CWC Docs: Facing the Falls

Liz Yale Marsh is the producer of documentary short film Facing the Falls, directed by Celia Aniskovich and executive produced by Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. She is a two-time Emmy-winning, Grammy, Peabody, and GLAAD-nominated documentary film and television producer under an exclusive overall deal with Universal Television Alternative Studio to spearhead documentaries and premium series for the studio. Prior to joining UTAS, Liz most recently produced the feature documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed by Lisa Cortes, which premiered opening night of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Magnolia Pictures and released by CNN Films and MAX.

Previous work includes executive producing the Peacock three-part documentary Face to Face with Scott Peterson, executive producing the criminal justice anthology series It Couldn’t Happen Here for Sundance Channel/AMC+, and executive producing the CNN original series Vegas: The Story of Sin. Liz co-executive produced the feature documentary film The Panama Papers, the Emmy-winning NBC series GIVE, the five-part Sundance Channel series The Preppy Murder, and the award-winning Lifetime documentary series Surviving Jeffrey Epstein. Liz was formerly the Head of Documentaries & Premium Series for production company Bungalow Media + Entertainment, and spent five years at Radical Media prior. She received a Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award under President Barack Obama and is the founder of the Westflix Film Festival in Los Angeles.

West Taylor is an expert in the horse training industry, known for proper training and handling of all breeds of horses. Once a businessman and IT communications contractor, two near-death experiences led West to abandon all worldly identity and seek out a new way of life. West took five years off in order to spend every moment with two wild mustangs he adopted from the Bureau of Land Management. His study and research led to the development of his own science-based horse training method, which emphasizes building a personal relationship based on safety and clear communication.

After thousands of hours spent learning how to release fear and trauma from horses, West began to apply the same concepts in life coaching through his Transformation Method. He now lives on his family ranch in Fremont, Utah, where he and his wife Miss Kami hold retreats and workshops teaching this Transformation Method. Together, they share their life experiences to heal the relationships of humans and horses through life coaching sessions in partnership with the once wild horse and the restorative powers of the drum, meditation, and sound healing.

Wendy Eley Jackson is a distinguished writer, director, and producer in the television and film industry. She serves as a lecturer in Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara, and is a co-producer of Facing the Falls. Ms. Eley Jackson’s remarkable portfolio of work includes the Hallmark Channel television movie Napa Ever After, and the award-winning documentaries Welcome to Pine Lake for CBS and Paramount+ and Carterland for Amazon Prime. She has been recognized for her producing skills, earning the esteemed Producers Guild Mark (p.g.a) for her work on the critically-acclaimed documentary Maynard on Netflix, directed by Academy Award nominee Sam Pollard. Her impactful directorial works, such as The Invitation, have garnered global attention on the festival circuit, and her work has been honored and archived in the Smithsonian African American Museum of History and Culture. Currently, she is directing feature-length documentary projects like Protect and Serve with Martin Luther King III and The Other Roe, a story about Margie Pitts Hames and the landmark Supreme Court companion case to Roe v. Wade.

In addition to her creative endeavors, Ms. Eley Jackson is the visionary and founder of the Montecito Student Film Festival in Santa Barbara, which showcases student films from over sixty countries. She is the founder and principal of Auburn Avenue Films, which is recognized as a premier curator for content originating from Georgia and transitioning into Hollywood. Ms. Eley Jackson adapted the award-winning book 30 Days a Black Man: The Forgotten Story of Jim Crow for the screen. Additionally, she is the co-creator and co-screenwriter of Ella and Marilyn, a limited series produced by Robin Roberts, Linda Berman, and Emmy-winner and showrunner Debbie Allen.