Liz is a documentary filmmaker and founder of Stone Soup Films nonprofit film collaborative in Washington that produces and donates films to local worthy organizations. She is a third-generation Washingtonian.
Now in its fifth year, Stone Soup Films has produced over 20 short films, which have been used for promotional and community-building purposes for the subject organizations. They have included pieces for Bread for the City, Life Pieces to Masterpieces, Urban Alliance, The Avalon Theater, Language ETC, Martha’s Table, Historic Woodlawn Cemetery, DC Greenworks, Teens Run DC, Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance, Compass DC and PEN/Faulkner Writers-in-Schools.
A recently completed film highlighting the work of Hope House, an innovative camp-based program connecting children with their incarcerated fathers (run by local hero Carol Fennelly), will be shown not just to potential funders but also to wardens and other officials in a position to implement these programs in more prisons. Using these films to expand programming options, raise critical funds and increase awareness of these issues is the primary mission of Stone Soup Films.
Stone Soup’s volunteer roster has now grown to over 350 local filmmakers. It is the dedication of these producers, editors, shooters, graphic designers, production assistants and film students that enables these films to be professionally produced at no charge to the nonprofits.
After studying political science at Colgate and then Wesleyan University, Liz started her career in the policy world, first as a researcher on federal campaign finances for Common Cause, a non-partisan lobbying organization. During the Clinton Administration, Liz was a research director in the White House Office of Communications. In that role, she served as a link between the president, the press and the public, primarily on the issues involving crime and drug policy.
Moving to New York City, Liz was a freelance television producer for over ten years, with a focus on public policy issues. Those programs included several Fred Friendly seminars for PBS, which explored difficult political and ethical issues in depth. She has also produced for MTV News, educating teens on crime-related issues such as gun control.
For over twenty-five years Liz has been a director of the Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation in Washington, DC. She also serves on the Board of the Environmental Film Festival of Washington, DC. Liz and her husband Rob Norton live with their two children, Lucy and Max, in Northwest DC.
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