Meeting of the minds

Deborah Riley Draper and Jennifer Galvin met at the 2016 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, where both women screened feature films that they directed-produced-wrote-shot. They recognized one another as kindred spirits right away. While their media projects have explored a wide range of topics over the years, they find a strong union in the themes that drive them the most as storytellers: justice, equity, health, women’s voices, and underrepresented characters. For Deborah and Jennifer, it’s about content with intent: telling stories that have the power to change the story. Two months after meeting in Arkansas, they were working together between New York and Atlanta, storyboarding, writing, and planning for their new productions spanning non-fiction and fiction. Together they bridge the art and science of filmmaking with strategic marketing experience to create impactful entertainment.

Deborah Riley Draper
Director

Deborah seeks to tell the full range of African-American stories – past, present and future. An advertising agency executive by trade, Deborah founded Coffee Bluff Pictures, an Atlanta-based independent film venture. At Coffee Bluff Pictures, Deborah develops, produces and distributes compelling stories to satiate the African American appetite for film. Her critically acclaimed feature documentary Olympic Pride, American Prejudice qualified for an Oscar and screened at the White House for President Obama with the families of the 1936 US Olympic Team. In museums and on college campuses across the country, her film is used as a powerful tool for social justice and education. Deborah received a 2017 NAACP Image Award nomination, in recognition for the film's role in promoting social justice through creative endeavors, and Variety Magazine chose her for 2016’s Top 10 Documakers to watch. For more about Deborah, visit coffeebluffpictures.com.
 

Jennifer Galvin
Producer

Jennifer runs reelblue, LLC – an independent film production and media company based in New York. A public health scientist by training and a storyteller by nature, her motivations remain fueled by the maxim protect the vulnerable. Commercial to indie, documentary to fiction, moving image to print – for Jennifer it all starts with a great story when it comes to creating transportive, immersive media. Recent honors include being named to GOOD Magazine's GOOD 100, representing the vanguard of artists, activists, entrepreneurs, and innovators from over 35 countries making creative impact. Her latest feature documentary The Memory of Fish earned a rare spot on 'The Definitive List of River Movies' and while a human-centered story, it was a Panda Award nominee–the highest accolade in the wildlife film and TV industry, dubbed the ‘Green Oscars’. More about Jennifer at reelblue.net and jengalvin.com.