CINEMATOGRAPHER & LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY; Soda Springs

Nick Cahill is an award-winning outdoor adventure filmmaker and Director of Photography whose stunning Milky Way image was featured on the cover of National Geographic's "Guide to the Night Sky." Known for taking cameras where most people don't go, he has filmed in remote and extreme environments from Alaskan glaciers to Mexican deserts, creating documentary films and branded content for clients like Red Bull and Teton Gravity Research.

PRODUCER & PROGRAMS DIRECTOR; Truckee

Christine Chung works across a range of creative fields, including nonfiction and documentary film, theatre, and performing arts. She is currently working in the nonprofit arts sector, serving as the Director of Operations and Design at San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company, and as the Programs and the Partnerships Associate at Field of Vision.  Originally from Queens, NY, and now based in Truckee, CA, Christine spends her free time watching movies, hiking and enjoying the trails and lakes of Tahoe, cooking Korean food, starting (and hopefully finishing) arts and crafts projects, and playing piano.

FILM PRODUCER; Truckee

Victoria Estevez is an Emmy-nominated creative producer and freelance executive producer at Unlikely Media, now based in Truckee after relocating from New York City. Her notable work includes producing documentary series for major brands like Airbnb Plus (2018-2020), launching Calm's first daily video content initiative with over 158 episodes, and her award-winning short film Bonkers, which won three awards at IMDb's Independent Shorts Awards including Platinum for Best First Time Director. Beyond her production work, Victoria serves as a board member for Mountain Area Preservation.

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER; Truckee

Michael Fearon is a Truckee-based filmmaker and journalist whose work bridges compelling storytelling with social impact. A graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, he co-directed the acclaimed documentary Seasons with Gabriella Canal, earning a bronze medal at the 2022 Student Academy Awards and publication in The New Yorker. His second directorial short film Leaving The Point premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2025 and was distributed by the Los Angeles Times, cementing his voice as an emerging documentary filmmaker.

FOUNDER OF THE LAKE TAHOE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL; South Lake Tahoe

Michelle Aguilar-Ficara is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and founder of the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Festival. A South Lake Tahoe native and graduate of UC Santa Cruz's social documentation program, she has spent over a decade producing multimedia projects across cultures worldwide, including the PBS-circulated documentary Momentum, which chronicles a local mixed martial artist's comeback after tragedy.

JOURNALIST & FILMMAKER, Reno

Kat Fulwider is an award-winning multimedia journalist, documentary filmmaker, and photographer based in the Reno-Tahoe region whose reporting has spanned continents — from rural Cambodia to the rainforests of Central and South America — with work appearing in The New York Times and on KUNR Public Radio. A graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism at UNR and the School of Photographic Arts of Ottawa, she brings a background in biology and the outdoor industry to stories at the intersection of climate, environment, and adventure. She is the founding editor of The High Sierra Rambler, a print magazine covering outdoor culture and the environment across the Sierra and Northern Nevada.

SVP OSCILLOCSOPE LABORATORIES; Truckee

Aaron Katz is Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at Oscilloscope Laboratories, the New York-based independent film distributor founded by Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch. Since joining Oscilloscope in 2011, he has acquired and executive produced acclaimed films including Matthew Rankin's Universal Language (Canada's 2025 Academy Award submission and winner of the first-ever Directors' Fortnight audience award at Cannes), as well as Oscar-nominated films Embrace of the Serpent and the documentary Kedi. A Syracuse University graduate, Katz oversees all aspects of acquiring finished films and developing projects at various production stages, shaping Oscilloscope's reputation for championing unique, artist-driven cinema.

DIRECTOR @ ENCOMPASS FILMS & BFC CO-FOUNDER; Truckee

Dominic Gill is a director and cinematographer whose filmmaking career began when he left his job as an environmental consultant to ride a tandem bicycle 20,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina, documenting the journey in his award-winning film Take A Seat. Since founding Encompass Films with partner Nadia Gill, he has co-directed the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Planetwalker and the feature documentary The [Conserv]atives, which is premiering in 2026, along with numerous short films for Netflix, The Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian, and Bloomberg and branded films for clients like Red Bull and Black Diamond.

FILMMAKER @ ENCOMPASS FILMS, BFC CO-FOUNDER; Truckee

Nadia Gill is a former real estate attorney who left her legal career to join her creative and life partner Dominic Gill to co-found Encompass Films. Having produced dozens of award-winning short and a feature film or two, in 2023 Nadia co-directed her first short Planetwalker, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Academy Awards, and this spring releases her first feature-length directing debut The [Conserv]atives, which follows four conservative climate activists.

ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER; Olympic Valley

Justine is a founding partner at Focus Media Law Group and specializes in representing documentary filmmakers in all aspects of their productions, from development through distribution, including rights clearances and fair use reviews. With over twenty years of legal experience and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, she has provided legal counsel to dozens of award-winning and studio documentaries. She also directed and produced two feature-length documentary films herself — Runners High (2006) and Ready, Set, Bag! (2008) —bringing a unique filmmaker's perspective to her legal practice.

