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LIDIETH AREVALO is a Salvadoran award-winning multimedia producer with a commitment to impact the world and use audiovisual media to evoke change, and promote diversity, inclusion, equity and justice for all. She specializes in non-fiction storytelling, digital media and documentary filmmaking. Some of her most recent films include Mojosito and Me (2021), Growing in the Shadows (2020) for PBS and the Latino Public Broadcasting’s Latinos Are Essential campaign series, Alpharaoh (2019), and Sin Raiz (2015). A DACA recipient herself, she is an active leader of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective (UFC), which aims to assert the talent and expertise of undocumented filmmakers in the artistic landscape. Lidieth holds a MFA in Documentary Filmmaking from Chapman University’s Dodge College, and a B.A. in Film and Electronic Media Arts from CSU Long Beach.
NIRAV BHAKTA (He/Him) is an award-winning Director/Actor/Writer. While growing up as an undocumented immigrant in motels, Nirav utilized the restraints of his environment and geographical boundaries to create with what he had. Nirav’s background in story telling extends from Architecture to the North Indian classical dance form of Kathak. Due to the lack of authentic roles and experiences as an actor, Nirav began creating zero budget short films focusing on the immigrant experience. His films have screened on platforms such as HBO, CBS, Disney+hotstar and a number of festivals such as Outfest, and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
TANIA DOMINGUEZ-RANGEL (She/Her) was born in Mexico City and raised in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated with a joint Bachelor’s degree in Romance Studies and Film Production from Harvard University in 2021. She has written on Latina culture and entertainment for Her Campus Media and Stories from the Border. Her work in film includes cinematography for the short film Mangobaby, featured in Southern Fried Queer Pride’s inaugural film festival in Atlanta, as well as writing and producing Dia de los Muertos: A 25 Year Retrospective for Milagro’s Season 38 Day of the Dead Celebration. She explores Latinx cultural history, migration, and internet culture, through various creative mediums. She is currently based in Portland, OR.
Keni Guillen (she/her) is a film director and interdisciplinary artist based in Queens, New York. Her cinematic practice engages the space between documentary, autobiographical cinema, and fiction.
In the past, her work has been a journey of addressing the wounds of migration, intergenerational trauma, and the desire to find processes for personal integration and healing. An Open Society Fellow and a Define American fellow, Keni’s films and installation work have been exhibited in Rooftop Films, El Museo De Los Sures, Open Society Foundations, Ícaro Film Festival, amongst others. In 2022, she was selected to be a part of PlayLab Films’ APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL LAB: FILMING IN THE AMAZON.
Keni is also a co-founder and curator for Tierra Narrative, a production house dedicated to the curation of art and the creation of new narratives through transnational productions between the Central American diaspora and the isthmus.
RAHI HASAN (they/them) is a formerly undocumented cultural organizer, educator, impact strategist and a multimedia artist experimenting with ways to challenge power on all fronts and create space for healing and radical imagination. They immigrated to Queens, New York from Dhaka, Bangladesh and lived there for 14 years before moving to Durham, NC. Rahi completed their BA/MA in Philosophy of Law from Queens College prior to completing their certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Rahi’s work spans autobiography, collaborative social documentary, experimental video, installation, reflective/theoretical discourse, and text-based approaches. Rahi has directed documentaries and provided videography support for numerous local social justice organizations, including the Durham Solidarity Center, the Inside-Outside Alliance, Durham For All, Jewish Voice for Peace-Triangle NC, FeedDurham and Southerners On New Ground. In their role as the Digital Media Director for the NC State Parks for 4 years, they have created hundreds of short videos, including one that aired on UNC-TV. Rahi was a Lewis Hine Documentary Fellow, BRIC Media Share grantee and Firelight Impact Producer Fellow. They are also the co-founder of Art Asylum (a collective dedicated to “reducing isolation among folks who struggle with mental health) and the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective. Rahi is also one of the board members of Migrant Roots Media.
