Speakers

Film Festival

8:00PM-10:00PM

Growing up along the banks of Colorado's Cache la Poudre River I perfected the art of toad catching and river swimming at a very early age. Days on the river consisted of rafting, swimming, and finding the biggest toad, frog, or snake possible as a gift for my mother. Fortunately, life has changed very little since then. The only difference now is my camera.

Over the years my love for rivers and the slimy and scaly critters that inhabit them has turned into a passion to help conserve them. I feel truly fortunate to have grown up in such a wild place and hope that my work fosters a greater appreciation for these environments and supports the actions to help keep them free and wild. I strongly believe that promoting awareness through visual storytelling can have a large impact in conservation. If people can see what they are saving, they may see a real reason to act.

With a background in freshwater ecology much of my work focuses on creating imagery that offers a unique look into the secret worlds that reside below our rivers and streams. Working with Freshwaters Illustrated, a non-profit that uses film and photography to educate the public on a variety of freshwater topics, I hope to inspire curiosity and help to encourage everyone to get out and explore their local river. 

As the movement to conserve and restore rivers continues to gain momentum worldwide I hope my images will help motivate a new discourse in the way we all view rivers. With all of us having some connection to a river, the power to introduce communities to their aquatic neighbors may become fundamental in the movement to conserve these wild environments. 

Film Festival

8:00PM-10:00PM

Howard and Michele Hall are perhaps best known for their underwater IMAX films.  In 1994 Howard directed the first underwater IMAX 3D feature, Into the Deep.  In 1998 Michele produced and Howard directed the IMAX feature Island of the Sharks.  In 2005 they returned to the IMAX 3D format by directing and producing Deep Sea 3D which was awarded Best Picture at the Giant Screen Cinema Association Conference and Best Large Format Film at Wildscreen 2006.  In 2009 the Hall’s released Under the Sea 3D.  This film won best cinematography at the Giant Screen Cinema Association Conference in 2009 and Best Documentary at the International 3D Society in 2010.  Howard was director of underwater cinematography for Primesco Productions’ Lost Worlds, MacGillivray Freeman Films’ The Living Sea, the IMAX 3D feature Return to Hubble, and was underwater cinematographer for MacGillivray Freeman’s Journey Into Amazing Caves.  In 2002 Howard was underwater sequence director and Michele was location manager for MacGillivray Freeman’s IMAX feature Coral Reef Adventure, a film in which both are featured on camera.  The Hall’s latest IMAX film, Secrets of the Sea 3D, was released in 2022 and was a coproduction between Howard Hall Productions and Oceanic Research.

Of the five highest grossing 3D films produced by IMAX Corporation, two were directed by Howard Hall.  Into the Deep has earned box office receipts of over $70 million and Deep Sea 3D has earned over $96 million.

Between them, Howard and Michele have won seven Emmy Awards.  Howard has produced and/or directed many award winning natural history television films including a National Geographic Special which he co-produced with Michele, and four episodes of the PBS series Nature.  Howard also directed and Michele produced the award winning five-hour series Secrets of the Ocean Realm for PBS.   The Hall’s most recent film, Soul of the Ocean, is a 78-minute feature length film that was finished in 2022.

Howard holds a BS degree in zoology from San Diego State University.  He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Michele is a Registered Nurse and holds a B.S. degree in Health Sciences.  She is a member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

Film Festival

8:00PM-10:00PM

Jennifer N. Sellitti is a lawyer and a shipwreck hunter. A criminal defense attorney by profession, she is the managing member of Atlantic Wreck Salvage and operates D/V Tenacious, a vessel that locates, dives, and salvages artifacts from shipwrecks in the North Atlantic. Her first book, “The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-And-Run Off the Coast of Nantucket” (Schiffer Publishing) was released in March 2025.