Filmmakers

Ursula Liang is a journalist who has told stories in a wide range of media. She has worked for The New York Times Op-Docs, T:The New York Times Style Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, Asia Pacific Forum on WBAI, StirTV, the Jax Show, Hyphen magazine and currently freelances as a film and television producer (Tough Love (POV), Wo Ai Ni Mommy (POV), UFC Countdown, UFC Primetime)… Show more and story consultant. The New York Times described her debut feature 9-Man as “an absorbing documentary.” The film won numerous awards, including the CAAMFest 2015 Grand Jury prize, and aired on public television’s America ReFramed series. Liang also works for the film publicity company, the 2050 Group, is a founding member of the Filipino American Museum and sits on the advisory board of the Dynasty Project. Show less

Loira Limbal (Director/Producer) is an Afro-Dominican filmmaker and DJ interested in the creation of art that is nuanced and revelatory for communities of color. She is the Senior Vice President of Programs at Firelight Media. Firelight is committed to making films about pivotal movements and moments in the U.S. Firelight's flagship program - the… Show more Documentary Lab - is a fellowship that provides mentorship, funding, and industry access to emerging filmmakers of color. Limbal’s current film, Through the Night is a feature documentary about a 24 hour daycare center. Through the Night was part of the 2019 Sundance Edit & Story Lab and was selected for world premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Her first film, Estilo Hip Hop, was a co-production of ITVS and aired on PBS in 2009. Additionally, she co-produces and helms the popular Brooklyn monthly #APartyCalledRosiePerez. Limbal received a B.A. in History from Brown University and is a graduate of the Third World Newsreel's Film and Video Production Training Program. She is a Sundance Institute Fellow and a former Ford Foundation Justfilms/Rockwood Fellow. She lives in the Bronx with her two children.  Show less

Bing Liu moved from China to Alabama to California to Illinois before he was eight. He received a B.A. in English literature from UIC in May of 2011. Since July 2011, Bing has been a member of the International Cinematographer's Guild, working on projects including Shameless, Empire, and Chiraq to fund his documentaries. In 2015, his short film about two… Show more Vietnamese immigrants, Nuoc, won Best Directed Documentary at the Collected Voices Film Festival. Since September 2015, Bing has been a Story Director and DP for a documentary mini-series on race and education directed by Steve James. He has taken his directorial feature, Minding the Gap, through Kartemquin’s Diverse Voices in Documentary, Tribeca All Access, Firelight Media’s Producer Lab, and Chicago Media Project’s DOC10 pitch session. Show less

Ted Passon is an award-winning director and video artist. He has directed episodic series for Netflix and Disney. He is a 2016 Sundance Lab Fellow, a recipient of the Pew Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship Grant, and a 2016 Headlands Artist in Residency. He has exhibited his award winning short films in festivals and galleries around the US and abroad… Show more including exhibitions by the Whitney Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and 96 Gillespie in London. Show less

Daresha Kyi: Daresha writes, produces, and directs film and television in Spanish and English. In 2018 she directed "Trans In America: Texas Strong" as part of an ACLU web series on transgender rights, which won two Webbys, garnered over 2 million views on YouTube, and premiered at SXSW in 2019. She also directed a series of shorts for the Family… Show more Independence Initiative about their work empowering families to escape poverty. In 2017 she co-directed the multiple award-winning film, "Chavela." Currently a Chicken & Egg and Creative Capital fellow, this former Firelight Documentary Lab fellow has produced programming for FX, WE, AMC, Oxygen, E!, Telemundo, Bravo, and FUSE, among others. Show less

Zeshawn Ali was born and raised in Ohio. He moved to New York to study film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he concentrated on directing and cinematography. He directed the short film Shallows and short documentaries for the 30 Mosques series which were featured in festivals and publications across the country. He's currently based in New York.