Saving Sea Turtles is Michele’s debut feature length documentary.  As co-founder of InterChange Media Art Productions, she has worked as a Producer, Director, Director of Photography, and Consulting Editor.  A mini-documentary she produced about the Beacon Food Forest showed at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. She discovered and helped develop the series The Legend of Mick Dodge on the National Geographic Channel. She is the Executive Producer of Combating Ebola, a series of emergency response videos that aired throughout West Africa.  She was recently Assistant Director and Cinematographer for a short film entitled, "A Heart's Tale," directed by Tenzin Mingyur Paldron.   

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:  

Born and raised in Rhode Island, I spent summers on the beaches of Wellfleet, Massachusetts in Cape Cod. Everyone grows up hearing about the elusive great white sharks that are off our shores, but it was surprising to learn that the rarest sea turtle in the world was being found in these same waters.  Never did I see or hear anyone mention sea turtles while living in New England.  But in 2013, a Wellfleet Audubon Naturalist I met couldn’t stop talking about sea turtles.  Thus, began our journey to film Cape Cod’s annual sea turtle stranding season.  We wanted to find out what was happening to these stranded sea turtles and why they were stranding.  It shocked and awed me.  We began not knowing a single thing about the species, but what became known altered my perception and demanded a new source of inner strength that would change my life.  This film is about the energy, commitment and compassion it takes to save lives and prevent an ancient species from going extinct.  The initial curiosity I had to meet the first responders and everyone involved has lead me to now knowing so may heroes.  

Jennifer Ting is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been shown worldwide.  As co-founder of InterChange Media Art Productions, her projects have focused on the environment, food justice, education, health and current political issues and have been featured on National Geographic Channel and the United Nations. She holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara University.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:  

While we were filming, we realized the Mass Audubon community was in crisis mode and needed all of the help they could get, so we ended up going on our own sea turtle patrols, even at Midnight looking for stranded sea turtles.  The first time we went on our own patrol, we ended up saving 21 sea turtles and by the end of the season we had saved 39 sea turtles.  Some volunteers told us they had gone years without finding a sea turtle, but everyone we filmed this year found at least one, a few found over 80.  When we went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to film the New England Aquarium release 24 rehabilitated turtles that had been in the most critical condition this past year, they surprised us by saving the last turtle for us to release back into the wild.  It was a profound experience for us because we knew how much effort had been involved in improving the health of these turtles.  Many films about the environment focus on the negative harmful actions that humans inflict on the planet, other people and other living beings we are meant to co-exist with.  While this film will touch on that, it is also about the positive actions of individuals and communities who are committed to and dedicated to saving sea turtles.  Their passion is infectious and they are making a difference.  This film is meant to not only bring awareness to the plight of the Kemp’s Ridley and all sea turtle species who are in danger of extinction, but for more people to take action and prevent their extinction. 

Paul Gasek is an Emmy Award winner who has served as an Executive Producer, Director, Writer and Narrator over his 30-year career.  He was an Executive Producer and Senior Science Editor at Discovery Channel where he oversaw hundreds of hours of programming for a wide range of television shows, including six seasons of the Deadliest Catch.  Paul has overseen the editorial, creative and logistical production and supervision of projects on The Science Channel, Discovery Pictures, Animal Planet, Cronkite Ward, PBS Science Unit (WGBH), HITEntertainment and National Geographic Channel.  He has served as a guest lecturer at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and Boston University’s College of Communications.

Selena Lauterer, president of Artemis Independent, has been fully immersed in the world of public broadcasting since 1998. She is Executive Producer for A CRAFTSMAN'S LEGACY and Producer of START UP, both on public television. She is a Producer of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS series, A CHEF'S LIFE. Lauterer also runs Hogwild Films with her partner/husband, Kelly Davis. Previous to founding Artemis and Hogwild, she was co-owner of Pogo Promotions, LLC and even farther back, headed up the National Promotions Unit at Oregon Public Broadcasting. And most importantly, all this time — whatever professional title she’s held — she’s always been a lover of animals and an ardent animal welfare advocate. 

Chad Perkins (Animator & Motion Graphics Artist) is an award winning filmmaker and author.  He was executive producer of the web series Dead Grandma, starring Jon Heder (aka Napoleon Dynamite).  He is a cinematographer, having worked as Director of Photography on films such as Grief or Madness, I Love You Puppet Man, and GODLIZZA, which won Grand Prize at the 2012 Seattle International Film Festival short film competition.  He has over a decade of experience as a motion graphics and visual effects artist, having authored multiple editions of The After Effects Illusionist and How to Cheat in After Effects (both by Focal Press) based on his extensive knowledge of and experience with Adobe After Effects in post-production.  Chad was also hired by Adobe to write one of the Adobe Certified Instructor/Expert exams for getting certified in After Effects (for AE version CS3).  As one of the most prolific trainers on Lynda.com (one of the top 100 websites in the United States), he has authored over 30 training courses in video production, cinematography, video editing, visual effects, and more.  He has won awards for the quality of his training, including an Ava Platinum award and a Horizon Interactive award.  His tutorials on YouTube cumulatively have hundreds of thousands of views.  He holds a degree in Arts from Victor Valley College.

Cheryl Ottenritter is Creative Director and Senior Mixer at MOZO Media Inc.  Over her 20-year career, Cheryl has been awarded an Emmy, several Telly, Monitor, and Gold Pro Max awards.  She is a member of the Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild, Cinema Audio Society and the Audio Engineering Society.  Cheryl has worked on projects for PBS, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Channel and Discovery.  Working on national advertising campaigns, she has mixed and sound designed for clients such as Volvo, Intel, IBM, Subway, MCI and New Balance.  She holds degrees in Music from Auburn University in Alabama and Mannes College of Music and The New School in New York City.