About | Christopher N. Palmer
CEO, VideoTakes, Inc.
President, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation
Distinguished Film Producer in Residence and Director of the Center for Environmental Filmmaking, School of Communication, American University
palmer@american.edu
202.885.3408
Chris Palmer is an environmental and wildlife film producer and Chief Executive Officer at VideoTakes, Inc. Chris has developed several projects at VideoTakes since joining the company in 2005, including the independent documentary Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives, which opened the 2008 DC Environmental Film Festival.
Chris has 25 years of experience producing more than 300 hours of original programming for prime time television and the large format film industry. His films have been broadcast on the Disney Channel, TBS Superstation, Animal Planet, Home and Garden Television, The Travel Channel, The Outdoor Life Network, the Public Broadcasting System and in the global system of IMAX theaters. Chris’s IMAX films include Whales, Wolves, Dolphins, Bears, India: Kingdom of the Tiger, Coral Reef Adventure, and most recently Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk.
Chris joined American University in August 2004 where he founded the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at the School of Communication. The Center for Environmental Filmmaking (CEF) is driven by the belief that environmental and wildlife films are vitally important educational and political tools in the struggle to protect our environment (click here to learn more about the Center for Environmental Filmmaking.)
In 1983, Chris founded the nonprofit organization National Audubon Society Productions, where he served as president and CEO for 11 years. In 1994, he founded the nonprofit National Wildlife Productions (part of the National Wildlife Federation, the largest conservation organization in the U.S.) Chris directed NWF's launch into broadcast, cable, syndication, home video, new media, large format and international markets.
Chris serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the International Wildlife Media Center and Film Festival, the Natural Resources Council of America, the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, the Media Group, BearTrek, the Environmental Film Festival in DC, the Population Media Center, the Philanthropy Network, and Green Planet Films.
Born in Hong Kong, Chris grew up in England and immigrated to the US in 1972. Before becoming a film producer, Chris was a naval officer, an energy analyst, a political appointee in President Jimmy Carter's EPA, and an environmental activist. He is the father of three grown daughters and lives with his wife of 32 years in Bethesda, Md.