The Team

VELCROW RIPPER – Director

“If anyone can find the silver lining in a mushroom cloud, it’s this astounding, thoughtful filmmaker.”

– The National Post

Velcrow Ripper is a Canadian Academy Award (Genie) winning filmmaker, writer,  sound designer and public speaker.   He creates powerful, cinematic documentaries that deal with the central issues of our times.  Occupy Love is the culmination of his epic “Fierce Love Trilogy” which began with  Scared Sacred, named one of Canada’s Top 10 movies of 2004, and winner of the 2005 Genie (Canadian Academy Award) for best feature documentary. It  continued with 2008’s award winning   Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action .

Ripper’s earlier films include  In The Company of Fear, a documentary on non-violent resistance to the “dirty war” in Colombia; Golden Gate Award-winning Open Season, about bear hunters and the activists who “hunt the hunters”; and the multi-award-winning non-fiction feature Bones of the Forest, (co-directed with Heather Frise) about the struggle to save the ancient forests of British Columbia (Best of the Festival, 1996 Hot Docs! Festival; and Best Feature Doc, 1996 Genie Awards).

Velcrow’s films are stylistically innovative, engaging and moving. Particular attention is given to the sound design. He is well known for his award-winning sound design of such films as The Corporation (Best Sound, Leo Awards), and A Place Called Chiapas (Best Sound, Hot Docs!; Best Sound, Leo Awards). He was recently named “one of the top ten filmmakers to watch in 2012” by the Independent Film magazine.

Subscribe on facebook to Velcrow Ripper

Follow Velcrow on twitter @Vcrow

IAN MACKENZIE – Producer

Ian MacKenzie is a filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. He has shot & produced numerous journalistic shorts and documentaries, with his work appearing in The New York Times, National Geographic TV, CBC Documentary, Adbusters, and festivals around the world.

Ian’s short film The Revolution Is Love was named one of the top 10 Occupy films to watch in 2011. His most recent short is Sacred Economics.

His first feature “One Week Job” followed the exploits of Sean Aiken, who worked 52 jobs in 52 weeks to find his passion. The film aired on CBC Doc Channel and broadcasters around the world.

Follow him on Twitter @ianmack and visit his website ianmack.com

NOVA AMI – Producer

Nova Ami is a documentary filmmaker dedicated to the creation of socially relevant, thought-provoking projects that inspire, educate, and empower.

She was a co-founder of Red Storm Productions in Vancouver, Canada, and produced work that has been broadcast on BBC, CBC, CTV, Vision TV, and SBS Australia, and screened at international festivals including Hot Docs and IDFA.

As a director, her previous documentaries have focused on topics about women and youth: Say I Do follows the journeys of Filipino women who came to Canada as part of the global mail-order bride phenomenon; Secrets follows the lives of four young people, exploring the divide between teen sexual knowledge and sexual intelligence; and Peacing it Together bears witness to the collaborative process between Palestinian, Israeli, and Canadian youth as they co-create films about the Middle East.

Nova also served as a host, director, and writer on the Canadian technology and innovation television series, The Leading Edge, and was host and segment producer of GVTV, a series about urban issues in the Vancouver region.

BETSY CARSON – Executive Producer

Betsy is an award-winning producer/ EP/ director with over 20 years experience in documentary film and television. Recently released films include Waking the Green Tiger (producer) – dir: Gary Marcuse- about the rise of an environmental movement in China, Surviving Progress, (exec producer) – dir: Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks- based on Ronald Wright’s book A Short History of Progress, War in the Mind – (producer) – dir: Judy Jackson- about post traumatic stress in the military and military suicide.

Over the last four years she has also executive produced with Mark Achbar (The Corporation) three theatrical feature documentaries: Fierce Light (dir: Velcrow Ripper) , Pax Americana (dir: Denis Delestrac) and Waterlife (dir: Kevin McMahon) and developed an additional six projects in collaboration with him.

She has produced the feature docs of Nettie Wild (FIX: The Story of an Addicted City, A Place Called Chiapas, Blockade, Bevel Up), and has also worked with filmmakers Gary Marcuse (The Mind of a Child, Nuclear Dynamite, Arktika) and Hugh Brody (The Meaning of Life, Time Immemorial). The films she has collaborated on have won over 50 national and international awards and honours including Genie and Gemini awards, American Film Institute, Berlin, Hot Docs and IDA awards, Chris, Prism, VIFF and others.

CATHERINE TAIT – Executive Producer

Catherine Tait is President of Duopoly. Ms. Tait has been involved with a variety of projects including the feature documentary LUCKY (Jeff Blitz), BAM BAM & CELESTE, CHILLY BEACH and YAM ROLL; a comedy series about video-gamers, PURE PWNAGE , PAPILLON, starring Kevin McDonald (KIDS IN THE HALL) for BITE TV. Ms. Tait has over 25 years of experience in the public and private sector media business, in a variety of senior executive roles.

