BIO
Finn Ryan is a film director and media producer whose work focuses on stories of empowerment and revitalization around community, conservation, and the outdoors. He produced media with Grassland 2.0, a project to support managed grazing in agriculture. He recently directed Ogichidaa Storytellers, a series of short films featuring Lake Superior Ojibwe treaty rights. Previously, Finn directed We Are Healers, a video project to inspire Native youth to become health professionals, and The Ways, a series on contemporary language and culture from Native communities around the central Great Lakes. He also produced and directed the Emmy Award winning Climate Wisconsin, a collection of multimedia stories and interactive data exploring local climate change impacts. Finn worked as a high school special education teacher and co-founded an outdoor education program. He has a degree in special education and English, and a master’s in curriculum and instruction focusing on culturally relevant pedagogy, all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
COLLABORATORS / CLIENTS
Ruth Arts Foundation
Center for Global Environmental Education - Hamline University
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe
Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin
Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe
National Wildlife Federation
Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
Rosetta Stone
Grassland 2.0
Oregon Health Sciences University
Bon Iver
American Public Health Association
Northwest Portland Indian Health Board
Wisconsin Humanities Council
Mayo Clinic
Center for Healthy Minds
UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Wisconsin Public Radio
Center for Courage & Renewal
FEATURED / AWARDS
Wild & Scenic Film Festival
RESONATE Podcast Festival
The Great Northern Festival
Wisconsin Film Festival
Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
Fresh Coast Film Festival
Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography at Harvard University
Environmental Film Festival at Yale
Eaux Claires Music Festival
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Film Festival
Vision Maker Film Festival
Tales From Planet Earth Film Festival
PBS Online Film Festival
Science Museum of Minnesota
Royal Museum of Ontario
To The Best of Our Knowledge - American Public Media
Climate Reality Project
2025 Golden Badger Award - Wisconsin Film Festival
2015 Webby Award Nominee - Online Documentary Series
2011 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award
2011 World Press Photo Nominee - Multimedia