Amplify Her Voice: Engendering Health & Gender Justice Through Film

Molly Ferrill is a photographer, filmmaker, correspondent, and National Geographic Explorer dedicated to documenting the changing relationship between people and nature. Collaborating with forest rangers, conservation biologists, wildlife crime investigators, government officials, and local communities in the field, she strives to spread compassion and a greater appreciation of animals and the natural world through storytelling.

Molly has covered stories across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She spent several years based in Southeast Asia focusing primarily on international wildlife and human trafficking issues, and is now mostly based in Mexico. She has received grants from National Geographic to photograph and write about the conservation and cultural significance of elephants in Myanmar, to produce and host a documentary film series about female park rangers and the wildlife they protect around the world, and to document illegal turtle trade between the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Both Molly’s photography and writing have been featured in National Geographic Magazine, and she has also contributed to National Geographic Television, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic News, Voice of America, and the BBC. She produces the Freeland Film Festival, a festival about people, animals and ecosystems overcoming daunting challenges. The festival will be hosting monthly virtual film screenings this year starting in July, and works hard to include many female directors’ films in its lineup. Follow her on Instagram @mollyferrill and @freelandfilmfest.

Nadzeya Ilkevich is a cultural project producer, documentary filmmaker, and human rights activist from Belarus who has actively worked with civil society for more than 10 years. She is an author of media and educational projects for Belarusian people and helps them promote democracy through community building and placemaking. Nadzeya graduated from Ohio University where she earned her master’s degree in communication for development and spent four years in the Appalachian region of the US. While there she initiated an alliance of folk musicians and creatives from Belarus, Ukraine, and the US called Slavalachia. During this difficult period for Ukraine, all members of the alliance are helping and supporting each other. Nadzeya is producing a documentary series that covers the story of Slavalachia from 2019 to 2022.  During her time in the US, she also researched the situation on relocation of the Navajo nation in Arizona and initiated production of a documentary film, Our land, about Navajo women, their fight for the land, and resistance movement.

Lucy Kennedy is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. She directed four episodes of the Netflix investigative documentary series Rotten including “Lawyers,” “Guns & Honey,” and “The Avocado Wars.” She was the commissioning producer for three years of the Emmy-award-winning investigative series, Fault Lines, on Al Jazeera. Over that period, she directed and commissioned for the series; directing credits include “Death on the Bakken Shale,” “One Day in Charkh” and “American Sheriff.” Her other work includes Explorer (National Geographic), Frontline (PBS), Need to Know  and Wide Angle (WNET), and Prime Time (RTE). Lucy is a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Emily Schuman is a documentary director and producer. Her directorial debut, When I’m Her, follows the double life of a dancer as he inhabits his alter ego, Madame Olga. Most recently, Emily worked with Sarah Colt Productions where she produced The Disrupted (DOK.Fest Munich, International premiere) and True Believer (streaming on The Atlantic). Prior to working with Sarah Colt, Emily was an associate producer on The Witmans and Lift, two documentary features directed by David Petersen. Emily’s career began as a camera assistant and a member of IATSE Local 600.