Staff

Steve Galster
Freeland CEO

Steve is Founder and Global Chair of Freeland, and a native of Green Lake. He graduated from GLHS in 1980, went on to get his Bachelor and Master’s Degrees at Grinnell College and George Washington University, then ventured out internationally to study and address threats to human and environmental security. He conducted investigations into wars in Afghanistan, Central America, and Africa, as well as human trafficking in the former Soviet Union and USA, exposing the links between narcotics, arms and wildlife trafficking. Eventually he formed Freeland in order to address the increasing convergence of criminal threats to people and wildlife by helping to converge good governmental and civil society responses. Based in Bangkok and a roaming suitcase, Steve and his sister Evelyn set up Freeland USA in Green Lake at Town Square in 2016. Steve has been featured in The New York Times, on Anderson Cooper, Al Jazeera and National Geographic.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opinion/sunday/steven-galster.html

Evelyn Galster
Event & Development Coordinator
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As the Event Coordinator for Freeland Film Festival, Evelyn wears many hats. She has lived in Green Lake the past 18 years, and is absolutely passionate about Green Lake and its Community. She is an avid volunteer for the Chamber of Commerce and the Thrasher Opera House, in addition to being a board member of the Green Lake Town Square. She also finds the time to be an active member of her Church and sits on the Park and Recreation committee for the City of Green Lake. Her ability to network with the community has been an asset, and her goal is to bring this film festival to fruition and make Green Lake what it is intended to be-the Sundance of the Midwest!

Rich Christian
Festival Executive Producer
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A longtime Green Lake visitor, Rich is based out of Chicago, working at the production company he founded, Sedgwick Productions. Now with over 4 decades of filmmaking, Rich has produced for Fortune 500s and tiny not-for-profits. His stories and documentaries have helped the US Conference of Mayors, the Council for Community Based Development, Major League Baseball, The US Postal Service, Northwestern University, and most of Chicago’s museums and sports teams. Rich’s work in environmentalism and preservation includes The Experimental Aircraft Association, REI, The Green Lake Conservancy, The Green Lake Association, Camp Grow, and Town Square. Sedgwick Productions has numerous awards and has been aired on Comcast, PBS, Discovery Networks, BTN, CNN, TLC, and BBC.

Sam La Strapes

Technical Coordinator
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Sam is an artist and musician based in Milwaukee, and has worked as an A/V, live music sound technician and motion picture projectionist for over a decade. Having performed and exhibited his own works for 17 years, he is committed to flawless presentation and the invisibility principle of production

Marcella Jones
Music Coordinator
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Marcella Jones (Choctaw) founded Native Voices Booking & Management in 1995. The agency handles both Native and non-Native entertainment and talent. Marcella sat on the board of directors for the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (’98 – ’02), and coordinated WAMI’s 25th year anniversary show in 2000 at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater. Before starting NVBM, she was Executive Director of Indian Council of the Elderly in Milwaukee for two years. Over the years she’s held a wide range of positions and functions. These include founding a woman’s retreat center outside Beloit, WI (MotherRoot Farm);10 years in the advertising and marketing business; 17 years as music manager of a Milwaukee area Barnes & Noble; selling air (WFMR Classical Radio); and being paid to use air, as speaker and trainer with Peak Performance Systems. She works periodically as a freelance writer and photographer. Marcella also currently sits on the board of directors of Indian Council of the Elderly, Inc and Three Oaks Circle, a senior housing complex.

Jen Harter
Web Designer, Developer
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Jen Harter has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (2005) and 15+ years of design and web development experience for brands including Koss Corporation, Forever Brands and non-profits including Buena Vida Coffee and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee,

Advisory Committee

Molly Ferrill
Photographer, writer and filmmaker Molly Ferrill has traveled around the world to tell stories about the changing relationship between people and nature. She works with Freeland to document international human and wildlife trafficking issues, and received a National Geographic Explorers grant to document the unique relationship between people and elephants in Myanmar, where the landscape is changing quickly because of rapid development. Both her photography and writing have been featured in National Geographic magazine, and she has also contributed to National Geographic Television, The Discovery Channel, and several news agencies.

Claire Lind
Claire Lind, originally from Berlin, WI, is a public school teacher for English Language Learning (ELL) students in the Milwaukee area. She is an advocate for immigrant and refugee rights and voices. Having spent a few years doing seasonal jobs around the world, she still travels every chance she gets in foreign lands and remote landscapes. As a Fulbright alumni, with a Middle Eastern Studies background, Lind believes cross-cultural exchanges and education are the culmination of the human experience and a grounds for social change​

Thomas Eddy
Thomas Eddy is a biologist and botanist. He is a “retired” educator, but continues to teach as an adjunct biology professor for Marian University and UW Colleges. When not teaching, he can be found collecting plants, writing, and photographing “natural capital”, which is the title of his first photography exhibit.

Thomas is a founding member of the Green Lake Conservancy land trust where he serves as VP for Conservation. He is a former President of the Botanical Club of Wisconsin and currently serves as an appointed member of Wisconsin’s Natural Areas Preservation Council.

Luis Palomino Benítez
Luis graduated as a director from Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (México). An interview he conducted in 2011 with Apitchapong Weerasethakul inspired him to write and direct “The Last Veil” a short film launched in 2013 and screened at the 2014 Critic’s Week at Cannes Film Festival. “Mi Sangre Enarbolada (A Family Love Story)” is his first feature length documentary, which tells the journey through the mourning of the simultaneous death of his mother and his uncle and their remaining presence in him and the others who loved them, this film has been shown in more than 20 film festivals around the world. He lived in Bangkok Thailand from 2015-2017, where he made a series of short documentaries on wildlife crime and human rights issues, in Southeast Asia, India and China for Freeland. He currently lives in Mexico City where he’s preparing his first narrative feature film and working actively as a director.​

Jolene Schatzinger
fell in love with the charming communities of Green Lake and Ripon during her time as a student at Ripon College and as the Outreach Coordinator for the Ripon Area Chamber of Commerce. As a Ripon City Council member, as a former high school counselor, and as the Associate Director of Engagement Ripon College, Jolene is inspired by people’s stories and is passionate about Freeland Film Festival and its theme Stories that Inspire. The natural outdoors and connecting with people and animals helps Jolene find joy in the world and she works diligently to promote both Freeland and Freeland Film Festival to all those she meets. She hopes to continue to build lasting connections between Freeland Film Festival and area businesses, educational institutions, and the wider-community both near and far.​