Join GSD students, alumni, and friends for a screening of “Bright Harvest: Powering Earth from Space,” a documentary that follows the incredible journey of three Caltech professors who came together over a decade ago to solve a problem: How do you power Earth from space, to provide an endless supply of clean, sustainable energy?
The film follows Caltech professors Harry Atwater, Ali Hajimiri, and Sergio Pellegrino on a captivating journey to the 2023 launch of the Space Solar Power Demonstrator and the success that followed. Their research was funded by philanthropist Donald Bren, Chairman of Irvine Company, who recalled reading about the potential for space-based solar energy as a boy in Popular Science magazine. In 2011, he approached Caltech with the idea of funding a bold research project with the hope of turning his childhood dream into a reality.
After the screening, Jerold S. Kayden, Founding Director of the GSD’s Master in Real Estate Program and Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design, will moderate a conversation with the filmmakers: producer Brigitte Bren and producer and director Steven Reich.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required .
Limited appetizers will be available in Piper beginning at 5:00 PM, before the screening.
Brigitte Bren
Brigitte Bren is a strategic leader and academic innovator with extensive experience in international business, corporate governance, and entertainment law. She is the co-founder of International Strategic Planning, Inc., a business consulting firm, and has held senior roles including Vice President of International Marketing at Mark Goodson Productions and of counsel at Arter & Hadden, where she founded the firm’s entertainment law division. Passionate about the real estate industry, Ms. Bren remains actively involved in the sector through both advisory and investment roles.
Ms. Bren has served on the board of public companies as well as prominent academic, scientific, environmental, and cultural institutions. Her board affiliations include Caltech, UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, Harvard University Master in Real-Estate Council, Harvard Global Advisory, Public Policy Institute of California, Think Together, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Harvard-Westlake Academic Advisory, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), and the Los Angeles County First 5 Commission.
Ms. Bren graduated from the UCLA College of Honors, where she was named Time Magazine Student of the Year. While in law school, she also launched and operated a film production company. Bright Harvest: Powering Earth from Space is her first documentary.
Steven Reich
Steven Reich is an award-winning writer, producer and director of Emmy nominated City Walk, California Coastal Trail and Emmy Award winner Lost LA for PBS SoCal. Writing and producing credits also include: Emmy nominated, Avalanche: The White Death, Return of the Wolf, Finding the Next Earth and Emmy nominated Alien Earths for National Geographic; Valley of the T-Rex for Discovery; The Liberty Bell for Independence Hall in Philadelphia; a series of short films, including George and Martha Washington: A 40 Year Romance for George Washington’s Mt. Vernon Estate and Gardens; Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor, Secrets Beneath the Ice and What will the Future be Like? for NOVA/PBS; and the Surgeon General’s Call to Action: Walking PSA for the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States.
He is a Communications Award Finalist for the Keck Futures Initiative sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and winner of the Chris Award and National Education Association Award for the Advancement of Learning Through Broadcasting. Reich is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and serves on the Board of Directors of Ocean View Farms Community Garden.
Questions? Contact [email protected].