Catapult Film Fund Announces Megan Gelstein & Theresa Navarro as Co-Directors

Catapult Film Fund announces Megan Gelstein and Theresa Navarro as the organization's first Co-Directors. They will share executive responsibilities for the San Francisco-based nonprofit, known for its early-stage support of artful documentary films like The Territory, Crip Camp, and Academy Award-winner American Factory.

"As we embark on this new chapter, we're thrilled to have Megan and Theresa at the helm. Together they bring combined decades of experience supporting independent filmmakers," says Lisa Kleiner Chanoff, who co-founded the organization with Bonni Cohen in 2010.

"By shifting to a co-leadership model, Catapult will benefit from their shared vision and capacity to propel our essential work and strengthen the documentary field in the process." Chanoff will remain in her current role to support the leadership transition, and continue to serve on the Board of the Directors with Cohen and Caroline von Kuhn.

Gelstein, who was promoted to Chief Program Officer earlier this year, will oversee all artist development programs including the research grant, the development grant, the mentorship program, the Rough Cut Retreat with True/False Film Festival, and institutional fundraising.

Part of Catapult since 2015, she has provided creative and editorial support for independent filmmakers including the teams behind ALL THAT Breathes (director Shaunak Sen, producers Teddy Leifer and Aman Mann), Always in Season (director Jacqueline Olive, producer Jessica Devaney), and Storm Lake (directors Jerry Risius and Beth Levison).

Most recently, she successfully spearheaded the launch of Catapult's research grant program and has been instrumental in bringing new funding resources. Prior to Catapult, Megan worked at WGBH in Boston, where she produced and directed films for the flagship series AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and NOVA. She won a national Emmy Award for her work on the PBS series "Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery."

Navarro joined the organization this fall as its first Chief Operations Officer, where she will lead communications, fundraising, finance, and people management. Prior to Catapult, she served as vice president of external affairs at American Documentary, the New York-based nonprofit behind Emmy Award-winning series "POV" on PBS.

An Independent Spirit Award-nominated producer, her credits include Chinatown sports documentary 9-Man (director Ursula Liang), Peabody Award-winning anthology series "America Reframed" on WORLD Channel (supervising producer Carmen L. Vicencio), and sci-fi feminist feature Advantageous (director Jennifer Phang, producers Robert Chang, Jacqueline Kim, Ken Jeong, and Moon Molson), which won the Special Prize for Collaborative Vision at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

She belongs to BIPOC documentary collectives A-Doc and Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and has been featured on panels, juries, and workshops at the Australian International Documentary Conference, New Orleans Film Festival, and SXSW, among others.

"I am honored to continue the amazing legacy of an organization that I've loved since as long as I can remember," said Gelstein. "There's something uniquely special about getting involved with a project in the beginning. The creativity, vision, and strategy in those early days can define the entire trajectory of a film."

"I'm excited to join the team at this important moment for the organization and our industry," said Navarro. "Catapult is a fierce champion and beloved collaborator for so many filmmakers, because of its meaningful support for projects in their earliest stages-which is often the most precarious. It's our unique purpose and responsibility, to take risks that no one else can or dares to do."

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