Sandra Stokes has over 20 years of experience in creating, writing, and producing technology-driven creative projects for digital media of all varieties. During her career she has developed film, interactive, immersive and experiential installations, events, and products. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Film and Video, Sandra co-founded the Chicago-based company RUNANDGUN!, one of the first desktop digital production companies in North America. RUNANDGUN! was a media technology R&D lab and advertising agency which created films, 3D computer animation, live action/animated broadcast commercials, music videos, websites, Virtual Reality software, interactive simulations, and video games. In 2000 Sandra moved to San Francisco and worked as a consultant and producer for Internet, technology, and video production start-ups, including four years as the Media Producer at Obscura Digital from 2006-2010. She continues to consult and produce films and world-class award-winning productions.

Chris Bertish is an ocean pioneer and accomplished big wave athlete who pushes the limit in surfing and SUPing. Chris applies his trials and joys into an inspiring and moving story, and travels all over the world motivating audiences to believe that they too can achieve great things with the right self-belief, attitude and focus. In addition to Chris’s global keynote addresses, he has spoken for TEDx and FEAT. After documenting on film much of his big wave odyssey around the world, he is currently working on a new book. Chris has a motto that captures his attitude to both overcome struggle and achievement. “Dream it, see it, believe it, achieve it.”

Highlighted accomplishments include:

• XXL Swell.com Award-Biggest Wave paddled in the World in 2000

• First person to paddle in at Jaws- Peahi-Hawaii 2001

• First person to SUP Nellscott Reef, Oregon, 2009

• Mavericks Big Wave Invitational- Half Moon Bay, California Winner 2010

• Nellscott Big Wave event, Oregon, 2010, 2nd place

• First person to SUP Dungeons, 2010

• First person to surf Seal Island 2010

• South African Surfing Awards, Pushing the Boundary Award 2011

• TEDx SeaPoint, Guest Speaker March 2012

• First ever solo, unsupported, unassisted paddle 325km SUP: West Coast Africa 2013

• First ever Source to Sea Adventure: River Thames- England Run    20km/Paddle 243km/Cycle 42km-Aug 2013

• New English Channel World Record: SUP- 5h:26.03 mins Sept 2013

• Runner up- Adventurer of the Year Award- Global SUP Awards in USA- October 2013

• Open Ocean 12 Hour World Record-130.1km/12 hours:SUP Dec 17 2013

Francis Battaglia began as a national award-winner for writing and producing a project for PBS, and moved west shortly after. His passion for surfing landed him steady work freelancing as a broadcast editor and camera operator on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour (WCT ASP). He edited Surfer magazine's first four Video Awards Shows, a surf film for Quiksilver, and a documentary for Sublime before learning visual effects and moving to Topanga, California, in 1997. He left LA for a while to work at a Webby Award–winning start-up as a one-man video department—chasing giants at the Cortes Bank and Mavericks, and making TV commercials, big-wave documentaries, and a video channel for Surfline—before returning to visual effects and exploring sustainability. He produced an original Web series for the G Living Network and has worked for other green start-ups since 2006.

Kristen Cashman has been the managing editor at New World Library publishing company for nine years. Before that, she worked as a project editor at the University of California Press in Berkeley and for the Boston Globe. She has also freelanced as a ghostwriter, developmental editor, copy editor, and proofreader of books, magazines, and web content. She first witnessed the power and magic of the surfing world as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, and she is happiest when she’s in the water, SCUBA diving, snorkeling, swimming, or boating

Silvin Morgan arrived in San Francisco in 1997 to study film and photography at Academy of Art University. He has pursued a constant stream of work in filmmaking—producing, directing, shooting, and editing. Having contributed to numerous diverse productions, including award-winning short, comedy, and horror films; Saturday morning kids’ cartoons; video marketing packages; independent music videos; public-service announcements for the city of San Francisco; and feature-length narrative and documentary films. He has worked as a freelance cameraman for HGTV’s Landscape Smart series and as a producer, cameraman, and editor for the Water Channel’s Pulling In, a TV series about surfing. Recently, Silvin held a full-time position in Hawaii as program director and producer for the Kauai Channel, an Oceanic Time Warner cable television station that broadcasted on the island of Kauai. He was responsible for all aspects of production. He also reviewed and licensed existing programming to air on the channel, and collaborated with freelance producers and filmmakers from around the globe to create programming appropriate for the channel. His technical expertise and unique creative vision enable him to play an integral role in any level of production.

Grant Washburn is a high-surf consultant, experienced big-wave rider, wave documentarian, writer, producer, cameraman, and director. Grant has been involved with the upcoming Jay Moriarty and Mavericks story, along with Riding Giants, Quest for Fear, the book Inside Maverick's: Portrait of a Monster Wave, Maverick's: A Documentary Film, Dungeons, Big Wave Africa, Big Waves & Tall Tales, Adventures in Wild California (IMAX), The Perfect Ten, How It Works: Surfboards, North Shore Teddybear, Wave Chasers, The Big Swell, Epic Conditions, Great Waves, Todos Santos Big- Wave Invitational, Surfing for Life, Making the Call, Billabong XXL, The Maverick's Surf Contests, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, the Discovery channel, OLN, ESPN, NBC, CBS, CNN, National Geographic, Fuel, Grind, Havoc, and more.

