Débora Souza Silva

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER

Débora Souza Silva is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work examines systemic racism and inequality. Her work has been featured on PBS, BBC, Reveal News, KQED, and Fusion. She received the Les Payne Founder's Award from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and was selected for a New York Times Institute Fellowship. Débora is a recipient of the 2021 Creative Capital Award, a member of the 2020 Chicken & Egg(celerator) Lab and the 2019 Firelight Media Lab. Her work has also been funded by Sundance, Glassbreaker Films, the Investigative Reporting Program, the Tribeca Film Institute, Fork Films, Perspective Fund, Catapult Film Fund, The Center for Investigative Reporting, Berkeley Film Foundation, DocPich, and California Humanities.

David Felix Sutcliffe

PRODUCER

David Felix Sutcliffe is a Sundance and Emmy Award-winning journalist and documentary producer and director. His debut film (T)ERROR, co-directed with Lyric R. Cabral, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, was broadcast on PBS Independent Lens and acquired by Netflix. He was a consulting producer on QUEST (POV, 2018), and CRIME + PUNISHMENT (Hulu, 2018). His work has been funded by the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Tribeca Film Institute, BBC Storyville, ITVS, the Bertha Foundation, Doc Society, and the Open Society Foundation. His films have been broadcast globally and translated into nearly 20 languages. David is a former Sundance Edit Lab, Creative Producing Lab Fellow, 2018 Soros Equality Fellow, and a 2017-2019 Pew Fellow.

Adina Luo

PRODUCER

Adina Luo is a filmmaker and media executive. As Director of Strategy at Participant, she has supported impact driven films like Judas and the Black Messiah, John Lewis Good Trouble, and My Name Is Pauli Murray. Adina is also the director, writer, and producer of The Kids Table, which screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and won at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival. Adina’s work has been featured in VICE, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Blavity, The Verge. With a background in venture and entrepreneurship, she enjoys projects that sit at the intersection of media, technology, and impact. Adina studied business at the Wharton School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

Contessa Gayles

CINEMATOGRAPHER

Contessa Gayles is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist, and an Emmy-nominated producer. From 2014 - 2018, she was a producer at CNN, where she created, produced, directed, shot and edited award-winning original series and documentaries, including "The Feminist on Cellblock Y," "Women Who March," "Women Who March: The Movement," "This Is Birth with Lisa Ling" and the 2016 News & Documentary Emmy-nominated "Feeding America's Most Vulnerable Children." Contessa has contributed to VICE, PBS, Al Jazeera, WIRED, AFROPUNK. She holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. in Journalism from New York University.

Sara Maamouri

EDITOR

Sara Maamouri is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and editor who has explored a diverse range of topics for 20+ years. Her work explores social, education, and political issues, from performing under extraordinary circumstances (The Music’s Gonna Get You Through, 2010) to rebuilding  in a former war zone (Amal’s Garden, 2012). Sara’s recent films include We Are Not Princesses (2018) and Peabody Award-winning film The Judge (2017). A multilingual Tunisian educated in New York and California, she brings cultural sensitivity to her editing and story development, creating impact-focused narratives. 

Loi Ameera Almeron

CO-PRODUCER

Loi Ameera Almeron is an documentary producer and video editor of award-winning documentaries based in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York. Documentaries she produced and edited have been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, NAACP Image Awards, and many international film festivals; and are available on PBS Frontline, AppleTV, Prime Video, HBO, The Criterion Channel, iTunes, National Endowment for the Arts, and Good Docs. Loi is a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, A-Doc, and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Tangelene Bolton

COMPOSER

Tangelene Bolton (she/her) is a Filipina-American, award winning film, TV, and media composer based in Los Angeles. Tangelene possesses a distinct music style that is a mashup of neoclassical, electronic, folk, and jazz. She got her start working for A-list composers such as Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Interstellar), Henry Jackman (X-Men, Captain America), and Bobby Tahouri (Game of Thrones, Iron Man). She is known for her scores from Netflix’s original series Warrior Nun (Season 2), Season 3 of Comedy Central’s Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, as well as Blumhouse’s thriller film Unseen. She wrote additional music for Sundance’s 2024 opening film Freaky Tales and also composed the music for Disney+’s Let’s Be Tigers and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Just a Thought. Tangelene loves deep and thought-provoking collaborations that push the envelope in storytelling and transforms the culture around us.

Toni Bell

ARCHIVAL RESEARCHER

Toni Bell is an archival researcher and the creator and host of the What's Up with Docs Podcast. Her foray into documentary film began when she wrote and edited the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers – West newsletter. This led to her first gig as a PA and then an archival researcher for the film, Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race, which was aired on PBS. Since then, she has conducted archival research for film and TV, including Centric's "Being," Belly of the Beast, and Hazing. She is an independent documentary consultant and has worked as Impact Strategist for Looky Looky Pictures. She worked on films such as Building the American Dream, Councilwoman, Through the Night, and And She Can Be Next. She has been a speaker, panelist, mentor, and juror at festivals and labs such as NALIP, Dok Leipzig, HotDocs, IFPWeek, Outfest, Docs by the Sea, and Big Sky.

Myah Overstreet

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Myah Overstreet is a graduate student at the School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, where she's studying documentary filmmaking. Her area of focus is on culture, environmental justice and healthcare inequities among marginalized communities and genders. She is a Bay Area native and a graduate of San Francisco State University's journalism program. After graduating with a bachelor’s of arts in journalism, and minor in English Literature, Myah started working as a full-time production assistant for Peter Nicks’ latest documentary and third film in a trilogy about Oakland’s public systems, HOMEROOM, and has freelanced for many other projects since.

Darah Gaines Martin

COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

Darah Gaines Martin is an NYC-based filmmaker and producer. She is the director of multiple short films, two of which, “Land of Chains” and “Warren I. Smith”, have been featured in various community screenings in New York. As a freelance storyteller, Darah has created and  collaborated on multiple projects across working as a producer, creative director, videographer, and editor. She is a practitioner of joy and exploration, on a mission to activate deep levels of self love and acceptance.  She is a graduate of Delaware State University, where she gained a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Advertising. Currently, Darah works as an associate producer at Little Light Productions under Independent Filmmaker, Luchina Fisher and as an associate producer on Thomas Allen Harris’ upcoming feature documentary film My Mom, The Scientist.

