAS (London), Aarhus University (Aarhus), and the European Film Academy (Copenhagen). Fazeli Films is a multi-award-winning, Vancouver-based, film production company. They combine a passion for storytelling and philanthropy to create memorable, meaningful video and film content for nonprofits, government organizations and ethical businesses. Their films have captivated audiences and raised awareness about real-life heroes as well as critical social justice issues of the day. The production, ‘The Tale of the Two Nazanins,’ about a teenage girl imprisoned on death row in Iran, was broadcast on networks such as the BBC and CNN and is credited with igniting an international campaign that saved her life. Their 2004 European-Commission-backed campaign in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to get out the vote of Roma women saw a 74% increase in the participation of the target group in the political process of their respective countries in a sphere of eight months.
Mark Shapiro is the co-director and producer of the Oscar-eligible documentary feature DOWNWIND which won The Santa Fe Film Festival’s Best Documentary in 2024. In the film, which details the fallout from 928 nuclear weapons detonations at the Nevada Test Site, Mark worked with two-time Oscar-winner Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen and Santa Fe Film Festival friend Matthew Modine. Mark’s short film The Invisible Enemy, about military exposure to dangerous toxins, is featured at this year’s festival. Prior to DOWNWIND, Mark headed Entertainment Brand Management for the animation studio LAIKA from 2007-2019. In addition to studio identity, he also handled marketing endeavors for LAIKA’s five Oscar-nominated features: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. Before LAIKA, he managed several categories for Nike USA Communications including Nike Community Affairs, Nike Basketball and Nike Tennis. He also served as a Mentor in Publicity and Marketing for SxSW Film. Mark sits on the Klamath Film Board of Directors (Oregon) and curates film programming at festivals around the world. A native of Seattle, Mark attended Emerson College in Boston and received his BA (English) from Colorado College. He completed post-graduate education studies at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
Melissa Daniels: With over 15 years in journalism and film production, Melissa Daniels is the Founder and Executive Producer of Tidetivity Studios. Passionate about narratives that challenge systems and oppressive structures, she creates commercial and original films merging social justice and authentic community representations. Notable projects include NatGeo’s 2023 release “The Mission”, Hulu’s “Venus as a Boy” (2021), winner of a Tribeca International Film Festival audience award, and AppleMusic’s 2018 documentary “Rainbow: The Film” on pop music superstar Kesha. Her most recent documentary NORITA (dir. Jayson McNamara and Andrea Tortonese) won Best International Documentary at the 2024 FICPBA festival in Argentina and was nominated for a Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2024 Austin Film Festival. The film boasts an all-star lineup of Executive Producers, including Academy Award® winners Jane Fonda and Gustavo Santaolalla, Journalists Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, and filmmakers Barbara and Andy Muschietti. Her forthcoming projects include “MONTAÑO” (dir. Lauren Finerman) about six-time Olympic track athlete Alysia Montaño and her fight for maternal justice in the sports arena; and an Untitled feature documentary (dir. Lauren Finerman) about the unprecedented class action lawsuit against the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, CA that has been at the center of various abuse scandals for decades.
Dave Crete: Dave Crete, a veteran of the US Air Force, served from 1983-1989, with most of his time spent as a Security Policeman stationed on the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) in Nevada. At the time, the TTR was a top-secret location hosting such programs as the F-117A Stealth Fighter program and the Red Eagles which was an USAF unit flying Russian MiG fighter aircraft. With the advent of social media, Dave reconnected with members of his unit from TTR and they held a reunion where conversation came up about tumors and other odd medical issues — as well as did their family members. This led Dave to begin research on ionizing radiation and what other toxins were present on NTTR and how these may have impacted the health of those who served on NTTR. Dave’s research led to the creation of The Invisible Enemy and to pursue Congress to right a wrong that was decades overdue. Due to the classified nature of the work done on NTTR, the Department of Defense has always denied the fact that military and DoD personnel were stationed on NTTR. With this denial, the DoD as been able to deny that this veterans and DoD personnel were ever exposed to such things as ionizing radiation and other toxins. Today, Dave and Aylin have 4 children, 6 grandchildren all living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
