
Documentary filmmaker Melissa Lesh is the director and editor of Person of the Forest which premiered at Mountainfilm Festival in 2017 and has received an Award of Merit from Impact Doc Awards and First Place at the Animal Behavior Society Film Festival. Lesh founded Emerging Earth Films as a way to bridge the gap between the arts and sciences, focusing on natural history and conservation stories. Her first award-winning documentary, James River Sturgeon, was a collaboration with scientists to uncover the uncharted migration of the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon. Lesh has filmed for clients such as PBS, National Geographic magazine, Nat Geo Wild, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.