CARLOS IBARRA (He/Him) is an award winning creative producer, writer, director, and actor. He has over 10 years of experience in the film industry working across development, financing, production, and management. He oversees projects from their inception through completion- he develops projects, creates strategy, puts together a cost-effective production, runs the set, and delivers a high quality product that achieves its true potential. Previously, he worked as Head of Development at 141 Entertainment. While at the company, he sourced and reviewed scripts for film and TV projects, pitched content ideas, maintained client relationships, and contributed to the creative production of projects. Company projects include: Ingrid Goes West, Marjorie Prime, and Sesame Street, Palestine.
Carlos is the founder and CEO of FutureSelf Media, a boutique media company specializing in film and TV development and production. Carlos actively works on films, commercials, new media and music videos either as a director, producer, line producer or production manager.
Born in the Philippines and brought over at the age of 2, Paolo Rein is an emerging Writer, Film Director, and Activist local to Carson, California, and the greater South Bay LA Area. Having grown up undocumented with immigrant parents and dabbling in the gutters of gang life but not affiliated, Paolo's early exposure to such unjust ubiquitous systems that exploit communities, keeping their populations impoverished or imprisoned, have greatly influenced his perspective in narrative filmmaking and music. Inspired by the society around him, he aims to tackle colorism, representation on film, mental health, mentorship, and social and political themes through diverse established world-building narratives. He challenges associated assumptions limited by the audience's perception of specific displayed images and sounds that correlate to our everyday archetypes but are stereotyped into pre-labeled narratives engrained by current networks in power.
His last short film, ‘F.Y.I.,’ which premiered at the 2022 Philidelphia Asian American Film Festival, deconstructed the triumphs and pitfalls of an undocumented Indian Asian as they navigate both their film career and homesick anxieties set in a terminal political climate. Additionally, as a member of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective and his various contributions towards immigrant rights, he has continuously advocated for immigrants and formerly incarcerated individuals to explore their narratives in the film entertainment world. Whether introducing talent on set with a darker complexion to developing fantastical narratives in tandem with social affirmation, Paolo has provided experience(s) and education to those seeking to work in an industry that has long denied a community of creatives.
NICOLE SOLIS-SISON, is an artist, producer, educator and creative director. Solis-Sison’s work focuses on cultural equity, diversity and sustainability in digital discourse across the art, media and film industries. Her emphasis in digital content strategy has paved the way for brands and talent agencies to streamline their content in emerging markets serving as an educator at General Assembly and creative director for Matter Media Group. Currently, she is a co-producer for the documentary Undocumented Justice, about the first DACA lawyer, Luis Cortes Romero, to argue a case before the nation’s Supreme Court directed by Mo Morris. She is a founding member of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective. Her passion for shaping the future sustainability in the fashion industry inspired her to create the installation Zero Waste Cart, sponsored by Yerba Buena Center of the Arts and San Francisco’s Urban City Planning. She has collaborated in developing the first augmented reality dressing room application for Gap in partnership with Google that premiered at CES 2017.
Solis-Sison received her BFA at University of California, Berkeley. She is the recipient of the 2016 Eisner Award for the Highest Achievement in the Arts. More recently, Nicole is a 2022 Define American Fellow and Sundance Asian American Collab Fellow.www.nicolesolissison.com/
MARIO TORRES TORRES (they/them) is a Purepecha Indigenous filmmaker and organizer based in Tongva Land, Los Angeles, CA. Born in Michoacan, Mexico and immigrating at the age of six has shaped the stories they tell. Sitting around a campfire drinking café de olla and listening to elders pass down their stories sparked their curiosity in the art of storytelling.
Now, they are pursuing a career as a Film Producer and Sound engineer to continue the work of great creatives that push the boundaries of media. Their aim is to provide a restorative platform to dismantle the lack of diversity and amplify representation in visual culture. In 2018, Torres Torres received a B.A. in Television, Film and Media Studies from Cal State LA and is a leading member of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective.
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