Elam Stoltzfus

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Elam Stoltzfus
Stoltzfus in 2012
Born
Elam Stevie Stoltzfus

May 18, 1957
Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materFlorida State University
Years active1990-present
SpouseEsther Stoltzfus (1985-present)
Websitewww.liveoakproductiongroup.com

Elam S. Stoltzfus (born 1957) is an American environmental documentary filmmaker.

Early life[edit]

Stoltzfus was born into an Amish family of nine in Pennsylvania in 1957. During his later teens Elam left the Amish community, purchased a car and a camera. He first attended Chipola College and then earned his B.S. in Media & Communication from Florida State University's College of Communication and Information.

Career[edit]

Stoltzfus is devoted to working on nature documentaries in Florida and has traveled all over the state documenting stories of Florida's varied environment. He has made five hour-long nature documentaries, with the genesis for this work beginning with the half-hour "Visions of Florida: the Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher" produced in 1990. He first met Clyde Butcher as the cinematographer for the project Visions of Florida. This was his first award-winning project; he received a Louis Wolfson award for "Best in Artistic Expression." This film was also his first to be released nationwide through Public Television.[1] After a six-year stint as a media designer for the state of Florida, in 2000 he began work on "Living Waters: Aquatic Preserves of Florida" featuring 12 aquatic preserves located around the state.[2] His next project was "Apalachicola River: An American Treasure" on the iconic waterway of the Florida panhandle.[3] After this he completed "Big Cypress: The Western Everglades" featuring Clyde Butcher's backyard.[4] Following this was "Kissimmee Basin: The Northern Everglades".[5] As a way to tie all of these Everglades projects together, he was a member of the four-team expedition group, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition.[6] The team traveled 1000 miles in 100 days from the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp.[7] This journey was documented in the film of the same name and garnered Stoltzfus a Suncoast Regional Emmy in the Documentary category.[8] According to Walton Outdoors, Stoltzfus is currently working on a project involving Walton County's Coastal Dune Lakes[9] as "bringing awareness to [the] lakes is key to helping preserve our environment... we are fortunate now to have an educational documentary in the works."[10] The film was featured on PBS' Public Television Earth Day weekend in 2015.

Personal life[edit]

Elam Stoltzfus married his wife, Esther Yoder Stoltzfus in 1985. Together, they have two children, Nicholas and Lars.

Awards and honors[edit]

In 2010 Stoltzfus was recognized by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission for documenting wildlife in the state of Florida.

In May 2013, Stoltzfus was invited to speak at Florida State University's Spring Commencement Ceremony.[11] That year, governor Rick Scott recognized Elam and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition team for their efforts to aid in conservation.

In 2014, Stoltzfus won a Suncoast Emmy in the category of best documentary for the Florida Wildlife Corridor film.[12] He received both the 2014 Conservation of the year award by the Florida Wildlife Federation at the Annual Awards Banquet in Naples, Florida,[13] and the 2014Sierra Club of Florida Cypress Award for Conservation Education.[14]

Filmography[edit]

  • Great Florida Cattle Drive (2017)
  • Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida's Emerald Coast (2015)
  • Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition: Everglades to Okefenokee (2013)
  • Kissimmee Basin: the Northern Everglades (2012)
  • Photoshop Made Simple by Clyde Butcher (2010)
  • Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades (2009)
  • Will McLean: Songs about Florida (2007)
  • Our Legacy: Florida Communities Trust (2006)
  • Apalachicola River: an American Treasure (2006)
  • Our Signature: the Wild and Scenic Loxahatchee River (2005)
  • Living Waters: Aquatic Preserves of Florida (2004)
  • Visions of Florida: Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher (1990)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Emmy-award winning COMM alumnus melds nature and art in documentaries". comm.cci.fsu.edu. Archived from the original on 2014-08-19.
  2. ^ "Welcome to Living Waters: Aquatic Preserves of Florida". liveoakproductiongroup.com. Archived from the original on 2004-06-07.
  3. ^ "Home". apalachicolaamericantreasure.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  4. ^ "Welcome to Big Cypress Swamp · The Western Everglades". www.bigcypressswamp.org. Archived from the original on 2010-05-31.
  5. ^ "Northerneverglades.com -northerneverglades; Resources and Information". Archived from the original on 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  6. ^ "FLWildlifeCorridorExpeditionFilm on Vimeo". vimeo.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15.
  7. ^ "The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition". www.wjhg.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-19.
  8. ^ "Coastal Dune Lakes of the World · Articles". www.coastaldunelakes.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-23.
  9. ^ "Coastal Dune Lakes of the World · Welcome". www.coastaldunelakes.org. Archived from the original on 2010-04-10.
  10. ^ "Award winning cinematographer creating coastal dune lake documentary | Walton Outdoors". 26 February 2014.
  11. ^ Video on YouTube
  12. ^ "2013 Nominations | NATAS Suncoast". suncoastchapter.org. Archived from the original on 2013-12-08.
  13. ^ "Florida Wildlife Federation".
  14. ^ "Sierra Club Florida Chapter - Awards History". www.florida.sierraclub.org. Archived from the original on 2005-03-15.
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