Biography

A film director, visual artist, educator and entrepreneur, Paula has had a long and notable career in the arts, education, and entrepreneurship. As Co-founder & CEO of Chicago Media Project, she guides 50+ members in the philanthropic support of social impact documentary films. In addition to CMP, she oversees the CMP Invest/Impact & CMPAC equity funds, which provide equity investments in documentary films with commercial appeal. Paula is a member of the Gamechanger film fund, whose mission is to finance and produce feature films directed by women.

In the field of education Paula has developed and implemented unique curricula in media, the arts and impact at the graduate and undergraduate level, most recently for Saybrook University where she launched a Social Impact Media Specialization within their Transformative Social Change MA degree program. Prior to co-founding CMP, Paula was the Founding Academic Dean of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy (TFA), where she developed and implemented an intensive, immersive BA degree program in filmmaking, recording arts, graphic design, animation, and game design.

As a filmmaker, she has directed 12 films and over 20 media projects. Her directing credits include her feature-length documentary, 'The Show Must Go On: An Intimate Portrait of the Flying Wallendas' which screened at numerous festivals and is distributed by MVD Entertainment Group. She is currently in development on several documentary projects.

As an entrepreneur, in addition to CMP & TFA, she has been involved in the founding of several startups including Opal Pictures design & film production company (2004-pres) and Atavistic Chicago (1988-2006).
- IMDb mini biography by: Paula Froehle

A producer, director, visual artist, educator and entrepreneur based in Chicago, Paula is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chicago Media Project (CMP) - the innovative multifaceted philanthropic community of documentary film lovers who believe in the power of media to bring about social change. Within CMP, Paula guides over 50 members in the philanthropic support of social impact films and filmmaker sustainability. She also co-manages CMP's equity fund Chicago Media Project Invest/Impact (CMP I/I) that invests in commercially viable documentaries.

Paula has overseen more than $4.5 million dollars of grant and equity funding for numerous documentaries including the Sundance 2019 hits KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE (Netflix) and ONE CHILD NATION (Amazon) as well as the top-grossing biopic of all time WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (Focus Features), THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED (Tribeca 2018), THE FOURTH ESTATE (Showtime) and STEP (Fox Searchlight), to name a few. She served as an executive producer on THE INFILTRATORS (Sundance 2019), 306 HOLLYWOOD (Sundance 2018) and FLY. Paula also co-produced the powerful documentaries BLUE WALL, TROPHY (CNN Films), VOYEUR (Netflix) and the 2017 Academy Award-winning documentary ICARUS.
- IMDb mini biography by: Chicago Media Project