From Deck To Domain

Olivia Klaus is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who passionately believes in the power of visual stories to create positive social change. Her work has been seen on various networks like CNN, Discovery, MTV and The History Channel. Sin by Silence, her directorial debut in 2009, went on to win numerous film festival and advocacy awards, and highlighted by People Magazine, NPR, HLN, and The Insider before being broadcasted on Investigation Discovery to over 3 million viewers. The film went on to inspire unprecedented legislation in California based on the documentary to improve the paths to freedom for nearly 7,000 currently incarcerated domestic violence victims who have spent decades behind bars. In 2014, she premiered her second film Life After Manson at the Tribeca Film Festival and an excerpt was featured on the prestigious New York Times Op-Docs series. Her producer/consultant credits include the Netflix Original Lessons from a School Shooting, the 2016 Sundance film Newtown, 2020 Sundance film Us Kids, and the Emmy-nominated Brave Miss World. She is currently the Creative Director at Orange Static – a multimedia agency specializing in design and websites for documentaries.

As a filmmaker and media producer with experience in academia and nonprofits, Cassandra Nicholson is dedicated to creating meaningful, high-quality content that serves as both an educational tool and a community service. Cassandra is a writer, producer, and director. She wrote the short film Dark Dignity and also wrote and directed I Could Today, and The Will of Zenia. Cassandra is also Director of Partnerships and Outreach at ShotDeck. ShotDeck is the largest library of fully searchable high-definition movie images in the world, a great resource for those who study, analyze, and create visual storytelling, from filmmakers and film students to designers and cinematographers seeking inspiration and reference material.