Film Production
I believe film is unparalleled in its capacity to create social change by moving the hearts and minds of decision-makers and influencing culture. In 2023, award-winning filmmaker Joshua Albeza Branstetter and I created the mini-documentary “At Home/In Home: Rural Alaska Childcare in Crisis,” based in Kotzebue, Alaska. The film is an official selection of the Toronto International Women Film Festival, the LA Independent Film Channel Film Festival, and the LA Independent Film Festival, and has been cited as critical for influencing state regulatory, policy, and funding decisions.
“Without question, your film made a difference in terms of what regulation changes got made and what the Child Care Task Force brought up and recommended.”
– Jordan Marshall, Government Affairs Consultant
In April 2025, we premiered the short documentary “ILP” about the Infant Learning Program in Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley to a standing room-only audience of over 80 legislators, legislative staff, and advocates in Juneau, part of a long-term (and ultimately successful) advocacy effort for early intervention. A second screening in September 2025 filled a theatre in Wasilla with local and state policymakers and community members, and led to rich community dialogue. The following legislative session, a bill to expand and fund ILP was passed nearly unanimously by the legislature and became law in June of 2026!
As a team we are currently fundraising to continue work on multiple documentary episodes on childcare that build on our footage on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, the first of which, “Growing the Kenai: Childcare Licensing” was released in late May, 2025, and which premiered October 2025 in Kodiak. We have an episode about the role of employers currently underway. All this work can be followed on Instagram and on our Vimeo showcase.
I’ve also produced, written, location scouted, casted, edited, and distributed short films on the topics of subsistence fishing, child and youth well-being, COVID-19, youth healthy relationships, and healthcare interventions for addressing domestic and sexual violence. While I primarily collaborate with Branstetter Film, I have also worked with Ida Taylor Films, Alaskan Films, Alaska in Motion Film, Summit Day Media, and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s media department.
Films I have worked on:
"Growing the Kenai: Childcare Licensing” (45-minute documentary)
“ILP” (25-minute documentary)
“At Home/In Home: Rural Childcare in Crisis” (26-minute documentary)
“How to Siifish: Traditional Knowledge from the Northwest Arctic” (11-minute instructional video)
“Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska Native Mentorship Program” (series of 4 x 3-minute PSAs/testimonials)
“We’ve Been Here for Millenia, & We’re Not Going to Lose the Battle to COVID-19” (3.5-minute PSA/study recruitment film)
“Precauciones para el COVID-19” (30-second PSA)
“A Trauma-Informed Approach to Challenging Contact Tracing Calls” (5-minute instructional training video)
“Youth Healthy & Unhealthy Relationships” (series of 11 skits followed by professional analysis)
“DV/SV & Healthcare” (series of 3 x 1-hour edited training videos)
“It is obvious that improving childcare is essential to unlocking more economic growth and opportunity for Alaskans. Documentaries like the ones you’re working on help conservative and red state legislators and policy makers to see the business case for improving childcare close to home."
Senator Jesse Bjorkman (Republican, Alaska Senate District D)
Kenai, Alaska
Photo by Laura Norton-Cruz