Featuring

• WANDA JOHNSON

• ANGELA WILLIAMS

Also Featuring

• ALICIA GARZA

• BARBARA JACKSON

• BEN CRUMP

• BRIAN WHITE

• CARMEN WOODS

• CEPHUS "UNCLE BOBBY" JOHNSON

• HELEN WILLIAMS

• JULIAN McPHILLIPS

• SHEILA BANKS

• TAMYRA SMITH DAVIS

• TONYA JONES

• ULYSSES WILKERSON

• UNITY LOVE WILKERSON

Written by

• DÉBORA SOUZA SILVA

• SARA MAAMOURI

• DAVID FELIX SUTCLIFFE

Co-editor: DAVID FELIX SUTCLIFFE

Associate Producers

• MYAH OVERSTREET

• DAVID MAGDAEL

• VINCE JOHNSON

Contributing Producers

• AUBREY ADEN-BUIE

• LISA KLEINER CHANOFF

• MEGAN GELSTEIN

• STEPHEN MAING

• THEODORA DUNLAP

• YVONNE WELBON

Additional Photography

• ADINA LUO

• ANGÉLICA EKEKE

• ANISSA LATHAM

• GABRIELLA GARCIA-PARDO

• ISABEL CASTRO

• JASON O'BRIEN

• JEB BRACKNER

• MEL ALEXANDER

• MITCHELL TONG

• NICHOLAS EMERY

• RAZAQ KADRI

• SYLVESTER FOLKS

• TERY WILSON

• ZURI OBI

Drone Cinematography

• DAVID FELIX SUTCLIFFE

• YORAM SAVION

Story Consultants

• ANAYANSI PRADO

• JACQUELINE OLIVE

Consulting Editors

• CARLA GUTIERREZ

• GLADYS MURPHY

• MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRALL

• PAUL MARCHAND

• SABRINA SCHMIDT GORDON

• STEPHEN MAING

Assistant Editors

• JESSICA JONES

• JOEBILL MUÑOZ

• LOI AMEERA ALMERON

• NICOLE AMYX

• SELENE ALMERON

Archival Researcher: TONI BELL

Graphic Designer: JAMILA NICOLE SURPRIS

Poster Designer: YEN TAN

Copy Editor: NADIA WYNTER

Humanities Advisor: CHRISTEN A. SMITH

Live Vocals Performed by: JORDAN JOHNSON

Unit Stills Photographer: LYNSEY WEATHERSPOON

Color by: JESSE SPENCER

Sound Recordist: JEREMY BURNS

Additional Sound

• MANUEL ANTONIO BUESO

• RACHEL MUELLER

Audio Post Production: DISHER SOUND

Sound Editor & Re-recording Mixer: PAUL ZAHNLEY

Sound Designer: BEN HICKS

Assistant Sound Editor: TOM DISHER

Additional Sound Design: WILLIAM SAMMONS

Music Supervisor: ALLISON WOOD

Field Producers

• SYLVESTER FOLKS

• ANISSA LATHAM

• JEREMY MINES

Production Assistants

• ALEX LUO

• ARI ARROYO

• BETTY MÁRQUEZ ROSALES

• CHEYENNE GONZALEZ

• DARAH GAINES MARTIN

• ELIJAH EZEJI-OKOYE

• JOSE LUCERO

• KORA VANDERVALL

• LORIN ELENI GILL

• MANUEL ANTONIO BUESO

• PHUONG KAGAN

• RACHEL MUELLER

• ROHULLAH NAJIBI

Production Support: KALONJI GILCHRIST

Fact Checking

• ANDY YOUNG

• LOI AMEERA ALMERON

Made Possible with the Generous Support of

• ATHENA WORKS IN PROGRESS

• BERKELEY FILM FOUNDATION

• CALIFORNIA HUMANITIES

• CATAPULT FILM FUND

• CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

• CHICKEN & EGG PICTURES

• CREATIVE CAPITAL

• DocLANDS DocPITCH

• FIRELIGHT MEDIA

• FORK FILMS

• FULL FRAME GARRETT SCOTT DEVELOPMENT GRANT

• GLASSBREAKER FILMS

• GOTHAM WEEK (FORMERLY IFP)

