Elam S. Stoltzfus (born 1957) is an American environmental documentary filmmaker.
Early life
Stoltzfus was born into an
Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
family of nine in Pennsylvania in 1957. During his later teens Elam left the Amish community, purchased a car and a camera. He first attended
Chipola College
Chipola College is a public college in Marianna, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System.
History
The school was founded in 1947 as Chipola Junior College; its name was changed in 2003 after the college developed several bachelor's ...
Stoltzfus is devoted to working on nature documentaries in Florida and has traveled all over the state documenting stories of Florida's varied environment. He has made five hour-long nature documentaries, with the genesis for this work beginning with the half-hour "Visions of Florida: the Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher" produced in 1990. He first met
Clyde Butcher
Clyde Butcher (born September 6, 1942) is an American large-format camera photographer known for wilderness photography of the Florida landscape. He began his career doing color photography before switching to large-scale black-and-white landscap ...
as the cinematographer for the project Visions of Florida. This was his first award-winning project; he received a
Louis Wolfson
Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 – December 30, 2007) was an American financier, a convicted felon, and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by ''Time'' as such in a 1956 article.aquatic preserves located around the state. His next project was "Apalachicola River: An American Treasure" on the iconic waterway of the Florida panhandle. After this he completed " Big Cypress: The Western Everglades" featuring Clyde Butcher's backyard. Following this was " Kissimmee Basin: The Northern Everglades". As a way to tie all of these Everglades projects together, he was a member of the four-team expedition group, the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition. The team traveled 1000 miles in 100 days from the Everglades to the
Okefenokee Swamp
The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee ...
. This journey was documented in the film of the same name and garnered Stoltzfus a Suncoast Regional
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in the Documentary category.
According to Walton Outdoors, Stoltzfus is currently working on a project involving Walton County's Coastal Dune Lakes as "bringing awareness to helakes is key to helping preserve our environment... we are fortunate now to have an educational documentary in the works." The film was featured on PBS' Public Television Earth Day weekend in 2015.
Personal life
Elam Stoltzfus married his wife, Esther Yoder Stoltzfus in 1985. Together, they have two children, Nicholas and Lars.
Awards and honors
In 2010 Stoltzfus was recognized by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission for documenting wildlife in the state of Florida.
In May 2013, Stoltzfus was invited to speak at Florida State University's Spring Commencement Ceremony. That year, governor
Rick Scott
Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019.
Scott ...
recognized Elam and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition team for their efforts to aid in conservation.
In 2014, Stoltzfus won a Suncoast Emmy in the category of best documentary for the Florida Wildlife Corridor film. He received both the 2014 Conservation of the year award by the Florida Wildlife Federation
at the Annual Awards Banquet in Naples, Florida, and the 2014 Sierra Club of Florida Cypress Award for Conservation Education.
Filmography
* ''Great Florida Cattle Drive'' (2017)
* ''Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida's Emerald Coast'' (2015)
* ''Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition: Everglades to Okefenokee'' (2013)
* ''Kissimmee Basin: the Northern Everglades'' (2012)
* ''Photoshop Made Simple by Clyde Butcher'' (2010)
* ''Big Cypress Swamp: Western Everglades'' (2009)
* ''Will McLean: Songs about Florida'' (2007)
* ''Our Legacy: Florida Communities Trust'' (2006)
* ''Apalachicola River: an American Treasure'' (2006)
* ''Our Signature: the Wild and Scenic Loxahatchee River'' (2005)
* ''Living Waters: Aquatic Preserves of Florida'' (2004)
* ''Visions of Florida: Photographic Art of Clyde Butcher'' (1990)