Prior to Duopoly, Ms. Tait was President and Chief Operating Officer of Salter Street Film. Salter Street Films’ productions included THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES, MADE IN CANADA and Michael Moore’s THE AWFUL TRUTH and Academy-Award-winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. Prior to Salter Street Films, Ms. Tait was Executive Director of the Independent Feature Project in New York. Prior to the IFP, Ms. Tait worked in policy and planning for Telefilm Canada and was appointed as Canada’s Cultural Attaché to France in 1989.

GREGG HILL – Executive Producer

Gregg Hill is an artist, activist and entrepreneur based in New York. He was a key member of the senior management team that developed, launched and grew IFC and IFC Films and was the main architect of IFC Film’s groundbreaking and extremely successful day/date releasing strategy.

His involvement in social activism is diverse, from traveling with renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in Vietnam and participating in reconciliation ceremonies throughout the country, to extended periods of insight meditation at IMS and with Quiet Harbor Sangha, to occupying Wall Street, where Gregg was an organizer and one of the first occupiers to march into Liberty Plaza on September 17th.

Gregg’s conceptual and abstract sculpture speaks to deconstruction, transformation and impermanence, and can be found in major galleries around the country.

NICOLE SOROCHAN – Interactive Director

Co-Founder of One Net Marketing, Nicole has 8 years of social marketing and interactive web platform development and has recently moved into the creation of video/digital art installations. Her company, One Net Marketing, has partnered with Fierce Love Films to create a mobile and web transmedia project to be launched alongside the films release.

One Net Marketing provides full-service digital and transmedia development and services to clients across multiple platforms, including web and mobile development, video production, augmented physical exhibit creation and design, interface design, and inbound marketing campaign strategy and execution. In early 2013 we will officially be opening a new division of One Net Marketing Inc.; One Net Labs, focused specifically on transmedia. Learn more about Found Love here.

LAUREN GRANT – Business Affairs

The principal of Clique Pictures, Lauren Grant established her company in 2006 to focus on developing feature film and documentary production. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Arts from UBC with a double major in Film Production and History and attended the Canadian Film Centre’s Producers Lab.

Lauren’s most recent productions include the feature film Picture Day by writer/director Kate Melville that premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Borsos awards for Best Feature Film and Best Performance (Tatiana Maslany) at the 2012 Whistler Film Festival. Also in 2012, Lauren produced the sci-fi short film Frost that had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and won Best Canadian Short Film at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

MALATHY DREW – Social Media Director

Malathy Drew is the Visionary of Heart-Centered Networking, a process that teaches others how to use the social media to come together and promote positive change.

She has been blessed to work with many of the world’s most respected spiritual teachers, authors, filmmakers and worldwide non-profits to bring their teachings and messages to the global family. She spends the majority of her time on Facebook and Twitter sharing love, light and education and she teaches and speaks worldwide.

More from Malathy at: http://bit.ly/WEUplift ~ Subscribe on Facebook to Malathy Drew http://on.fb.me/MalathyHCN ~ Follow Malathy on twitter @WEPromote

Geneviève Cocke – Online Content Editor

A versatile creative hybrid, Geneviève works as a communications freelancer, voice artist, editor and researcher. Guided by a passion for creative expression and storytelling, she studied communications and filmmaking, worked briefly in film distribution and production, then went on to conservatory theatre studies. After pursuing acting for a decade she expanded into freelance work for television, film and advertising as an editor, translator, copywriter and creative director.

With a perceptive eye and intuitive tuning fork for the heart of ideas, Geneviève enjoys serving stories of empowerment, evolution, creativity and inspiration. Her current ‘dream baby’ is the development of an online platform to feature positive global change. Fluent in English and French, she lives in Montreal with her partner Dominic and is a member of The Divine Sugar Titties, a fictional mock rock band with no songs. She likes to paint and draw in her spare time.

Follow her on twitter @gennovefa. Visit her online printed doodles shop at www.lulubird.wordans.com

DAMIEN BOUCHARD – Production Assistant

Damien Bouchard is a full time student at Capilano University enrolled in the Indigenous Independent Digital Filmmaking program. He is also a part time editor for T’Chanalquey Productions during his time of study. Earlier he attended and graduated the TV Broadcasting program at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

SUPER CHANNEL

Super Channel is  a key funding and creative  partner for Occupy Love.   They  offer  a broad range of fresh, entertaining movies, series, and documentaries, including such documentaries as “Eco-Pirate:The Story of Paul Watson”, “Wiebo’s War”, “The Last White Knight”  and Occupy Love. Canada’s only national English pay television network, consisting of four HD channels, four SD channels, and Super Channel On Demand.  Learn more www.superchannel.ca

Special thank you to all our community film funders!

Occupy Love was initially funded through 2 separate crowdfunding campaigns:

Kickstarter(Dec 2010)

Indiegogo (Feb 2012)