Our Mission
Carbon Trace Productions is a Missouri non-profit media organization dedicated to educating college students about the diverse skills required for the art of documentary film. Students learn to tell stories of compelling social importance without regard to the commercial potential. Carbon Trace Productions specializes in working with and telling stories about, humanitarian organizations, non-profits, NGOs, and the people who work with them to make our world a better place.
History
Carbon Trace Productions is a documentary/educational organization founded by Dr. Andrew Cline, a professor of media and journalism at Missouri State University. CTP is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation dedicated to documentary education for college students. The production crew finished its first feature-length project in 2016 — Downtown — a documentary film about the emerging trend of Americans choosing to move away from the suburbs in search of a new American Dream in re-developing urban centers. Downtown screened at the 2016 New Urbanism Film where it won the Best Urban Sociology Film category award. The team also produced a documentary short related to Downtown called Shared Spaces — an official selection at the 2015 New Urbanism Film Festival. Post-production has begun on a second feature-length documentary the team began filming in 2017 about an emerging mental health issue in Syrian refugee children. The team finished three documentary shorts from 2017 to 2018 — Souriyat, the story of a rehabilitation facility in Amman, Jordan serving Syrian refugees, and Joonyper, the story of a tragic death by heroin overdose. Souriyat screened at the 2018 Atlanta Docfest. CTP also produced Homeschooling in Middle America in 2018, a film by Chinese student filmmaker Yiran Liu. Zero, our student production for 2019, won the Award of Excellence for a student documentary feature at the Broadcast Education Association 2020 Festival of Arts. Our latest feature-length film, Witness At Tornillo, toured nationally during the fall and winter of 2019-2020. It won best feature documentary at the Kansas City FilmFest International 2020. It is now available on Vimeo on Demand.
Awards
“Witness At Tornillo” won Best Feature Documentary Film at the Kansas City FilmFest International 2020
“Zero” won the Award of Excellence for the Broadcast Education Association 2020 Festival of Arts
“Zero” won Best Documentary/Reality Short at the 2019 Ozark Mountain Webfest in Branson, Missouri
“Joonyper” won Best Documentary/Reality Short at the 2018 Ozark Mountain Webfest in Branson, Missouri.
“Downtown” won Best Urban Sociology Film at the 2016 New Urbanism Film Festival in Los Angeles, California.
Leadership
Executive Director, Shannon Cay
Board of Directors
President, Andrew R. Cline, Ph.D.
Vice President, Jym Wilson
Secretary, Chelsea Eichholz
Treasurer, Debbie Rollinson
Tyler Beck
Note: The Board of Directors is currently seeking community members interested in helping us fulfill our educational and humanitarian mission.
Creative Board
Chairman, Shane Franklin
Taye Taye
Advisory Board
Note: The Advisory Board includes members of the community who have agreed to act as resources for Carbon Trace Productions regarding their individual expertise. Membership on this board does not imply agreement with Carbon Trace policies, editorial judgement, or any messages intended (or not) by our film productions.
Mike Stevens
Joy Millana
Bill Griffiths
Contact
Carbon Trace Productions Professional Staff and Professional Volunteers: Andy Cline: Executive Producer | Chelsea Eichholz: Producer | Shannon Cay: Executive Director of Carbon Trace Productions | Shane Franklin: Senior Producer | Tyler Beck: Associate Producer | Taye Taye: Chief Cinematographer and Motion Graphics Artist | Jym Wilson: Cinematographer | Ethan Turner, Cinematographer | Corey O’Connor, Field Audio Specialist | Matt Foster, Audio Engineer
Carbon Trace Productions
1330 E. Cherry St. #104
Springfield, MO 65802
