Liz Scherffius is a regional Edward R. Murrow award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist. She is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, and has written and produced films, series, and short docs for Nat Geo Wild, History Channel, Netflix, PBS American Experience, and the BBC, among other outlets. In these roles, she filmed with wildlife in remote corners of Alaska, gained exclusive access to official inquiries into unidentified aerial phenomena in South America, investigated the economic forces driving the War on Drugs, shed light on rural coal mining communities struggling with opioid addiction, and uncovered archives to bring renowned historical figures to life. As a trained data journalist, she worked alongside investigative teams at ProPublica, WNYC, and The New Yorker to examine suspected transnational money laundering, government corruption, and complex distribution networks. Her work has taken her across the United States and internationally.
Liz was a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellow, and also directs independent short films. Her most recent documentary, This is My Home, centers on an immigrant seeking sanctuary and resisting deportation in a rural Colorado church (RT 17min). The film premiered as a 2019 Official Selection of the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado in the event’s most popular short film series. As a BBC video journalist based at the North America bureau, she covered breaking news, immigration, civil liberties, housing insecurity and gender equality— often as a one-woman band. And as a producer for the award-winning PBS program Arizona Illustrated, she covered science and the environmental stories, including drought and the Colorado River negotiations. Originally from southwestern Montana, Liz pursued Latin American Studies as an undergraduate at Pitzer College and studied indigenous movements, state-sponsored violence, and energy development in the Brazilian Amazon. She began her journalism career as a foreign correspondent in Argentina and Ecuador, where she covered natural disasters, civil unrest, and ongoing litigation surrounding the Chevron-Texaco oil spill, among other stories. Liz received her Master's degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism documentary program specialty in December 2017. Liz also enjoys xc skiing, cycling, and taking her rescue dog, Mia, on sunset hikes.