McNitt is a writer and director. She explores the cosmic collision of science and art. From astronauts to astrophysicists, McNitt works alongside scientists to tell stories about the human connection to the cosmos. Her films and VR experiences have premiered at festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Hot Docs, Cannes NEXT, AFI Fest, and Tribeca. She’s a two time Intel Science Fair winner, OneFifty creator, and Alfred P. Sloan grant recipient. McNitt is the creator of Fistful of Stars a VR experience following the journey of The Hubble Telescope through the cosmos that drew an audience of over 6,000 people at BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn. Her upcoming VR series Spheres Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel is an episodic journey through the songs of spacetime starring Jessica Chastain as the voice of the cosmos. Spheres made history at the Sundance Film Festival as the world's first acquisition of a VR experience.
Ingrid Kopp is a co-founder of Electric South, a non-profit initiative to develop virtual reality and innovative mobile storytelling projects across Africa. Ingrid also curates the Tribeca Storyscapes program for interactive and immersive work at the Tribeca Film Festival and is one of the producers of Immerse, a publication for Medium on emerging media. She is now based in Cape Town.
Amy Seidenwurm is the Executive Producer of Oculus’ VR for Good Creators Lab, where filmmakers and nonprofits are teamed up to create impactful and beautiful VR experiences. Amy worked in the record business at Elektra, Virgin and Sub Pop before she got sucked into the technology vortex at the height of the grunge years in Seattle. She's been running tech-driven marketing initiatives for music and cultural organizations ever since.
Elise Pearlstein is Senior Vice President of Documentary Film & TV at Participant Media where she manages the company’s slate of documentaries from development to release. An Oscar®-nominated, Emmy®-winning film producer prior to joining Participant, Pearlstein produced a range of non-fiction projects for theatrical release and broadcast. She has served on the board of the International Documentary Association and is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Cogburn’s research focuses broadly on the role of racism in producing racial inequities in health. She is particularly interested in improving the characterization and measurement of racism and psychosocial processes that link racism-related stress and disease. Her work also explores the potential of media and technology (e.g. virtual reality) in eradicating racism. Dr. Cogburn is an assistant professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work. She completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University and received her Ph.D. in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan.