Produced by:
The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School with Sea Studios Foundation, Laika/house and Funjacket Enterprises

Narrator: Linda Hunt
Little Girl: Olive Karlsen
Mom: Sally Bentley

Writer and Producer: David Elisco
Directors: Drew Takahashi and Gesine Kratzner
Executive Producer: Kathleen Frith
Producer: Mark Shelley
Music: Mark Adler and Philip Perkins
Production Manager: Brook Holsten
Animation Producer: Sally Bentley

Website Design: Justin Michael Moore

Best know for her Academy Award-winning performance as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously, Linda Hunt has played an extraordinarily diverse range of characters in films, theatre and television. She began her theatrical career more than thirty years ago at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, playing roles in plays by Shakespeare, Strindberg, O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. She won a Tony nomination for her work in Arthur Kopit’s End of the World and Obie awards for roles in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls and A Metamorphosis in Miniature, based on the Kafka novel. Her other stage appearances include the title role in Mother Courage and Her Children, Wallace Shawn’s Aunt Dan & Lemon, she originated the role of Aunt Dan in London and in New York, and the Cherry Orchard directed by Peter Brook. She first visited Los Angeles in 1974 to play a small role in Hamlet at the Mark Taper Forum, directed by Gordon Davidson and starring Stacy Keach. At the La Jolla Playhouse she played Dolly Levi in Des McAnuff’s production of The Matchmaker.

She made her film debut in 1980 in Robert Altman’s Popeye. Among her many other films are Dragonfly, Twenty Bucks, Pret a Porter, Kindergarden Cop, Waiting for the Moon, She-Devil, Silverado, The Bostonians and David Lynch’s Dune. For Mr. Altman again, she starred in a television film of Harold Pinter’s The Room and she played Judge Zoey Hiller n ABC’s The Practice for the first six seasons of that show. She is the voice of the Management on HBO’s Carnivale and is frequently heard as the narrator of documentaries for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and PBS. In Disney’s Pocahontas she is the voice of Grandmother Willow.

Olive Karlsen is 10 years old and attends 4th grade at Opal School. Olive has been interested in acting and theater since the age of 3. She has appeared in Suessical the Musical and numerous Northwest Children's Theatre Playlabs. She is drawn to acting because it allows her to use her imagination and create new lives. Once Upon a Tide is Olive's film debut. She loves the sea and she hopes the film will encourage other people to care for the ocean.

In addition to acting, Olive loves to swim, play piano, read and write – and do schoolwork, of course. She lives with her family, dog and hamsters in Portland, Oregon.

David is the storytelling center of Sea Studios Foundation.  For eight years he has brought his appreciation and understanding of science together with his background in filmmaking to help lead the foundation’s unique vision.  David most recently served as series producer of the award winning and critically acclaimed National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth, as well as director, writer and producer of PBS’s highly rated Oceans in Glass. In addition to his work in broadcast television, David is also helping the foundation move into new forms of communication, such as podcasting, viral marketing and theatrical films.  Throughout his career, David has built a reputation for leading creative teams that produce strong, visually driven stories that make important but often-complicated ideas accessible. David’s other honors include first place in The Environmental Media Awards, a gold medal in the New York Film Festival and an Emmy nomination. David and his wife Robyn, who is a film editor, live near the ocean with their three children, Zelda, Eli, and Ben, their dog Abby, and three unnamed goldfish.

Drew Takahashi is the emperor of Funjacket Enterprises and former chairman and chief creative officer of (Colossal) Pictures, a company he founded with Gary Gutierrez in 1976. Takahashi began his career working with George Lucas, Francis Coppola and John Korty on such films as American Graffiti, The Conversation and Who are the Debolts?

Under his design and production direction--which ranged from live action through motion control and computer animation to classic cel--(Colossal) spearheaded the transformation of broadcast IDs into branded interstitial entertainment for MTV, Showtime, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

In the TV advertising world, Takahashi has directed spots for Coca-Cola, Honda, Nike, Budweiser, barnesandnoble.com and GO Networks. His most recent projects incorporate his experience in advertising, branding and technology and include the development of branding, navigation and architecture for such clients as Excite, Americast, WebTV, Microsoft, VH1 and Replay Networks.

Award-winning Director, Designer and Animator Gesine Krätzner is a native German with strong personal vision and a distinctively off-kilter, whimsical design style. Since arriving at LAIKA/house in 1996, Gesine has developed a television series and four short films, all of which feature her unique designs. Gesine has also directed and designed ads in both stop-motion and CG. Highlights include her animation design work on LAIKA/house's “Clay People” commercial for the American Cheese Board, which won a Bronze Clio and a Silver plaque at the Chicago International Television Competition and as Animation Director on the Cannes-recognized M&Ms spot “Bowlful of You’s." She has directed commercials for both volumes of the German rock-compilation CD House Mission and has designed ad campaigns for Wonder White and e-sure UK, among others. Most recently Gesine was the production designer on the Ben & Jerry’s stop-motion campaign, a character designer for both ESPN “Believe” and the long-running Eggos campaign.

Before immigrating to the United States, Gesine spent three years as a freelance director, designer and animator in the British television industry. She studied fine art in Stuttgart and earned a master's degree in Animation from London’s Royal College of Art. As a student, she completed five animated short films, all of which screened at major animation festivals.

Kathleen Frith is the Assistant Director at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, providing expertise on science communication and education to help the Center achieve its mission to further understanding of human health and global environmental change connections. Kathleen directs the Center's Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans program that produced the film Once Upon a Tide. The goal of the program is to increase awareness about the human health connections to the ocean environment by developing media and exhibitry for educational institutions such as aquariums and museums. Kathleen hopes to continue projects like Tide that utilizes creativity and storytelling to impart crucial environmental messages.

In addition to her passion for the underwater environment, Kathleen also has a strong interest in sustainable food issues and co-directs the Center's food program that educates the public on food that is healthy for humans and the environment. Prior to joining the team at Harvard, Kathleen was the Public Information Officer for the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, a U.S. oceanographic institution in Bermuda. Kathleen holds a Bachelor's degree in marine biology from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Master's degree in science journalism from Boston University's Knight Center for Science Journalism.

Sea Studios Foundation is the culmination of Mark’s lifelong ambition to harness the power of film-making to spotlight some of the most pressing issues of our times – from climate change to invasive species, from the loss of biological diversity to the loss of large predators and landscape fragmentation, and the vital role of our oceans in Earth’s life support systems. A visionary, and a passionate advocate for issues affecting our planet’s health, Mark strongly believes that the first step towards inspiring action is to help the public appreciate the science that underlies our understanding of the earth’s systems.

With Mark at the helm, Sea Studios Foundation has developed a unique capacity to identify issues that need public attention, and create compelling visual narratives that educate, inspire, and lead people to action. A producer of many award-winning films, Sea Studios Foundation is best known for its award-winning National Geographic prime-time series, Shape of Life, and Strange Days on Planet Earth, hosted by Edward Norton and Mark, as the executive producer. Mark's vision shaped Strange Days on Planet Earth into a unique production that integrates cutting-edge research, state of the art graphics and globe spanning investigations, all presented as a high-tech detective story, with a rich web experience, a set of related multi-media deliverables, programs in science centers around the nation, and a series of live public events.

Mark graduated from Stanford University (B.Sc., 1972) with honors in Biology and conducted research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for two years. Prior to beginning his film career, Mark was Program Director of Oceanics School, which ran academic programs on traditional square-rigged sailing ships. While freelancing in New York City, Mark had the opportunity to work on his first National Geographic Specials, which launched his filmmaking career. As a National Geographic filmmaker and Senior Series Producer Mark has been part of numerous award-winning exhibit and television programs. He is internationally recognized for his underwater filmmaking skills and has developed deep sea imaging systems for (amongst others) National Geographic Television and Film and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Mark Adler brings to his work as a composer a broad background in both film and music.  At age 16 he created an award-winning animated short, acquired by New York Museum of Modern Art for its permanent archive collection. A year later, he received an American Film Institute grant for his original screenplay. He studied piano privately for fifteen years, and returned to music after graduation from the UCLA film school.

Mark’s scores include Paramount Classics' "Focus," based on Arthur Miller’s novel and starring William H. Macy and Laura Dern, the Miramax film "Picture Bride,” Wayne Wang’s "Eat A Bowl of Tea," numerous National Geographic Specials, and three Oscar-nominated feature documentaries. Recent projects include "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School," featuring Marisa Tomei, and "Bottle Shock," starring Alan Rickman. Mark won a Primetime Emmy for his work on HBO's "The Rat Pack." Other credits include "Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone," starring Nigel Hawthorne (Primetime Emmy nomination for music), and the title theme for the long-running PBS series, "American Experience."

He serves on the National Awards Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and is a vice-president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists.

Brook Holston is a Production Manager and Field Producer with many years of experience on documentaries and film productions of all kinds. She specializes in the details and logistics it takes to get documentary film crews and tons of equipment to the right place at the right time. Brook has worked on science and nature shows for National Geographic Television, BBC and PBS on series such as Shape of Life, Strange Days On Planet Earth and Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Adventures. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism and worked in television production in the Atlanta area for many years before relocating to Monterey, CA in 1998. She currently lives in Monterey, California with her husband Phillip, who is a cameraman, and her two cats, Ginger and Miss Kitty.

Sally Bentley graduated from UC Berkeley in 1987 with a degree in Dance and a minor in Art. “Art that Moves” was her driving philosophy. Moving to New York after graduation, her “sister’s best friend’s boyfriend’s girlfriend” knew of an entry level job in animation. It was the closest thing to her major that would pay the rent in NYC.

Guided by her maxim and that stroke of luck, she began running the elevator and answering phones for Noyes and Laybourne, an award winning animation studio. Shortly thereafter, Noyes and Laybourne joined forces with Colossal Pictures in San Francisco.

Sally moved back to the West coast in 1991 with the new company and worked in Development. She was eventually promoted to Producer and produced for MTV’s Liquid Television and the Discovery Channel. She was also Assistant Director for “Psychic Detective”, the first interactive live action video game.

As an independent, she traveled to Bali to direct a short for the Children's Television Workshop, “Wayan and the Three R's” an educational piece about recycling, which is still use at public schools nationwide. She also produced interactive toys, websites and software for several companies while still in the Bay Area.

While the software and game worlds were a great learning experience, she is now working at Laika/house, a studio committed to animation, an environment that she loves -  “Art that Moves.”