Serena grew up on an island off Seattle, WA. After graduating from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Anthropology, she published a newsletter for a non-profit coalition in Alaska. She realized she was more interested in expressing herself through moving images and became an intern at a PBS affiliate. She has spent the last three years working in Seattle for Screaming Flea Productions, a nonfiction television production company, doing program development and production for cable and corporate clients.

Bundle of Blues
digital video
14 min.

Bundle of Blues explores the stories of women with postpartum mood disorders, a problem for almost 1 of 5 new mothers. Through three different experiences, the film reveals that postpartum problems can happen to anyone.

In Service to Women
16mm color film
6:24 min.

The story of an immigrant woman's birth experience using a Doula, a childbirth assistant who steps in to fill the generational and geographical gap in many families.

Radio Takeover
Co-directed by Mike Seely and Serena Down
digital video
9:19 min.

The story of what happened to a unique community radio station when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seized their equipment in a raid last year. Although the station applied for a license twice in the last decade and had support from the San Francisco mayor and board of supervisors, the goverment enforced the very laws whose constitutionality are being debated in Congress. This documentary is just one example of what happens to unique voices on the radio dial with increased media consolidation and regulation.

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS:

• Jerry Jensen Award for Broadcast Journalism
• Jury Award, Marin County Film Festival
• Finalist, Audience Award for Best Short, San Francisco Documentary Film Festival
• Seattle International Film Festival, 2005
• Golden Gate Award Nominee, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2005
• Alive at 9th Street, Independent Film Center, San Francisco, 2005
• Regional Finalist, Student Academy Awards, 2004
• Cantor Art Museum, Stanford, 2004

Sky Full of Air
16mm, black and white film
3:20 min.

Chronicles a 14 year-old swimmer's experience with asthma, a condition whose rate among children has doubled in the last two decades. The film explores the struggle to be a normal teenager while dealing with the emotions caused by not being able to breathe.