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER; Truckee

Emily McAllister is a Film Independent Fellow and an award-winning story producer working across documentary film, emerging technology, and narrative form. Her work spans collaborations with The New Yorker, This American Life, The Met, National Geographic, HBO, and the Google Creative Lab. She currently leads the storytelling team at Ridgeline, a technology startup based in Incline Village, NV.

FILMMAKER & OCEANOGRAPHER; Olympic Valley

Alex "Blue" Rowe is the co-founder of Cruisers Academy and an accomplished filmmaker, photographer, and sailor who has logged over 35,000 nautical miles across three Atlantic crossings. A Tahoe local who studied media communications at Sonoma State University, she gained international recognition as a content creator on the popular YouTube channel Sailing Vessel Delos before co-founding Cruisers Academy in 2019. She produces films and documentaries including the critically acclaimed 4-part series 80° North about sailing in the high Arctic, and as a USCG licensed captain now teaches sailing fundamentals on Lake Tahoe while continuing to create compelling ocean content.

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER & BFC CO-FOUNDER; Truckee

Tahria Sheather is an Emmy Award-nominated Australian documentary filmmaker whose work spans the breadth of the human experience. She produced the Netflix series How To Change Your Mind and the HBO feature documentary Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements. Most recently she directed (second unit) an expedition up Mount Everest for Netflix’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning feature documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa. Tahria also directs short films for brands whose values align with her zest for life.

THEATRE OWNER; Tahoe City

Melissa Siig is the co-owner and operator of Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema alongside her husband Siig, bringing independent and blockbuster films to the Tahoe City community since 2014. A former reporter for the Tahoe World newspaper, Melissa studied International Relations and Arab Studies at UC Santa Barbara and Georgetown University before settling in North Lake Tahoe. She met her husband while on assignment interviewing him as an action sports film director, and together they transformed the former Cobblestone Center Cinema into a thriving cultural hub. When not running the theater, Melissa enjoys hiking, dining at local restaurants, and spending time with her three children and their family dog.

FILMMAKER & THEATRE OWNER; Tahoe City

“Siig” is a Lake Tahoe-based filmmaker who cut his teeth shooting for Warren Miller Entertainment and Matchstick Productions before co-founding Realization Films. He is best known for co-directing and producing the critically acclaimed documentary Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche (now streaming on Netflix), which is being developed into a major motion picture by Martin Scorsese. The film won audience awards at Mountainfilm in Telluride and best documentary at the Bend and Austin film festivals, and Siig has also produced narrative features including "Weak Layers," "Disrupted," and "Dark Divide." In 2014, he and his wife Melissa opened Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema, transforming it into a beloved cultural hub for the Tahoe City community.

CO-FOUNDER WELL TRAVELLED COLLECTIVE; South Lake Tahoe

Sarah Steele is an executive producer and co-founder of Well Travelled Collective, a woman-owned film production company focused on impact strategies and cause-related storytelling. Raised between France, Switzerland, and the Western US, Sarah spent over a decade at Google and YouTube managing partnerships with organizations like National Geographic, TED, and UN Women, most recently working on YouTube's Racial Justice team focusing on responsible generative AI. When she's not producing award-winning documentaries that aim to change the narrative in adventure filmmaking, Sarah can be found adventuring off the beaten path on rock and ice from her home base in South Lake Tahoe.

PRODUCER & INFLUENCER; Olympic Valley

Brady Trautman is a world-roving captain, filmmaker, and co-founder of Cruisers Academy who spent a decade logging over 95,000 nautical miles across 45 countries while helping build one of sailing's most beloved YouTube channels, SV Delos. He co-produced the acclaimed 4-part Arctic sailing documentary series 80º North, then channeled that same cinematic spirit into Cruisers Academy — a Lake Tahoe-based sailing school and creative platform for films exploring ocean life and human transformation.

CO-FOUNDER SINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL; Truckee

Voted "Best Mullet in Tahoe" by his mother, Calvin Studebaker is the cofounder and host of Truckee's own Sindance Film Festival. Sindance has kept the spirit of independent film alive by screening every submission for seven years, forcing every attendee to submit an original short film, and struggling to land a single corporate sponsor. Sindance relocated from Park City to Truckee in 2024 and is all the better for it. Tapping the raw creativity of Tahoe filmmakers is Calvin's greatest joy. Catch Calvin playing music at Truckee open mics, skiing in the mountains, and making films of questionable quality in his basement.
https://sindancefilmfestival.com

PRODUCER; Tahoma

Yulia is a Reno/Tahoe-based independent film producer, startup entrepreneur, mountaineer, and mother who thrives at the intersection of creativity and altitude. She is co-founder of Right Time Studios, founding director of the Nova Ukraine nonprofit, and a mentor with The First Ukrainian Women Expedition. Currently, she's distributing her first feature documentary about the human side of war in Ukraine, Flowers Beyond the Dark.