2019 Nigeria, Girls Leadership, PSI
River Finlay is an award winning documentary filmmaker dedicated to telling powerful, character driven stories that are relevant to our changing world. Her work has been screened at dozens of festivals across the world including Sheffield Doc Fest, Hot Docs and Camden International Film Festival and published by National Geographic, The Atlantic, Short of the Week and Remzcla. River’s point of view as a filmmaker is rooted in twenty years as an international public health advocate. River has a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University and lived and worked in Latin America for two decades. Most recently, she was with International Planned Parenthood Federation assuring access to critical sexual and reproductive health programming and services for young people. The experience of community based, collaborative work deeply informs her approach to filmmaking. She became a filmmaker because she believes in the power of storytelling to connect us deeply to our shared human experience. River has a Masters in Film and Video from American University and is an adjunct professor at AU, teaching Documentary Directing to graduate and undergraduate students.
Reluminati Media is a full-service, mission-driven independent film production company run by filmmaker and creative director River Finlay. While based in Washington D.C. for over a decade, we have found homes all around the world through the participants and clients we have collaborated with. We work with you to elevate your brand through the art of visual storytelling in the spirit of true independent filmmaking. We build trust and collaboration first because we know meaningful relationships are essential to producing films that not only connect with viewers, but are additive and nourishing to the participants themselves.