Laren Poole

Co-Founder/Filmmaker

At 19 years of age, the San Diego native traveled to Uganda with Jason Russell and Bobby Bailey in 2003 for a filmmaking adventure, and returned with an unshakable ambition to expose the crisis and pursue a peaceful resolution to this decades-long conflict. As co-founder and filmmaker, Laren oversees the production of our creative media, web and print campaigns that fuse advocacy, development and youth culture to transform apathy into activism and end Africa’s longest-running war. He is also responsible for filming, producing, and editing the Feature Film.


Prior to creating the Rough Cut documentary, he studied Structural Engineering at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and lent his design expertise to Jedidiah Clothing Company. Poole is a recipient of the University of California Irvine (UCI) Human Security Award (2008), the Heartland Film Festival Pioneering Spirit Award (2007) and a Webby for Creative Activism (2007).