Elisabeth Haviland James is the creative talent behind Thornapple Films, which she founded upon moving to New York City in 2003. Thornapple Films began as an independent media company specializing in documentary, and has expanded to include narrative and experimental filmmaking.  In 2009, Thornapple Films relocated to West Main Street in Durham, North Carolina.

Elisabeth is the Producer and Editor of THE LOVING STORY (Director, Nancy Buirski). The documentary film explores the courageous struggle of Mildred and Richard Loving, the heroic interracial couple whose Supreme Court case overturned anti-miscegenation laws in the United States. The film premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in 2011, followed by the TriBeCa Film Festival.  HBO is a co-producer of the film, and will broadcast it in 2012. . Read more about the film here: www.lovingfilm.com

Elisabeth is currently adapting Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Marlette’s novel MAGIC TIME for the screen, which she hopes to begin filming in Mississippi in 2012.  Along with her husband, artist and filmmaker Revere La Noue, she is developing a documentary on international falconry. Other projects in development include an omnibus series on immigration and an IMAX on the Lemurs of Madagascar.

She was a consulting producer on Lavinia Currier’s narrative feature, OKA! AMERIKEE. In preparation for the film, she led a research and 2nd Unit expedition to the Dzangha-Sangha region of the Central African Republic, where the film was shot this Summer.  In addition to “normal” film-related work, Elisabeth  worked to develop the governmental and political relations required to produce the film.

Her other most recent credits include Producer of THE GOOD FIGHT and Co-Producer of THE LORD GOD BIRD - both films were directed by George Butler/ White Mountain Films (PUMPING IRON, SHACKLETON, ROVING MARS) and are targeted for theatrical release in 2008/09. During the 2004 Presidential election, she served as Director of Photography and Editor on BROTHERS IN ARMS, featuring Senator John Kerry, as well as the Archival Film Researcher on GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY. She has also worked as a director, producer, cinematographer, photographer and editor with a number of corporate, individual and media clients, including Augusta Films, White Mountain Films, Roland Films, National Geographic, PBS and MTV. For more information on her work, visit the FILMS pages.

Elisabeth Haviland James is a graduate of the M.A. Program in Documentary Film and Video at Stanford University, where she directed and produced four award-winning short documentaries. She was selected for an Enersen Foundation grant to create her thesis film, NET LOSS, for which she was awarded the Nicholas Roosevelt Award for Environmental Journalism. Her other recent films include FLAUNT, WORMS AT WORK, and PRECIPICE (co-Directed with Elizabeth Witham), which was one of five national finalists for the Academy Award in the Student Documentary category in 2002.

In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Elisabeth teaches  documentary courses at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies. This Fall her course is centered on using social networking to fund film projects.

Prior to her career in filmmaking, Elisabeth traveled the world extensively as a tour director and educator for art museums and botanic gardens. She is fluent in French, and can "get by" in Spanish. In 1999 she graduated with honors from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she majored in "Culture and Politics," an interdisciplinary program including history, political theory, art and anthropology.