FILMMAKERS
They share a passion for science and a gift for storytelling.
Cody Sheehy
Producer/Director, Co-founder and Head of Video Production, Rhumbline Media
Cody Sheehy, is an Emmy award winning filmmaker responsible for the creative vision and execution of high impact documentary and social media campaigns at Rhumbline Media. Cody has successfully produced documentaries and campaigns all over the world, from the Steppes of Mongolia, the Australian Outback, to the Jungles of Costa Rica. His films are focused on stories about our changing world told from the perspective of people in science and the natural environment and have aired on PBS affiliate stations across the United States, Amazon Prime, the Internet and in film festivals. He is also the co-founder of a technology startup company, Filmstacker, that is the first online collaborative video platform to offer real time dynamic exploration of video stories that are created with machine learning. Cody is also the video coordinator for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, where he manages a documentary film unit for the University of Arizona. His unique ability to tell these stories stems from his long passion for science, technology and the environment. He holds a Master’s of Science in Ecology, is a published author in scientific journals, and has worked closely with academics from around the world for nearly two decades. It is his passion to continue to weave science into communication packages that are effective, inspiring, and that have impact in a challenging communication environment.
Samira Kiani
Co-producer, Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
Samira Kiani’s career is built around her passion for applying the CRISPR technology to synthetic biology. She has demonstrated multiple transformative innovations with CRISPR, including modulatory circuits that precisely control gene modulation. She has been working in the area of genetic engineering since 2010 in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), when zinc finger nucleases and Tale Nucleases were introduced for genome engineering in human somatic and stem cells. In 2013, she started to work with the CRISPR technology while pursuing her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Ron Weiss (MIT). During her postdoctoral years, she established collaborative projects with pioneers of the field of CRISPR, including Dr. George Church’s lab (Harvard) to further advance CRISPR technology. As an Assistant Professor in the school of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University, she has established her own independent research program to with an interest to develop safer and controllable CRISPR-based gene therapies. She is the receipt of a number of grants from DARPA and National Institute of Health and has recently been selected as American Association for Advancement of Science Leshner Leadership Fellow for Public engagement of science. She serves in the organizing committee of multiple CRISPR and Synthetic Biology conferences and have published high impact papers in the field of CRISPR and synthetic biology.
Galen McCaw
Sound Recordist, Sound Editor, Consulting Editor
Galen McCaw is a sound recordist, sound editor, videographer, and film editor with a passion for documentary storytelling. Galen has a background in music performance, composition, and production, and was an engineering intern at both WaveLab Recording Studios and The University of Arizona School of Music Recording Studio while studying music at The University of Arizona. During his studies, Galen began applying his craft to film projects, working in production and post-production sound. By the time Galen graduated, he was working professionally on short films, TV shows, commercials, and documentary projects. Galen has had the opportunity to work on commercials for clients like BetterHelp and KFC, and worked as a sound recordist, videographer, and editor on the documentary TV show Arizona Illustrated for Arizona Public Media, where he was awarded a Rocky Mountain Emmy for his sound work on the short documentary Ephemeral. Galen also sound mixed a live broadcast of the 2018 World All Around Shotgun Championships, and has worked as a boom operator on several feature films. He has traveled to China, France, the Dominican Republic, and throughout the United States working on documentaries, and after his experience working on The Human Game, hopes to specialize in documentary sound recording moving forward in his career.
Nicholas Shadid
Associate Producer (China) and Investigative Researcher
Nicholas Shadid is a researcher and consultant focused on the international relations of science and technology. He has lived and studied in China for many years, including five years as a graduate student. He is currently a PhD student in Biology at Arizona State University where he studies biotechnology and its sociopolitical consequences in China and beyond.
In Our Film
Meet the changemakers who are shaping this revolution.
Dr. George Church, PhD
Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
George is shaping the genomic revolution through his influential network in science, business, and political circles. Our team follows George in his Harvard lab, one of the largest in the world, and as he tours his various business interests in the U.S. and China. Ultimately, he reveals that his trials with dogs to reverse aging are underway and that human trials begin in two years. His vision for the future is one that can imagine how genomics will enable humans to sustain a massive population on the Earth and other planets.
Antonio Regalado
Senior Editor, MIT Technology Review
In many ways Antonio serves as a lone watchdog on the remarkable technological achievements in genomic engineering and the implications to future society. Our team arranged for Antonio to interview Professor Huang (who edited humans embryos in 2014) and was present when Antonio met Dr. He Jiankui (whose clinical trials have lead to the first gene edited babies). Our film follows Antonio as he breaks the International CRISPR baby story.
Josiah Zayner, PhD
Biohacker
Dr. Josiah Zayner the anointed leader of the Biohackers, has a strong and controversial voice online that actively promotes the dissemination of low cost genetic engineering knowledge and tools to the public. His story begins in a childhood dominated with pentecostal religion, to working as a genetic scientist for NASA, and ultimately to dropping out of mainstream science. He serves as our guide to the underground world of outsider non-scientists who are adapting these new technologies for their own experiments.