Bio Director/Producer/Editor

Mary Liz Thomson

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest instilled a deep love of nature in Mary Liz and she is a long time environmentalist who hopes to contribute to making the world a little better.

Thomson is an award-winning director with a background in editing and writing. She is currently Directing and Producing Darwin Needs An Update, a game changing documentary film that looks at the 21st century’s greatest challenge - the climate emergency - through the new lens of what science says about the important role of cooperation. Recently she directed a timely music video with a climate change theme, The Future’s Gone premiering on Americana Highways, and a festival narrative short film called The Boarding House - A tale of fending off sexual harassment set in 1973. Thomson directed and edited the multi-award winning feature documentary, Who Bombed Judi Bari?, an inside account of saving the last of California’s ancient redwoods and a landmark civil rights case. The film was called “moving” “compelling”, “tough and intriguingly told”, and “plays like a thriller” by LA Times, Hollywood Reporter, Village Voice.

Mary Liz has worked in many areas of TV and Film in Los Angeles. She edited the heartwarming one hour doc about hospice, The Nurse With The Purple Hair, directed by horror legend Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th), and she worked in post on TV series for Nat Geo Wild, SyFy Ch, Sundance Ch, and in VFX on feature films such as I Am Legend. Bilingual in Spanish, she consulted on a drama TV Series in Nicaragua about sex trafficking, and filmed in Panama for the Academy award winning documentary Panama Deception. Thomson started out directing music videos for Island Records in San Francisco, and went on to direct programs with Stanford and Harvard dealing with Conflict Resolution. She was a founder and on the board of legendary collective arts organization in San Francisco, Komotion. She also writes on topical issues in The Huffington Post, Alternet, Indiewire, Common Dreams, and Blog Her. Thomson has an MFA in Film and Visual effects from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. She worked for many years in Los Angeles and currently resides in the Seattle area.