Our Passionate Leadership Team We are a growing community of artists, activists, ecologists, educators, entrepreneurs, farmers, filmmakers, musicians and volunteers who want to make a difference. We believe in what we do and we come together to help people, projects, companies and investors “be the change you want to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi
We are excited to get to know you. Feel free to connect with us at anytime. We would love to hear from you.
Alta Berri
Nena Botto
Seth Hayden Brown
Seth Hayden Brown graduated from the University of Montana, in Missoula with a degree in creative writing. He showed visual art around Missoula and spearheaded a theatrical cabaret group called Arya Dunya. In 2003 he returned to Portland looking for a more substantial art world. With partner Kenya Spiegel he started the “sky&boat gallery” where he curated art and music shows for over a year. He became part of a close-knit circle of musicians and was fortunate to collaborate with performance artist Guillermo Gomez Pena during a performance at Lewis & Clark College. As a self-taught pianist he has an unorthodox and creative approach to the piano. In recent years he has played Rhodes electric piano in several ecstatic groups and performs regularly with Why I Must Be Careful, a hyper-structured experimental drums and piano duo. WIMBC has received substantial local acclaim and continues to wow audiences across the United States. When not playing music or composing player piano rolls, Seth can be found working on a Permaculture site in Portland OR where he and his partner have created a demonstration urban farm.
Matt Dawson
Teresa Decher
Jeff Feazell
Jeff Feazell is a stand-up comedian and comedy writer. In addition to performing at clubs and bars all over Los Angeles, he is creator Youth Pastor Kevin, an upcoming web series about the idiosyncrasies of Evangelical teen culture. Jeff graduated from UCLA in 2004 and spent several years writing satire for several online publications, including his own The Lean.
Kerri Fernsworth
Kerri Fernsworth is a creative writer with a day job to pay the bills and a firm resolve to fulfill her life-giving creative aspirations. She is currently co-writing the film Affected for Sogno Productions and is a collaborating writer for the upcoming web series Youth Pastor Kevin, created by her always-making-her-laugh husband Jeff Feazell. Her professional background is in nonprofit fundraising, marketing, and management. In 2009, she co-founded a nonprofit to support organizations serving children, Project LACE. Additionally, she has worked as a freelance writer for Change.org (Social Entrepreneurship) and Causecast. Kerri earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Global Studies from Azusa Pacific University and has spent time studying and volunteering in several places that don’t advertise chicken nuggets as food including: Guatemala, Mauritius, and India. Kerri completed the Master Gardener Program through UC Davis extension in 2010 and hopes to achieve telepathic communication with her plants (not covered in the UC program). She frequently wishes for the ability to have multiple careers at the same time but is willing to settle for the possibility that they come in a linear timeline and somehow all her various experiences will tie together in a magical way. So far, it’s worked out.
Alex Hudson
Alex Hudson lives in Seattle, which is a great place for a certified indoor girl with a penchant for armchair academics and Twin Peaks marathons. Alex has been working film festivals and events for long enough to deftly sweep popcorn out of carpets and to load a sold out house without breaking a sweat. She loves overhearing post-film conversations and believes in the power of cinema to show us other worlds, to bring us together and to make us more human. Alex is terribly excited to be working the Columbia Gorge Film Festival and it’s associated events and if you see her at one of the venues, feel free to distribute high fives liberally.
Richard Kowalski
Jessica Lee Morgan
Jessica is passionate about solar energy and butterflies. Her BA is from FAU. It enabled her to spend 8 years with an engineering firm where she improved managemnet and HR systems and was recognized in the Wall Street Journal. After developing a Solar-Install Training program for new hires, she compiled her work (and personal experience from living in a solar home) for non-engineers trying to break into the dynamic solar industry. Her informative Ebook can be purchased at www.solarknowledgeseries.com. Additionally, she has been gardening for butterflies in South Florida for 10 years, maintaining an extensive habitat in her back yard. Because the fluttering wonders have brought her such joy, peace and simplicity, it is her life dream to share them with others.The enthusiastic butterfly gardener runs a site for people to purchase portable and compact butterfly gardens www.butterflypots.com. Jessica also visits local schools and community groups, gives tours of her elaborate yard, and offers consultations for those who wish to plant their own gardens or go solar.
