Our first film as a team was The Spirit of Kuna Yala, about a group of Native Americans fighting to protect their rainforest in Panama and the traditions it inspires. We were so impressed with the success of the Kuna that we offered to tell their story, and with a grant from the Inter-American Foundation, we were on our way. Told entirely in their own words, the film became a mobilizing tool that the Kuna used to promote land rights and self-determination at indigenous conferences around the world. It received the prestigious Earthwatch Film Award and aired on the Discovery Channel.

Our penchant for filming rare wildlife led us to Madagascar, where we captured animal behavior for David Attenborough’s landmark BBC series The Trials of Life. Soon we were producing our own special on the wonders of this imperiled island for The Living Edens series on PBS. Influenced by our work with organizations such as World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society, we negotiated with the distributor to make Madagascar: a world apart available for conservation efforts in-country — becoming one of the first TV productions to do so. Narrated by Maya Angelou, it was also one of the first nature films to be voiced by a person of color. The film was recognized with two Emmy Awards and the coveted Best Cinematography Award at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

Inspired by a 1961 film about life in a  Sicilian slum, we set off for Palermo to chronicle the long grip of poverty on three generations of a family headed by Angela, a gutsy survivor struggling to keep her kids safe. With support from European television and a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts,  Children of Fate, was called “an emotionally devastating, masterfully made documentary” by the San Francisco Examiner, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for an Academy Award. After a theatrical run in 25 cities and a global festival presence, it aired on Cinemax. 

After the LA riots made headlines, attention was finally drawn to street gangs and the lack of opportunity for disadvantaged youth. By this time, we were already making a film about gang members determined to break the cycle of violence, but the news helped generate completion funding from the US Justice Department. Lives in Hazard, narrated by actor/activist Edward James Olmos was broadcast primetime on NBC, with an introduction by President Clinton — a first for a TV documentary. The relationship led to a  second film for the Justice Department, It Ain’t Love, about teen dating violence, which was widely used in high schools across the US.

Intrigued by an opportunity to tell the story of the world’s deadliest animal — the mosquito, we crisscrossed the globe for Deadly Messengers, the story of animal vectors of disease. From the ravages of West Nile Virus in the US to a malaria ward in a Kenya hospital, the film vividly brings to light the global health consequences of changes we make to our environment. Narrated by Brad Pitt as part of the PBS series Rx for Survival and co-produced by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions, the film received an Emmy Award for Best Science Series on TV.

We spent 18 months in Alaska making Glacier Bay: Alaska’s wild coast, about the interconnected lives of brown bears, bald eagles, humpback whales, seals, salmon, and the ocean that sustains them all in this iconic and vital ecosystem.  Our second installment for the Living Edens series on PBS, the film was nominated for Emmys in Cinematography and Best Science/Nature Film.

Raising two kids in the age of screens made us aware of the growing disconnect between children and nature. With support from Tangled Bank Studios, the Pew Charitable Trust, and local donors, we made Backyard Wilderness, in which the hidden lives of plants and animals in a suburban backyard are revealed in ways never seen before — in 3D IMAX. In the story, a screen-obsessed 13-year-old named Katie is inspired to step outside and discover what she’s been missing.  Voted best Giant Screen film of the year and awarded Best Cinematography and Best Lifelong Learning at the Giant Screen Cinema Awards, the film is accompanied by a rich educational outreach package. Backyard Wilderness has been seen by millions in over 50 cities worldwide, and the accompanying Seek App became the number one download in the Apple Store’s youth category. 

Wings Over Water, our second 3D IMAX film, was an opportunity to connect audiences with the lives of some truly amazing creatures — a sandhill crane, a mallard duck, and a yellow warbler, as they migrate to the most important wetland region in all of North America — the prairie wetlands. Produced in association with Dorsey Pictures and funded by the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, with support from Ducks Unlimited and the National Audubon Society, this soaring documentary demonstrates how the ecosystems we depend on for food, are stitched together by the wings of migratory birds. Narrated by Michael Keaton, Wings Over Water is currently rolling out at premiere museums and science centers around the world.

At Arise Media we believe that there should always be a positive local impact from our projects, which is why Andrew recently became a filmmaking mentor at the African Conservation Voices Media Labs conducted in Kenya and Rwanda by Jackson Wild and African Wildlife Foundation. With upcoming Africa-based projects in development, it is vital that Arise Media plays a role in empowering local filmmakers to tell their own stories.

Bradley Martin, President

Bradley serves as vice president for strategic investments with Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Before joining Fairfax in 1998, he was a partner with Torys LLP, a leading Canadian business law firm. Mr. Martin currently serves as a member of the boards of Bank of Ireland, Eurobank Ergasias S.A., and Blue Ant Media. 

Elliott Sumers, MD, Board Member

Elliott was formerly a Diagnostic and Interventional Radiologist at New York Presbyterian-Hudson Valley Hospital. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of The Horace Mann School, the Putnam County Historical Society, and the Foundation of Hudson Valley Hospital.

Dr. Eleanor Sterling, Emerita

Eleanor is an internationally renowned scholar in biocultural diversity, conservation policy, and resource management. She is the director of the Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is the former director of the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and has more than thirty years of field research experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Susan Todd and Andrew Young also serve on the board of Arise Media.