Florida Film Project

The Center for Earth Jurisprudence is delighted to partner with Equinox Documentaries on an exciting new project that promises to connect us more deeply with our local community here in Central Florida and to alert our national and international colleagues to our efforts to promote the natural beauty of our bio-region. The project also serves the larger goal of motivating a profound commitment to respect and legally protect its ecosystems and species.

In partnership with Equinox Documentaries, CEJ plans to create a short film identifying Florida’s unique natural systems and explaining how an Earth Jurisprudence approach, including recognition of the rights of nature, can help realize their true sustainability.  This film will reach people on an emotional, visceral level and expand our consensus in ways that written materials simply cannot.  And we need your help to make this idea a reality.

We are seeking total funding of $12,000 to create, edit and produce the film.  If the budget allows, we also hope to prepare a 3-minute version suitable for posting on the web and a 30- or 60-second version to be used as a public service announcement.  We intend for this to be a true community collaboration and donations of any size will be gratefully accepted. If you would like to support this project financially, please contact Sister Pat Siemen directly via e-mail at psiemen@barry.edu or by phone at (321) 206-5779.

Equinox Documentaries was created by veteran producers and writers, Bob Giguere and Bill Belleville, who bring a wealth of experience to their work within and about the natural world.  You can read more about their work at EquinoxDocumentaries.org.

Bob Giguere is an award-winning producer with over 20 years of experience, including Documentary and Current Events programming for Public Television.  He has won numerous Emmy awards for his social documentary work. His credits include nationally distributed programs: “The National Parent Quiz,” “Releasing Dolphins,” “The Rock” and “Treating Addiction” for PBS, and “Diving Deep” for National Geographic Explorer.  Working for PBS affiliates in Maine and Florida, Bob has produced nearly 2,000 programs, including 25 documentaries.

Bob served as Executive Producer, Producer, and Underwater Videographer for award-winning BBG Projects, “In Search of Xanadu,” “Conch Cowboys” and “Wekiva: Legacy or Loss?”  He also teaches filmmaking and ethics at the University of Central Florida and Rollins College, and currently owns and operates bGenesis, LLC.  He was educated at the University of Maine.

Bill Belleville is an environmental writer and documentary filmmaker. His critically-acclaimed nonfiction book, River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida’s St. Johns River,  is in its sixth printing. It received the Michael J. Shaara award for Excellence in Writing for the year 2000. The Miami Herald described it as the “definitive book on the St. Johns.”

Bill has published over 1,000 feature articles in Oxford American, Salon.com, Sports Afield, Sierra, Fast Company, and The New York Times Syndicate, among others. He has been a special correspondent for Newsweek magazine, and worked as a writer/researcher on several Discovery Channel expeditions to the Galapagos, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. He also co-produced and scripted three Florida PBS documentaries, all of which won national awards.

Bill was named environmental writer of the year for the Florida Audubon Society and the Florida Wildlife Federation. He lectures frequently on behalf of the Florida Humanities Council’s Speaker Bureau. He is a member of the Authors Guild and the Society of Environmental Jounalists. He has lectured at Rollins College, the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida, the University of North Florida, the University of South Florida, and Emory University in environmental literature and environmental history classes.

In 2006, Bill published Losing It All to Sprawl: How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape to critical reviews.  His latest book, Salvaging the Real Florida:  Lost and Found in the State of Dreams, was published in early 2011 and recently awarded the prestigious National Outdoor Book Award in the category of Natural History Literature.  Previous winners of that award include Robert Michael Pyle, Farley Mowat, David Attenborough, and Roderick Nash.