Nadia Tarlow is a painter, photographer, and videographer. She earned a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1995 and received the school’s prestigious Best Female Painter Award. Her focus centered on painting, the history of film and animation, performance art, and visual perception. She further studied  in Taos, New Mexico; Parsons School of Design in Paris, France, and Montserrat College of Art in Massachusetts. Nadia exhibited her art, recorded soundscapes, and taught throughout Mexico. In 1998 she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to freelance, exhibit, PA, direct, and teach. She wrote and interviewed for Juxtapoz Magazine, her art has been shown at various venues including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, and she has been featured on NPR, in the The San Francisco Examiner, Posemodern, SF, CA, Green City, Planet Drum Foundation,SF, CA, The Puerto Vallarta Tribune, Mexico, Bowsprit and award winner in Marion, MA. Most recently she directed an eco-art and activism gallery that exhibited film, photography, and fine art. Nadia grew up on the Atlantic, surfs the Pacific, and has a great appreciation for the beauty and power of the sea.

Adrian Charles born in Cape Town, started surfing in early 80's, since then his passion for the sport has defined hi life. He obtained a journalism degree in TV and film from Rhodes University, Grahamstown in 1993. Adrian then cut his teeth working on big budget feature films, commercials and episodic TV, gaining valuable experience in all areas of production. More recently Adrian has become an essential part of the Fixerfilm team, shooting, scripting and directing a wide variety of media formats. His ability to identify and tell relevant stories is his main strength, but his enthusiasm, energy and experience combined with a stubborn inability to follow the pack make him an asset to any shoot. Credits include: Camera operator: Red Bull big Wave Africa 1999-2010, Mzanzi Ridez –  Car Reality TV show, Channel O, Camera operator/script writer/AD: Birdmen Racing- 5part Base-jumping documentary. Director: Goal Diggerz - TV show  (selected episodes) Channel O, Rebel sessions - surfing event/documentary, Desert Rebels - surfing documentary, FHM calendar shoot – Glamour shoot, Red Bull Amaphiko 2014 – web documentary, Roberto Ricci Designs – Mauritian conference 2014 – Event clip. 

Sean Dewill has received various awards in photography and writing for South Africa’s ZigZag Surfing Magazine. He has helped coordinate and 2nd AD for South Africa Production companies including: Moonlighting, Krishna Smiles, Monkey Film Production, Moonlighting, and the Shooting Gallery. He has worked on the features Red Water and Tsotsi, along with Jamiroquai music videos. He is visually inspired and brings us various pre and post-production experience, including set work as a PA for his brother, a director in South Africa. A follower of the Cape Town surfers, Sean has been studying Chris's journey and has fostered a vision of this project for many years. He is also a quantum healer who works with animal rehabilitation, and he channels his creative skills into the visual realm with equal intensity. Sean is an avid surfer, ocean lover, and master water reader. The Zambezi was his intensive training ground, where he pioneered river trips. He grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, working with safaris and animal conservation, all the while fascinated by big wave surfers, enthralled and amazed by his peers in the water, and intrigued by their different levels of fear.

Chris Jenkins is a documentary filmmaker who has been behind the lens of award-winning films such as Marley (2012), The Matador (2008), Riverwebs (2007) and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (2005). He has shot for The Oprah Winfrey Show and a broad range of interview clips. His work has aired on PBS, A&E, Discovery, the History Channel and the Travel Channel. His latest work has been focused on the production of live concerts for some of the world’s top musicians. Prior to receiving his masters degree in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, Chris worked with deaf Sudanese refugees in East Africa and orphaned children in southern Chile. He teaches film and media studies at UC Santa Barbara.

Fixer Films is a moving image Production Company based in Cape Town, South Africa with a footprint in Africa and the surrounding islands. Fixer makes content for TV, the World Wide Web, Tablets, Mobile phones, Behind The Scenes, Music, Cultural, Social and Sporting events. We have worked extensively in Africa, Europe, Brazil and the USA. Delivering high-end production value, outstanding client service and budget orientated and creative solutions designed to produce entertaining credible content that communicates professionally. 

Clay Hawkins creates his own unique brand of acoustic rock, blending rapid-fire finger style guitar and honest, heartfelt songwriting.  Influences like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Fahey, Nick Cave and even Radiohead melt together behind his well worn yet lush vocal style. The music unfolds naturally, taking the listener on a ride that is both familiar yet entirely original. Clay continues to refine and support his songwriting habit up and down both coasts of the USA, across Europe, and steadily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having long traded the amps for an acoustic, his music evolved into what it has now become, a great soundtrack for driving late at night on a highway towards the next destination, as well as for exciting indie films.