Climate Films by Local Filmmakers
Pam Uzzell
Screening Co-Host
Kristin Tièche
The Invisible Mammal
Screening Co-Host
Jimmy Ramirez
Above Ground
Ethan Lee
Threads of Change
Cynthia Abbott
Tess Felix: Portrait Artist
Alisa Ching
What’s at Steak
Ashlynn Wong
What’s at Steak
Sonia Shin
What’s at Steak
'Tess Felix
Portrait Artist
Pam Uzzell is a documentary filmmaker and podcaster living in Oakland, CA. She is the director and producer of four independent documentaries, Some Call It Heaven (2007), Unearthing the Dream (2012), and Welcome to the Neighborhood (2018) and Shelter in Displacement (2020). Her podcast, Art Heals All Wounds, features artists sharing the stories behind their work and the intersection of arts and culture, and well-being.
Kristin Tièche is a filmmaker and editor based in San Francisco, CA. She has edited thousands of hours of film and television, with a focus on non-fiction and documentary storytelling. She specializes in immersive visual storytelling and character-driven films about sustainability, conservation and science.
She is known for her award-winning short films, including "Forms of Identification" (2011), "The Spinster" (2013), "The Bat Rescuer (2016), and "Velo Visionaries" (2015-2017). Her first feature documentary, "The Invisible Mammal," about bat conservation in North America, is currently in post-production, with a projected release date in early 2025.
Kristin holds a Master of Arts in Television, Radio and Film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and teaches film editing at Diablo Valley College.
Jimmy Lizarde Ramirez is a Chicano two-spirit video artist and educator. He was born in Antioch California. Jimmy received his Bachelor's Degree from Georgetown University and is currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Arts Candidate at Institute of American Indian Art.
Ethan Sanghyun Lee is a filmmaker and is currently a senior at Crystal Springs Uplands School in the Bay Area. Ethan’s favorite subjects are English, History, and Video Production. He fell in love with directing, writing, and editing films at an early age, where he continues to focus on narrative and documentary filmmaking. Outside of film, Ethan enjoys competitive golf, traveling, trying new foods, and spending time with friends.
Cynthia Abbott is an award winning director and producer of short form environmental films who believes the power of storytelling can change our collective vision of the ocean and create a new vision for the ocean’s future – protected and thriving. As founder of Every Second Breath Project, she has co-produced |directed six shorts which have won numerous awards including an EMMY® Award for Three Ocean Advocates: Inspiring Change. An experienced cinematographer, editor, and producer who has filmed in Burma and Thailand, Cynthia has spent her adult life living near the ocean in California and Hawaii and has seen first-hand the urgency of creating films as a call to action for understanding the enormity of our ocean’s environmental crisis.
Alisa Ching is a 9th grader at Lick Wilmerding High School. She got into filmmaking through her friends and during a video production school elective, and she started doing animation! Bringing awareness and sharing solutions for environmental topics through creative media has been extremely fun and rewarding for her. She’s excited to continue filmmaking in the future!
Ashlynn Wong is a 9th grader at Burlingame High School, and she’s loved filmmaking since she was very young. She would make home videos with her younger sisters and spent all her time thinking up new ideas. She first entered a film fest in 7th grade, and returned in 8th. Being able to bring awareness to environmental issues through something that she enjoys doing is truly amazing for Ashlynn. This was a special experience and she hopes to continue videography and refining her skills.
Sonia Shin is a ninth grader currently attending Burlingame High School. Since before Sonia can remember, she’s loved drawing, painting, crafting, and overall being creative. Artistic mediums are some of her favorite ways to express herself, with filmmaking being among them! Working on What’s at Steak was an extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience, and in the future, Sonia hopes to continue raising awareness on environmental/contemporary issues through her work.
Tess Felix has lived the majority of her life along the same five miles of coastline just north of San Francisco. While she admires activists and leaders who address the problem of plastic pollution, her own voice is that of an artist. Felix’s work has been featured in Time Magazine, Musings Mag, Spaces, Coco Eco, and Northern California Public Media among others. She has exhibited widely including at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Surf Riders, and the Peninsula Museum of Art.