Susan Todd and Andrew Young are Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmakers and the founders of Archipelago Films, a New York-based production company. Together, the team has produced, directed, photographed and recorded sound for numerous award-winning films on social and environmental topics. Currently, the team is in production on a National Geographic Special about monarchy in the 21st century - a portrait of cutting edge kings and queens who are redefining what it means to be a monarch.

Their most recently completed production is Glacier Bay: Alaska's wild coast (54 mins.), a film about the stunning wildlife of Glacier Bay and southeast Alaska for The Living Edens series on PBS. The story follows the lives of brown bears, bald eagles, humpback whales, seals and salmon as they struggle to survive and reproduce admits a magnificent but harsh landscape. The film is airing during the fall 2001 season on PBS.

Last year, Todd and Young completed Americanos: Latino Life in the United States (82 mins.), a feature documentary celebrating the rising influence of Latinos and Hispanics in America, which they directed and photographed for HBO and Olmos Productions. The film premiered on HBO in May, 2000 and at the Sundance Film Festival 2000, where it earned Young the Award for Excellence in Cinematography.

In 1999, the team created Saving Africa's Forests (8 mins.), an HDTV theater presentation on the Congo rain forest which they produced, directed and photographed for the Wildlife Conservation Society's new Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit at the Bronx Zoo. The piece was awarded Best Non-Broadcast Film at the International Wildlife Film Festival 2000, where it also received a Special Merit Award for Cinematography. The film was also a finalist in the non-broadcast category at the 2001 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

In 1998 Young and Todd produced and photographed Madagascar: a world apart (54 mins.) for ABC/Kane Productions' The Living Edens series on PBS. Presenting a kaleidoscope of rare and unique creatures, the film is a portrait of the stunning diversity of this remarkable island. The film received four Emmy nominations and won two, for cinematography and music. The film also received the award for best cinematography at the 1999 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

In '97 the team directed and photographed It Ain't Love (58 mins.), a powerful documentary about teenagers and dating violence. Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, the film follows the young spirited members of a gutsy improv theater company as they create a show about abusive relationships that boldly draws on their own fractured love lives. The film was awarded Best of Festival at the Windy City Documentary Film Festival and received a Golden Apple from the National Educational Film and Video Festival. It premiered on HBO/Cinemax in October '97.

In '96, Young and Todd produced, directed and photographed Cutting Loose (90 mins.), a feature-length film about the New Orleans Mardi Gras, for French and German Television. Following a veritable gumbo pot of lively characters though Mardi Gras season, the film explores the human need to cut loose and be free of the problems of everyday life. Cutting Loose was awarded the Filmmaker's Trophy and the Cinematography Award at the '96 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Golden Spire at the San Francisco Film Festival.

The team directed and co-produced the '94 Academy Award nominated Children of Fate (85 mins.). Revisiting a family filmed by Andrew's father, Robert Young, in 1961, Children of Fate spans three generations in a notorious Palermo slum. The film is a dramatic story of one woman's struggle to keep her family together despite a legacy of poverty, crime and violence. Children of Fate received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the '93 Sundance Film Festival, as well as top awards at many international festivals. Andrew and Robert Young received the Sundance Award for Excellence in Cinematography for their camera work in Children of Fate. The film has played theatrically in over 30 cities and had its US television debut on HBO/Cinemax. It has also aired on the Sundance Channel.

In '93, the team directed and produced Lives in Hazard (57 mins.), a film about kids in L.A. street gangs and the men they become in the California prison system. Narrated by actor/director Edward James Olmos, the documentary follows the making of the feature film American Me, where Olmos directed real gang members and prison inmates as actors. After showing at the Denver, Mill Valley, and Sundance Film Festivals, Lives in Hazard had its broadcast premiere in April, '94 as an NBC Television Special. The film was introduced on the air by President Clinton. It was nominated for a Director's Guild of America Award, '95. It received the Best of Classroom and Golden Apple Awards at the '94 NEFVF.

In '91, Young and Todd produced and directed The Spirit of Kuna Yala (60 mins.), a lively portrait of the Kuna Indians of Panama as they unite to protect their rain forest homeland, Kuna Yala, and the traditions it inspires. The film received the '91 Earthwatch Film Award, as well as numerous festival awards including NEFVF's Golden Apple and AFVF's Red Ribbon.

From 1983 to 1985 Young worked as a media consultant to the World Wildlife Fund - U.S., where he produced, directed, and photographed three short films about South American wildlife and conservation. One of these, Amazonia: a celebration of life, premiered on National Geographic Explorer and was selected by the MacArthur Foundation Library Project as the best short film on tropical biodiversity.

Apart from doing camera work on his own films, Young is often hired as a freelance cinematographer. He did extensive shooting on David Attenborough's landmark series The Trials of Life. His credits also include numerous shoots for National Geographic, the BBC, Nova, Nature and Green Umbrella.

Todd and Young both graduated from Harvard College in '83. Todd also holds a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University. She was born in Coronado, California in 1960. Young has a Master's degree in Anthropology from Yale University. He was born in New York City in 1960.