Sonia Desai Rayka (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker and cultural worker whose body of work explores political resilience and quiet beauty found in everyday life. She worked as an Associate Producer at Multitude Films on LIFE AFTER (dir. Reid Davenport), and contributed as an archival researcher on DIRTY POP (TIME Studios, 2024) and THE TURNAROUND […]
Sam Plakun has over a decade of experience in the documentary film space, working primarily in programming, festival management, and outreach. For seven years, Sam served as the Program Manager for The DC Environmental Film Festival, and has held positions with New Day Films, the Brooklyn Film Festival, DC/DOX Film Festival and the DC Shorts Film […]
3rd Impression is a data-driven digital marketing agency dedicated to independent film. This is their first year working directly for DOC NYC, but they have run digital FYC campaigns for many of its alumni including No Other Land, The Edge of Democracy, The Mole Agent and many more.
Francesca is DOC NYC’s Film Manager. With experience in both European and North American markets, she has shaped and supported initiatives that have fostered the growth of emerging filmmakers and created avenues for films to reach wider, global audiences. Working in the past for organizations such as the British Film Institute and Toronto International Film Festival, […]
Christine Kecher is an Emmy-winning documentary executive who most recently served as the Senior Commissioning Editor for Op-Docs, The New York Times’ series of short documentaries by independent filmmakers. While at the Times, she worked on films including 2022 Oscar winner The Queen of Basketball, 2025 Oscar nominee Instruments of a Beating Heart, 2024 Oscar […]
Julie McElmurry, M.S. M.A. creates infrastructure so documentary thrives. She helps independent documentary filmmakers get unstuck and manages behind-the-scenes logistics at film festivals. In 2016, she produced her first of seven short films on monastery life. Wanting to attend in-person filmmaking classes, she started the Charlotte Unconventional Film School, filling 800 seats with adult learners […]
Nicole brings her native New Yorker’s touch to Ramo Law PC’s bicoastal representation of Indie productions, writers, producers, and directors by leading the firm’s New York office. She represents numerous clients in projects with Netflix, Apple, Hulu and HBO such as Imagine Documentaries, Concordia and Push It Productions. As production counsel, Nicole Compas leverages her […]
Leah de Leon is an award-winning Filipina-American documentary producer and director based in San Diego, CA. She is driven by her innate curiosity about people and her love for travel, telling empowering stories that explore culture and identity around the world. Her recent short documentary, We Are Like Waves, was released with The Los Angeles […]
Ariel Baska is a multi-award-winning, multiply Disabled filmmaker, festival director, and speaker on advocacy and accessibility in film. They write, direct, and produce horror and documentary while centering authenticity and accountability. Ariel created Access:Horror, a film festival and industry summit designed to celebrate disability in the genre space. Access:Horror was recently recognized as one of […]
Annika Horne is DOC NYC’s Festival Coordinator. In addition to her work at the festival, Annika is also a filmmaker and singer. Her short documentary about women in aviation, Flying in the Dark, was supported by the Austin Film Society and premiered at the Austin Film Festival. It features the stories of women veterans from the Women […]