Brady Newbill
Tim Nicholson
Tim Nicholson was discovered making all kinds of things happen at some of the most prestigious film festivals around the world. Like a pig in mud, he’s happiest when he’s dirty. For him, that perfect day has a Black Sabbath soundtrack with a Stevie Ray Vaughn undertone. A little salt water with a ton of sunshine, exercise in the morning, Eastwood in the afternoon and sangria with a good science fiction novel in either hand as the sun sets. He admits he will never be as strong, as fast, as smart or as smooth as his shadow, which will always drive him to be better. We are just glad he is with us.
Wesley Scott Parker
Zach Persson
Zach Persson is an independent film producer and director based in the Pacific Northwest. Though a native of Los Angeles, Zach has found his adoptive home highly supportive and filled with creative people mobilizing to develop the film culture of the Northwest. Currently, he is producing an independent sci-fi feature film titled “Ingenium” and is excited to see the community enriched through the many films and art that will be displayed at this year’s festival.
Nic Korban Aurix Phelan
Korban moved to Portland in 2005. He moved here with a love for metal and industrial and since being in the Portland area found a new love for psy-trance and substep. He is making sure to keep it distorted and dark! He has been involved with the Festivals since 2009 and is an incredibly valuable part of our organization. He even inspired a character in a feature film project written by Festival Alumni.
Carmen Rio
Kenya Spiegel
Kenya E. Spiegel is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York Studio Program at Parsons School of Design. Upon gratuating she worked under Finnish fashion designer Tiiti Forteleny in New York City for one year until she moved to Portland, OR in 2002, in order to found sky&boat a sustainable clothing company and run a gallery in NW Portland with partner Seth Brown. Strongly encouraged by the local community sky&boat continued to create environmentally responsible clothing for seven years and sold internationally until 2009. Around this time Kenya and Seth moved goats into the front yard of their home in Portland, Oregon. The goats, along with ducks, turkey, and bees, soon attracted so much attention that Kenya found herself giving impromptu workshops to curious passersby. Thus, Sowing Circle Farm, and its mission — simply, to empower people to grow food and raise animals in an urban setting — was born. Kenya has since become certified in organic gardening practices as well as Permaculture. In 2010, Sowing Circle Farm relocated to Future Farm, an abandoned 1/3-acre plot of land in NE Portland, which is now being used as a Permaculture demonstration site and food forest for the local Portland community.
James Rodney Stolz
James Stolz is a freelance Director of Photography whose films have been played at various festivals around the world, from Los Angeles to Cannes. In 2009 James won the Best Cinematography Award at the Boston International Film Festival for one of his shorts. Creating and watching films as well as talking about them are amongst his greatest passions.
Savannah Teller Brown
Owner and operator of Teller Films, Savannah Teller Brown is a humbly talented cinematographer and film artist. Savannah’s credits range from Super 8 experimental storytelling to working as an Assistant Camera and loader on large studio films. Savannah is an important part of our team as a filmmaker, festival organizer and farmer.
Breven Angaelica Warren
Breven Angaelica Warren has been creating and organizing events for as long as she can remember. Working in the entertainment industry as a child, Breven developed her love and affinity for the arts. She then followed her passions in the equestrian world and worked on the hunter-jumper circuit while homeschooling to be able to travel full time. She then worked full time in catering, events and fine dining while beginning her university career with a BA focus in Literature & Art History and a BSc focus in Anthropology & Biology. While in university Breven lived one year in Florence, Italy and spent another year on a Global Ecology program where she lived in England, India, the Philippines, New Zealand and Mexico. After graduation from university Breven worked her way back into film and began producing projects and events. With independent films on the festival circuit, she got involved in festivals and now works full time interconnected between films, festivals and farming projects.