About us
Michael Love
Director, Producer, & Writer
Michael Love grew up in Mexico City and attended University of the Americas and California Institute of the Arts. He had his first produced screenwriting credit, Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominated, Gaby a True Story, in 1987. Other screenwriting credits include ABC Movie of the Week Breaking the Silence (1993), and For Greater Glory (2012 Awards include Alma, Image and Movie Guide Awards) featuring Andy Garcia, Peter O'Toole, Oscar Isaac and Eva Longoria. Michael is fluent in Spanish and wrote theatrically released Spanish Language films La Leyenda del Tesoro (2011), and Extranos Caminos (1993).
As a documentarian his work focuses on the natural world and the arts, including State Street Serenade (Best Short Doc, Ojai Film Festival 2019), Little Fox of Limuw (Best Documentary, Idaho Fish & Wildlife Film Fest, and Nature Track Film Fest Don Conway Award). From Golf Course to Wetland (Best Short Doc, Nature Track 2019), Learning to Condor (Best Short Doc, Nature Without Borders Film Festival) and many others. Michael recently completed his series Bringing Back the Wild featuring six short documentaries about iconic endangered species brought back from the brink of extinction. His feature documentary Bringing Back Our Wetland had its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2023. Michael has taught film at AFI where he was also a Faculty Board Member of the Professional Training Division and University of California at Santa Barbara.
Elliot Lowndes
Cinematographer
Elliot Lowndes (www.mrlowndes.com) is a specialist natural history cinematographer with BBC and National Geographic credits. His state-of-the-art camera work and frequent collaborations with Michael Love have resulted in several prizewinning films. Elliot also specializes in low-light and macro filming techniques and has been able to capture several behaviors never seen before on film. These include the bioluminescence of an endemic species of Californian millipede for David Attenborough’s Life that Glows, and nocturnal nesting behavior of the Western Snowy Plover, without the use of artificial light.
Raphael Atlas
Composer
Formally trained as a pianist and in music theory, with a doctorate from Yale, Raphael Atlas has been composing for film and working with Sage Hill Films over the last two decades. His scholarly publications include analytical studies of classical repertories and Hollywood film music. As a pianist, he has been heard live on NPR in a number of concerts. A member of the faculty at Smith College, he has also taught at Pomona and Amherst.