• HOT DOCS PITCH FORUM

• INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION

• INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING PROGRAM

• PARE LORENTZ DOCUMENTARY FUND

• PERSPECTIVE FUND

• REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

• SFFILM

• SISTERS IN CINEMA

• SUNDANCE INSTITUTE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAM WITH SUPPORT FROM LUMINATE

• TIDES FOUNDATION

• The deNovo Initiative

• TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE

• UCLA DOC LAW FILM CLINIC

Special Thanks to

• ALLEN SHEALY

• ALLISON WOOD

• BETH SHELBURNE

• CINDY GLENN

• ELISA GAMBINO

• ESTHER SCHUSTER

• ETHAN SCHLENKER

• KEN SCHNEIDER

• JULIE PARKER BENELLO

• LINDA GUTIERREZ

• LISA KLEINER-CHANOFF

• MARIA JOANA SOUZA

• MEGAN GELSTEIN

• NIEMA JORDAN

• THE OSCAR GRANT FOUNDATION

• PASCALE BOUCICAUT

• PATTY QUILLIN

• RODRIGO REYES

• RYAN COLLIGAN

• SHAINA SHEALY

• WARREN MARTINS

Thanks to

• AARON HIGGANS

• ABBY GINZBERG

• ABIGAIL E. DISNEY

• ADAM MARSHALL

• ADRIAN L. BURRELL

• ALAN BECKER

• ALEX J. BLEDSOE

• ALEX SKOZEN

• ALEXANDER KELLISON

• ALISSA BLACK

• AMANDA PIKE

• AMBER ESWANI

• ANDRA DAY

• ANDRÉS CEDIEL

• ANDREW CATAURO

• ANGELA MATTOX

• ANGELA TSAY

• ASHLEY O'SHAY

• BONNI COHEN

• BRETT CONNOR

• CAI THOMAS

• CARRIE LOZANO

• CATHERINE OLSEN

• CB DAHL-SMITH

• CHLOE WALTERS-WALLACE

• CINDY CHOUNG

• CRYSTAL ARAUJO

• CRYSTAL KAYIZA

• DALE COHEN

• DAN MAYEDA

• DANA MERWIN

• DANIEL CHEIN

• DANIEL LARIOS

• DOROTA LECH

• EMILY COHEN IBAÑEZ

• EMILY HARGER

• EMILY HOOVER-FINNIGAN

• ESTHER ROBINSON

• FAMILIES UNITED 4 JUSTICE

• FATIMA AHMED

• HAJNAL MOLNAR-SZAKACS

• HUSSAIN CURRIMBHOY

• IAN OLDS

• ISABELLA MILLER

• IVA DIMITROVA

• JAAD ASANTE

• JAKE YUZNA

• JAVIER BRIONES

• JEFFREY EVANS

• JEN NELSON

• JENNI WOLFSON

• JENNIFER CRYSTAL CHIEN

• JOAQUIN ALVARADO

• JOÃO CARREIRA

• JOHN LIGHTFOOT

• JOHN MIKULENKA

• JOHN TEMPLE

• JONI COOPER

• JOSÉ RODRIGUEZ

• JOYY NORRIS

• JUDITH HELFAND

• JULIA GUNNISON

• JULIANA DELGADO

• JUSTINE NAGAN

• KAMESHA LAURRY

• KAT VECCHIO

• KATE SEROTA

• KENNY BROWN

• KIERRA LEWIS

• KRISTA FABIAN DeCASTRO

• KRISTIN MOLLOY

• LARISSA de SOUZA MARTINS

• LAUREN KAWANA

• LEX SLOAN

• LISA ZYCHERMAN

• LOIRA LIMBAL

• LORALEE SUNDRA

• LOWELL BERGMAN

• LUCAS GUILKEY

• LUCHINA FISHER

• LUCIE KROENING

• LUCILA MOCTEZUMA

• MARCIA SMITH

• MATTHEW BERNSTEIN

• MELINA TUPA

• MELISSA SILVERSTEIN

• MICHAEL GIBBONS

• MICHELLE HAMADA

• MILTON TABBOT

• MOLLY JOHNSON

• MONIKA NAVARRO

• MORGAN HULQUIST

• NAEEMA JAMILAH

• NELS BANGERTER

• NICO OPPER

• NIKKI HEYMAN

• OAKLANDISH

• OAKSTOP

• OLIVIA MERRION

• PAOLA MOTTURA

• POH SI TENG

• RACHEL (RAE) de LEON

• RACHEL RAKES

• RACHEL WITTE

• RASHID ZAKAT

• REBECCA CELLI

• REGINA EMILIANO

• RESITA COX

• THE ROXIE THEATER

• RYANAUSTIN DENNIS

• SABINE FAYOUX CANTILLO

• SADIE TILLERY

• SAMANTHA VERHEY

• SARA ZIA EBRAHIMI

• SARAH ANDERSON

• SARAH MATTHEWS

• SCOTT MORRIS

• SET HERNANDEZ RONGKILYO

• SONIA DUARTE

• STANLEY NELSON

• STEPHANIE WANG

• STEPHANIE WELCH

• STEPHEN HOBBS

• SUNDANCE

• TAMARA PERKINS

• TEREZA SIMIKOVA

• THERESA ADAMS

• THOM POWERS

• TYLER JONES AND 1504

• WENDY ETTINGER

• XIMENA AMESCUA

• YVONNE WELBON

Bookkeeping by

• BRUCE WRIGLEY

• ELLEN ELMORE

• MIRA SIMON

• SUSI WALSH

Fiscal Sponsorship by

• CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY

• KOVNO COMMUNICATIONS

Legal Counsel by

• LAVERNE BERRY

• REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

• UCLA DOC FILM LEGAL CLINIC

• YALE LAW SCHOOL