Nancy Sue Brink
For 20 years, Nancy has worked as a filmmaker – as a producer, director, writer, editor, and cameraperson. Her passion is for everyday stories that provide insight into larger issues, in such areas as science, environment, criminal justice, community development, and education. She is interested in the profound ways that history changes individuals and individuals change history.
In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Nancy is Adjunct Faculty for Literacy Through Arts and Media at the National Hispanic University, where she worked with students to create their first student publication, the online magazine Abriendo Fronteras. She has taught courses in international current events, community-based research, and filmmaking to high school students in the Upward Bound program. Nancy is a volunteer researcher with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Nancy has an M.A. in Communication and Documentary Film from Stanford University and a B.A. in Political Science and German Language and Literature from Tufts University. She studied at the Eberhard-Karls Universität (Tübingen, Germany) on a Rotary International Fellowship for International Understanding.
As a partner in Present Tense, Nancy is a producer, director, writer, editor, cameraperson, and technology diva.
SELECTED FILM AND VIDEO CREDITS:
PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, WRITER
The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA
Producer, Director, Writer, Camera, Editor
NetPl@net. Twelve mini-documentaries on how people use the Internet. (2004)
Genetics: Technology with a Twist. Six dramatic and documentary segments for exhibit exploring the role of genes in human health. (2003)
A Day in the Life of a GGRO Bander
Producer, Director, Editor. Introductory video for apprentice “banders,” detailing the process of banding migratory raptors. For the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. (20 min., 2003)
Giving People Wings and Interplay Is …
Producer, Director, Camera, Editor. Fundraising videos for capital campaign and program funding. For Body Wisdom, Inc. (9 min. & 7 min., 2003)
Complying with ADA Requirements
Director, Camera, Editor. Interactive online training video for business managers. For Playback Media. (20 min., 2001)
Roots of Discovery
Producer, Director, Writer, Editor. 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. (30 min., 1999)
The Unbelievable Beauty of Being Human and Interplay!
Producer, Director. Multi-camera presentation of dance, storytelling, and music improvisation event with Wing It! performance ensemble, and accompanying video on the troupe’s improvisation techniques and philosophy. For Body Wisdom, Inc. (90 min. & 15 min. 1998)
The Water Cycle
Producer, Director, Writer, Editor. Bicycle pilgrimage to save endangered Mono Lake; sheds light on the history of water wars, resource use, and citizen action. (Gold Apple, Life Sciences Division, National Educational Media Festival; 28 min., 1993)
No Hunger in My Home
Producer, Director, Writer, Editor. Community response to hunger in America.
(Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1989 Student Documentary Award; National Educational Film Festival; American Film Festival; 25 min., 1989)
Song for the Future / Canción para el futuro
Producer, Director, Editor. On La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, CA. (7–1/2 min., 1986)
SELECTED FILM AND VIDEO CREDITS:
EDITOR AND WRITER
Make a Change!
Editor. Multicultural strategies for involving youth in advocacy and education for health and nutrition. For University of California, Cooperative Extension. (18 min., 2001)
Start Up!
Editor. Innovative collaboration between Stanford University and low-income entrepreneurs. For Stanford Business School. (12 min., 1999)
The Living Brush: Wang Chi Chien, Wang Fang Yu, & Grace Tong
Editor. Three portraits of modern masters of Chinese calligraphy. For S. Sun. (90 min., 1998)
A Thousand Years of Ceremony
Editor. Portrait of 87-year-old Wintu spiritual leader Florence Jones and her struggle to save Mt. Shasta. For Earth Image Films. (American Indian Film Festival; 40 min., 1998)
In the Mind of the Beholder
Editing Consultant, Sound Design Consultant. Newly blind adults confront their disability and learn new ways to approach everyday tasks. For K. Davison. (Dore Schary Award; 25 min., 1997)
Dreams of a City: Creating East Palo Alto
Editor, Writer. Wrote original treatment and narration for documentary on issues of diversity and development in a changing California city. For Committee on Black Performing Arts, Stanford. (Silver Apple, National Educational Media Festival; 56 min., 1996)
Spirits Rising
Writer, Editing Consultant. Filipino women and their role in the 1986 People Power uprising. For R. Diaz. (58 min., 1995)
Bicycle Safety Video Project
Editor. Three videos for fourth and tenth graders and adults. In English and Spanish. For J. LePage and University of California, Santa Cruz. (12 min., 18 min., 20 min., 1994)
Una Donna
Writing Consultant. Repercussions of a wartime rape in Italy on three generations of immigrant women. For Wagner/DiFeliciantonio, for National Public Radio’s “Legacies.” (30 min., 1994)
Sacred Land Film Project
Associate Producer, Editor. Research and development and fundraising stages. Indigenous people’s spiritual relationship to land, and struggles to preserve sacred sites. For Earth Image Films. (1991-1992)
Voices of the Land
Editor, Associate Producer. Poetic introduction to concept of land as sacred. For Earth Image Films. (20 min., 1991)
Poison in the Rockies
Editor, Associate Producer. Threats to water in Colorado’s High Country. For PBS-NOVA series. (60 min., 1990)
Downwind, Downstream
Editor, Associate Producer. Water and mining in the Colorado Rockies. For Earth Image Films. (59 min., 1988)
SELECTED TEACHING
The National Hispanic University, San Jose, CA
Adjunct Faculty, Literacy Through Arts and Media. Development and implementation of university-level programs, including course work, practical training, and internships. Directed creation of student-run online magazine, Abriendo Fronteras. (2002–present)
Senior Faculty for Upward Bound. Design and teaching of classes in international current events, community-based research, and media literacy to 40 high school students, with emphasis on critical thinking, research, interviewing skills, and video camera skills, as first step in long-term documentary video program. (2002–2004)
Girls Middle School, Mountain View, CA
Designed and taught week-long Poetry and Improvisation course in which students wrote and read poetry and performed written and improvised poems. (2000)
Department of Communication, Stanford University
Audio instruction and sound mixing for summer film students' final projects and for graduate students’ final projects. (1990–1995)
Stanford University, Stanford Workshops on
Political and Social Issues
Visiting Lecturer. Co-taught and developed curriculum for course on domestic hunger. (1986)
Tufts University Experimental College, Medford, MA
Visiting Lecturer. Taught and developed curriculum for course examining history, philosophy, and contemporary practice of nonviolence. (1984)
| Home | Our Work | Bios | How We Work | In Progress | What People Say | Contact Us |