The Grab

Gabriela Cowperthwaite has been directing both documentaries and narrative films for over 20 years, rising to prominence with the 2013 release of Blackfish, which examined the plight of orcas and their trainers at SeaWorld. Blackfish quickly became one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time, amassing over 100 million viewers worldwide and helping to permanently change the captive industry. In addition to being shortlisted for an Academy Award, Blackfish was nominated for a BAFTA, a Broadcast Critics’ Awards, an International Documentary Association Award, and won the Satellite Award for Best Feature. Most recently, Gabriela completed ISS, a space station thriller starring Academy Award winner Arianna DeBose. ISS is scheduled for release in 2022. Her critically acclaimed film Our Friend, starring Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, and Jason Segel was released in 2020. Based on a true life story, Our Friend told the story of a couple struggling through a diagnosis alongside their best friend. Megan Leavey, which marked Gabriela’s narrative directorial debut in 2015 is based on the true life story of a Marine corporal (Kate Mara), whose unique bond with her military combat dog saved many lives during their deployment in Iraq.

Nate Halverson is an Emmy Award-winning senior reporter and producer at The Center for Investigative Reporting, covering business and finance with an emphasis on the global food system. Halverson broke the international news that California was literally sinking, a result of farmers over-pumping groundwater in the drought stricken Central Valley. He revealed the Saudi government’s plan to acquire food and water resources around the world that included a 15-square-mile farm in the parched Arizona desert, and other farms across drought stricken California. He uncovered classified cables from the U.S. State Department that detailed wealthy countries were concerned about looming water and food shortages, including dire shortages in Yemen that helped trigger its devastating civil war. Before joining CIR, Halverson worked on projects with the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, PBS NewsHour and at the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Press Democrat.  He was awarded a 2014 McGraw Fellowship by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and he received a degree in economics and journalism from the University of Minnesota.

Amanda Pike is the director of the TV and documentary department at The Center for Investigative Reporting. Under her leadership, CIR garnered its first Academy Award nomination and four national Emmys, among other accolades. She was the executive producer of the inaugural year of the Glassbreaker Films initiative, supporting women in documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism. She has spent the past two decades reporting and producing documentaries for PBS, CBS, ABC, National Geographic, A&E, Lifetime and The Learning Channel, among others. Subjects have ranged from militia members in Utah to young entrepreneurs in Egypt and genocide perpetrators in Cambodia. Pike also has dabbled in fiction filmmaking, producing the short film “On the Assassination of the President,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Blye Faust is an Academy and Emmy Award-winning producer. Her credits include Spotlight, which was awarded Best Motion Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 2016 Academy Awards, and went on to gross nearly $100 million at the worldwide box office during its release. She most recently produced the hit Amazon docuseries LuLaRich. Other documentary credits include Emmy Award-winning and Peabody nominee Belly of the Beast and Emmy and Critic's Choice Award nominee Rewind. In addition to her work as a producer, she is a ReFrame Rise sponsor and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Mill Valley Film Festival's Mind the Gap: Women|Film|Tech initiative and the Creative Future Leadership Committee. Her board memberships have included The Center for Investigative Reporting, and she is a member of the Producers Guild of America and the State Bar of California.

Nicole Rocklin is the Oscar winning producer of Spotlight, the riveting true story behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation of the Boston Archdiocese. At the 2016 Academy Awards, the film won Best Motion Picture and Best Screenplay. Her other producing credits include the Untitled Lizzo Documentary (directed by Doug Pray to be released by HBO Max),  The Perfect Guy (directed by Dave Rosenthal starring Sanaa Lathan, Michael Ealy and Morris Chestnut) that opened number one at the box office it’s opening weekend and Middle of Nowhere (directed by John Stockwell starring Anton Yelchin, Eva Amurri, Justin Chatwin, Willa Holland and Susan Sarandon). She started her entertainment career as an assistant at Jerry Bruckheimer Films and graduated with honors with a B.A. in History and African American Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, and the Creative Future Leadership Committee.