Keely Covello
Project: Cartels and Cowboys
Keely Covello is a filmmaker, journalist, and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Go West Enterprises and editor of America Unwon, a reporting project focused on rural voices and issues. In 2023 she completed her debut feature-length documentary You Just Can’t See Them From the Road with her sister and creative partner Michaela Brazil Gillies.
Cartels and Cowboys
The infamous Emerald Triangle of Northern California, where ranchers share the mountains with cartels, is known for unsolved murders and a culture of silence. Two sisters return home to the ranch to try to solve a friends murder, and face the criminal underbelly of their once peaceful hometown.
Cartels and Cowboys
The infamous Emerald Triangle of Northern California, where ranchers share the mountains with cartels, is known for unsolved murders and a culture of silence. Two sisters return home to the ranch to try to solve a friends murder, and face the criminal underbelly of their once peaceful hometown.
Greg de Deugd
Project: The Secret Game
Greg de Deugd is an independent creative media director. Previously, he was the creative director at the John Locke Foundation, a free-market think tank based in Raleigh, North Carolina. He also served as the supervising producer at Locke Studios, the John Locke Foundation’s in-house creative and production group. He recently wrote and produced the award-winning short film In the Pines and produced and hosted the Policy Pizza interview series at Locke.
The Secret Game
Two college basketball teams in Jim Crow North Carolina, each at their peak, risk it all to play an illegal interracial game. The secret game changed the trajectory of basketball and helped set the stage for the coming Civil Rights era and a new kind of America.
The Secret Game
Two college basketball teams in Jim Crow North Carolina, each at their peak, risk it all to play an illegal interracial game. The secret game changed the trajectory of basketball and helped set the stage for the coming Civil Rights era and a new kind of America.
Jason Pearson
Project: Spares
Jason Pearson is an entrepreneur and creative storyteller. Pearson began his creative career in the music industry in New York City, developing albums with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Gil Scott-Heron, and many musicians you’ve never heard of. It was then that Jason then founded the first digital magazine, Blender, and Dennis Advertising Agency which was acquired by Maxim Magazine and Quadrangle Venture Partners. In 2000, Jason formed OnlineGiving/StarWire in Silicon Valley a technology start-up for nonprofits funded by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner-Perkins. In 2004, in Southern California, Jason founded Pearpod, working with Hollywood studios to develop key-art, marketing, and digital production services. Pearpod has been involved in 71 films including The Passion, Narnia, Rocky, The Shack, Unplanned, Nefarious, and The Shroud: Face-to-Face. In 2023, Pearson started FiveHive Studios to utilize artificial intelligence in the production of films and media. Pearson is an oil painter with collectors around the globe including the Al-Thani Contemporary Art Museum in Qatar. New York Magazine named Jason one of its “60 Digital Visionaries.” Jason and his wife, Melinda, and their 5 kids including triplets live in a small California surfer town and hope to someday have a pet sea pig.
Spares
Two decades ago, Jason Pearson and his wife were confronted with a profound question: they had created spare embryos through in vitro fertilization, and now what should they do with them? “Spares” tells the personal story of four couples that chose to adopt of put their fertilized embryos up for adoption, taking viewers on a riveting journey through ethical, scientific, and legal landscapes of this new and bizarre technology.
Spares
Two decades ago, Jason Pearson and his wife were confronted with a profound question: they had created spare embryos through in vitro fertilization, and now what should they do with them? “Spares” tells the personal story of four couples that chose to adopt of put their fertilized embryos up for adoption, taking viewers on a riveting journey through ethical, scientific, and legal landscapes of this new and bizarre technology.
Matt Pirrall
Project: The Bird and the Bee
Matt Pirrall is a producer and director with ten years of experience creating award winning documentary and educational series, short films, and commercial videos. After working internationally as a humanitarian filmmaker and photographer, he returned to the United States and began developing content strategy and producing projects for a variety of educational organizations, commercial clients, and nonprofits. His work with Ascension, in particular, has been recognized with numerous industry awards including multiple Emmy nominations and Telly Awards. He lives in Traverse City, Michigan with his wife and daughter.
The Bird and the Bee
How does a satire comedy website find itself on the front lines of the debate over free speech online? Seth Dillon and his team at the Babylon Bee,tell the story of they unwittingly found themselves at war with Twitter over a joke, eventually garnering the attention of Elon Musk and ushering in a new era for the social media company. The future of comedy and free speech on the internet are all at stake and in the hands of a couple of jokesters and satirists.
The Bird and the Bee
How does a satire comedy website find itself on the front lines of the debate over free speech online? Seth Dillon and his team at the Babylon Bee,tell the story of they unwittingly found themselves at war with Twitter over a joke, eventually garnering the attention of Elon Musk and ushering in a new era for the social media company. The future of comedy and free speech on the internet are all at stake and in the hands of a couple of jokesters and satirists.
