Marjan Safinia is an Iranian documentary filmmaker whose films examine identity, community, and social justice. Most recently, and together with Grace Lee, she produced and directed AND SHE COULD BE NEXT, a two-part documentary series about women of color transforming American politics from the ground up, which debuted as POV’s first ever series in June […]
Tracy Rector comes to Nia Tero with a passion for amplifying and uplifting Indigenous and BIPOC voices. She brings two decades of experience as a community organizer, educator, filmmaker, film programmer, and arts curator, all infused with her deep roots in plant medicine. For the last 20 years she has directed and produced over 400 […]
Anuradha Rana is an independent filmmaker, educator, and program leader based in Chicago. Born and raised in India, her immigrant roots create the lens of a curious interloper at the heart of her films, where everyday characters push conventional boundaries. She is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Documentary Program at DePaul University’s School of […]
Lauren works on grantmaking in support of Nonfiction Multimedia Storytelling and Professional Nonprofit Reporting. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2012, Lauren worked as Project Manager and Researcher for the Rada Film Group on the 13-year longitudinal documentary American Promise about race, parenting, and education, which received a Special Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance […]
Maori is a curator, filmmaker and writer. She founded BlackStar and serves as its CEO and Artistic Director. She has organized programs in film at a myriad of organizations including Anthology Film Archives, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Underground Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. As a director, her works have screened internationally. […]
Darian Henry is a filmmaker, digital-media educator, founding member, and co-executive director of the nationally known film and digital media organization Youth FX. She has shot, directed, and produced over 50 short documentary, narrative, and experimental films. In 2016 Darian co-founded NeXt Doc, a year-long documentary fellowship designed to bring together emerging documentary storytellers between […]
Amber Espinosa-Jones is an independent producer and racial equity strategist from Oakland, CA. She currently serves as Manager of the Outreach & Inclusion Department at Sundance Institute where she supports artists from underrepresented communities through intersectional fellowships, community programs, and network building. She has worked with a number of arts organizations looking to support narrative […]
Sahar Driver is a documentary impact strategist and educator, field builder, and researcher. Her work has included impact campaign development and partnership cultivation for over two-dozen campaigns both as a freelancer and with Active Voice; developing trainings and curriculum around impact campaign strategy and implementation, including with Doc Society on their Impact Field Guide and […]
Rahi Hasan (they/them) is a formerly undocumented dancer, multimedia documentary artist, educator, and impact strategist challenging power on all fronts to create space for healing and radical imagination. They immigrated to Queens, New York from Dhaka, Bangladesh before moving to Durham, NC. Rahi was a Firelight Media Impact Producer fellow in 2018. Rahi is the […]
Day Al-Mohamed is a writer, independent filmmaker, and disability policy strategist. She is passionate about authentic representative storytelling and its ability to reframe history and promote culture. Al-Mohamed is author of two alternate history fantastical novels, Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn and The Labyrinth’s Archivist, as well as comics and critical essays, including, most […]