| Jeanne LePage |
Karen Brown Davison
Karen has been an independent documentary filmmaker since 1993, following a career as an editor at Stanford University Press. Her film In the Mind of the Beholder, about newly blind adults, won a Dore Schary Award for films that promote human rights. She also produced On the Job, an award-winning film about developmentally disabled adults working in a sheltered workshop. Topics of special interest to her include disability, death and dying, law, education, and social justice. She is interested in bringing representation and recognition to people not often heard from in mainstream media.
Karen is an avid reader and devoted bodybuilder, who recently won a trophy in her first bodybuilding competition in the category “short.” Karen has an M.A. in Communication and Documentary Film from Stanford University, a Master’s Degree in City Planning (with an emphasis on criminal justice planning) from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. in English from Wellesley College.
As a partner in Present Tense, Karen is a producer, director, editor, writer, sound recordist, and financial warden.
SELECTED FILM AND VIDEO CREDITS: PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER/EDITOR
The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA
Producer, Writer, Sound Recordist
NetPl@net. Twelve mini-documentaries on how people use the Internet. (2004)
Genetics: Technology with a Twist. Six segments, both narrative and documentary, for exhibit exploring the role of genes in human health. (2003)
Fundraising video for The Milo Foundation
Producer, Director, Editor. A no-kill animal sanctuary in Willits, CA. (2001)
Complying with ADA Requirements
Producer, Director. Interactive online training video for managers. For Playback Media. (2001)
Any School Can
Writer, Associate Producer. Innovative educational program to keep teenagers from dropping out of school. For Pam Walton Productions and the California State Dept. of Education and the California Dropout Prevention Network. (2001)
Roots of Discovery
Associate Editor, Sound Recordist. Educational documentary on 12 scientists’ collaborative efforts to determine how plants respond to gravity and on the need for and implications of basic scientific research. For the NASA/NSF Network on Research in Plant Sensory Systems. (1999)
In the Mind of the Beholder
Producer, Director, Editor. Documentary on newly blind adults making the physical and emotional transition to using their other senses. (13th Annual Dore Schary Award for Films and Videos on Human Relations Themes, 1997)
On the Job
Producer, Director, Editor. Documentary about developmentally disabled adults employed in a sheltered workshop. (Best Documentary, Humboldt International Film Festival, 1995)
East Meets Vets
Producer, Director, Editor. Documentary about acupuncture performed on animals. (1994)
SELECTED FIELD PRODUCTION
The Place We Call Home
Sound Recordist. A documentary about the effects of a catastrophic landslide on a family and neighbors in La Honda, CA. For J. LePage. (2000)
Silicon Run
Sound Recordist. Documenting the process by which microchips are made. For Ruth Carranza Productions. (1997)
Stanford Center for Professional Development
Videographer, Sound Recordist. Promotional pieces and documentaries for the Stanford University community. (1995–1997)
FILM JURIES
National Educational Media Network (1996–1999)
Cinequest Festival (1998)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Classroom volunteer. Briarwood Elementary School, Sunnyvale, CA. Fifth grade. (2001–2002)
Volunteer tutor. Jordan Middle School, Palo Alto, CA. (2000)
Classroom volunteer. Castro Elementary School, Mountain View, CA. Third through fifth grades. (1996–1998, 1999–2000)
Course Assistant. History of Film, Stanford University. (1995)
PUBLISHING EXPERIENCE
Stanford University Press
Freelance Editor. Journals, annual reports, product launches, etc., for corporations and organizations, including EPRI, E*TRADE, Siebold Systems, Aspect, Michael Patrick Partners. (1992–1998)
Associate Editor. Edited scholarly books, supervising their publication from manuscript to bound books. (1981–1993)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLANNING
Consultant to criminal justice agencies and social policy consulting firms in California, researching and evaluating federally funded criminal justice programs. (1975–1981)
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