Presented by the Reva & David Logan Foundation; Co-presented with the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington
Pre-recorded discussion featuring co-directors Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Michaela Kirst, and Ebba Sinzinger, and featured subject Alexander von Bismarck (Executive Director, Environmental Investigation Agency), moderated by Eva Schoefer (Director, The Austrian Cultural Forum Washington D.C.).
Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan was the delegate producer of Adina Pintili's Golden Bear Winner TOUCH ME NOT. With her newly established company Manifest Film, she produced ACASA, MY HOME, which won an award at Sundance 2020. She also successfully directed A MERE BREATH (2016), which won Best Documentary at LET'S CEE Film Fest and in Sarajevo.
Michaela Kirst worked for many years as a journalist in New York and has headed the Berlin office of Sagafilm since 2011. She realizes documentaries for TV and cinema as director and/or producer. Her films like DISGUSTINGLY HEALTHY, BROWN BABIES – GERMANY'S LOST CHILDREN or CRIME SCENE RAIN FOREST have won many awards.
Ebba Sinzinger is a producer, scriptwriter and director. Films she produced and coproduced like BROTHERS OF THE NIGHT and DOMAINE by Patric Chiha, THE FORGOTTEN SPACE by Noël Burch and Allan Secula or PIANOMANIA, have won awards in Berlin, Venice and Locarno. For her directorial work, she received the Upper Austrian Cultural Award for Film in 1997.
Alexander (Sascha) von Bismarck is Executive Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, US, which seeks to protect the environment with intelligence. Sascha has led field investigations into illegal logging in over twenty countries over two decades, documenting how wood from the world’s most valuable remaining forests are stolen from local communities and end up on retail shelves in the United States, Europe and China. He led the successful effort to prohibit the trade of illegally logged wood by amending the U.S. Lacey Act. The law, passed in 2008, was the first of its kind in the world and has inspired similar legislation in the EU, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Mexico. His undercover missions resulted in the first two major cases under the new law, including against Gibson Guitars and Lumber Liquidators, the biggest flooring retailer in the U.S. An investigation into illegal logging in Romania in 2015 led to demonstrations across the country and a unique wood-tracking system that gives the public the power to protect the last great forest of Europe.
Eva Schöfer has been the Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington since 2017. A diplomat for 16 years, her previous postings included Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Mexico, Deputy Director of the human rights department in the Austrian MFA and assignments in the field of European law and human rights in Vienna and Geneva. Before joining the Austrian MFA she worked as program officer and trainer at the European Training Center for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC) in Graz, Austria. She studied law in Graz as well as made an LL.M. in international law and human rights law at the University of Maastricht, Netherlands.
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
- DirectorDCEFF
Presented by the Reva & David Logan Foundation; Co-presented with the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington
Pre-recorded discussion featuring co-directors Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Michaela Kirst, and Ebba Sinzinger, and featured subject Alexander von Bismarck (Executive Director, Environmental Investigation Agency), moderated by Eva Schoefer (Director, The Austrian Cultural Forum Washington D.C.).
Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan was the delegate producer of Adina Pintili's Golden Bear Winner TOUCH ME NOT. With her newly established company Manifest Film, she produced ACASA, MY HOME, which won an award at Sundance 2020. She also successfully directed A MERE BREATH (2016), which won Best Documentary at LET'S CEE Film Fest and in Sarajevo.
Michaela Kirst worked for many years as a journalist in New York and has headed the Berlin office of Sagafilm since 2011. She realizes documentaries for TV and cinema as director and/or producer. Her films like DISGUSTINGLY HEALTHY, BROWN BABIES – GERMANY'S LOST CHILDREN or CRIME SCENE RAIN FOREST have won many awards.
Ebba Sinzinger is a producer, scriptwriter and director. Films she produced and coproduced like BROTHERS OF THE NIGHT and DOMAINE by Patric Chiha, THE FORGOTTEN SPACE by Noël Burch and Allan Secula or PIANOMANIA, have won awards in Berlin, Venice and Locarno. For her directorial work, she received the Upper Austrian Cultural Award for Film in 1997.
Alexander (Sascha) von Bismarck is Executive Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, US, which seeks to protect the environment with intelligence. Sascha has led field investigations into illegal logging in over twenty countries over two decades, documenting how wood from the world’s most valuable remaining forests are stolen from local communities and end up on retail shelves in the United States, Europe and China. He led the successful effort to prohibit the trade of illegally logged wood by amending the U.S. Lacey Act. The law, passed in 2008, was the first of its kind in the world and has inspired similar legislation in the EU, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Mexico. His undercover missions resulted in the first two major cases under the new law, including against Gibson Guitars and Lumber Liquidators, the biggest flooring retailer in the U.S. An investigation into illegal logging in Romania in 2015 led to demonstrations across the country and a unique wood-tracking system that gives the public the power to protect the last great forest of Europe.
Eva Schöfer has been the Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington since 2017. A diplomat for 16 years, her previous postings included Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Mexico, Deputy Director of the human rights department in the Austrian MFA and assignments in the field of European law and human rights in Vienna and Geneva. Before joining the Austrian MFA she worked as program officer and trainer at the European Training Center for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC) in Graz, Austria. She studied law in Graz as well as made an LL.M. in international law and human rights law at the University of Maastricht, Netherlands.
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
- DirectorDCEFF
