Filmmaker Bio

Elizabeth WestrateElizabeth Westrate is currently producing and directing a film for the humanitarian organization Heifer International. Previous producing credits include pieces for the Sundance Channel series Aftereffect, 24 Frame News, and Right Now! At the Sundance Film Festival. Westrate was the associate producer of the HBO production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, which aired in 2002 in conjunction with V-Day, a global movement to end violence against girls and women. She was also the associate producer of Our House: A Very Real Documentary About Kids of Gay and Lesbian Parents, an ITVS production that was broadcast on public television in 2000. Westrate earlier served as associate producer for the Simon & Goodman Picture Company, where she received a CableACE Award for Best Documentary Special for Heart of a Child.

Other credits include HBO's 27th and Prospect: One Year in the Fight Against Drugs, American Experience's The Telephone, and, as post-production coordinator, Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud. Performing arts projects include The Paul Taylor Dance Company Repertory Preservation Project, for which Ms. Westrate was both associate producer and editor. Elizabeth Westrate has served in various production positions on many feature films, including Independence Day, The Basketball Diaries, and Jeffrey. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Television Production from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in 1992, and is the owner of Five Spot Films, a documentary production company in New York City. For more information about Five Spot Films, visit fivespotfilms.com.