Daphna Rubin is an award-winning producer/writer/director who runs Brave Planet Films' day-to-day operations. In addition to overseeing all aspects of production & development, she has directed numerous films on topics ranging from Hamas suicide bombers and Sri Lankan rebels, to the Srebrenica massacre, mine clearing efforts in Bosnia, domestic cancer survivors and Yellowstone’s hidden gems.
She has also served as Senior Producer on numerous network series, simultaneously managing multi-million dollar budgets, overlapping schedules and teams based abroad and in the United States. Daphna ensures that all films flow smoothly through the production pipeline no matter the story.
DAPHNA'S WORK INCLUDES:
- Embedding with Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka while directing the primetime PBS series, Avoiding Armageddon.
Numerous specials for National Geographic including Inside New Orleans High, Inside Polygamy: Life in Bountiful and Berga: Hitler’s GI Death Camp which was nominated for a National News and Documentary Emmy for Best Long Form History film.
Following mine clearing teams in the former Yugoslavia for National Geographic Channels International.
Gaining access to UN investigators for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for a feature length film about the Srebrenica Massacre.
A World Bank-funded project that showcased economic changes brought on during former Peruvian President Fujimori’s administration.
Getting a behind-the-scenes view of Yellowstone National Park, including the underground plumbing of Old Faithful, for a Travel Channel / US National Park Service co-production.
Oversight of editorial and logistics for crews in 'hot' war zones from Colombia to Afghanistan.
Management and oversight of complex, feature film vignettes/dramatizations to illustrate actual events.
Management of more the 20 million dollars in production funds in recent years, bringing multiple projects to completion on-budget and on-time.
ESCAPING THE ROCK FOR PBS
Daphna oversaw the production from concept to completion including leading the hunt for historically accurate Alcatraz prison materials from which an actual 'escape' raft was constructed! The film was recently submitted for Emmy consideration by PBS and is distributed globally by our London-based distributor DRIVE TV and PBSd.
GLOBAL COUNTER-MESSAGING CAMPAIN AGAINST ISIS
Recently, Daphna spearheaded a project to use short animated documentary profiles of former ISIS fighters to deter others from joining. The project meant fusing animation from the team behind the SXSW award-winning doc TOWER with interviews featuring ISIS recruits. The pitch first caught the attention of the National Security Council and was subsequently screened at a closed session during the United Nations General Assembly to a standing room only gathering of international experts in the field of Countering Violent Extremism.
Daphna began her career during college, as a local reporter for an NPR affiliate and next as an intern at the headquarters of a what was then a small cable network -- Discovery Channel.
In the years since, she’s produced, written and directed both specials and series, for many networks and non-broadcast clients including PBS, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, NBC, Turner Documentaries, Travel Channel, National Parks and Conservation Association, The World Bank, American Cancer Society and WETA to name a few.
