Production crew

About the Director

Elena Schak has a background in law, media and cultural studies, and international development (focusing on gender and governance). She is part-filmmaker, part-academic with research interests in gender, politics and cultural studies. She has also taught scriptwriting, communication, leadership, and critical thinking skills and cross-cultural competency.

Elena seeks to use film to translate complex academic ideas (whether sociological, philosophical, or from the sciences) into stories that anyone can understand. She also wants to partner with those who are underrepresented in public life to tell their stories. Dealing with Disasters is Elena’s first feature-length film.

The Producers

Cordia Chu, Director, Centre for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University

With a PhD in medical sociology and anthropology at Griffith Health, Professor Chu has a keen interest in translational research to improve policies and practices to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. Under her leadership, CEPH has been building interdisciplinary research and capacity-building teams to address issues of risk communication, emergency management and adaptation to climate change for health. She believes in using film to communicate complex public health issues and practices for education and advocacy purposes. She has previously collaborated with WHO and the Shanghai Health Education Institute to produce three short documentaries: Healthy Urban China, Health-Promoting Workplaces in Shanghai, and Healthy Cities Development in Vietnam. This latest film, Dealing with Disasters, reflects her recent interest in advocating for the importance of multi-sectoral collaboration to address public health and security issues associated with climate change and disasters.

Herman Van Eyken, Head, Griffith Film School, Griffith University

Herman Van Eyken has a background in scriptwriting, producing and directing. He has directed more than 200 films, with shortlistings for leading international film festivals such as Cannes, New York, Montreal and Vienna. Many of his films have received top awards in their respective categories. His feature film has been released in more than ten countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy and Taiwan.

Van Eyken’s research interests lie in the area of film policy, cross-cultural collaboration and film training needs for professionals. He is also project chair and curator for a research pilot project (DVD - 600 min. of interviews with foremost filmmakers from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region) called Lessons in Film.

The Centre for Environment and Population Health

The Centre for Environment and Population Health (CEPH) is an academic centre that provides a collaboration base for consultancy research, training and policy development. It is committed to a conception of development that brings together our common concerns for population health, environmental quality and economic opportunity. CEPH strives to serve present and future generations and applies basic principles of environmental sustainability, environmental and social justice, self-determination and sensitivity to cultural diversity.