Filmmakers

Hassan Fazili created theater, documentaries, short films, and several popular television serials in Afghanistan. In 2011, he was selected by the British Council to attend Sheffield/DocFest for documentary filmmaking networking and training. His films Mr. Fazili's Wife and Life Again! both push the envelope on issues of women's, children's and… Show more disability rights in Afghanistan, and have screened and won awards at numerous international festivals. He also worked as a Location Manager for Feo Aladag’s In Between Worlds, which premiered at Berlinale 2014, and as a Camera Operator for the IDFA selection Voice of A Nation: My Journey Through Afghanistan. His documentary Peace in Afghanistan, made for national television, profiled Taliban commander Mullah Tur Jan, who laid down arms in favor of a peaceful civilian life. Show less

Erika Cohn is an Emmy award winning director/producer who Variety recognized as one of 2017’s top ten documentary filmmakers. Most recently, Erika completed The Judge, a film about the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a courts, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and will be broadcast on PBS’ 2018 Independent Lens… Show more series. Erika co-directed/produced, In Football We Trust, an Emmy award-winning, feature documentary about the unique faith and culture that ultimately drives young Pacific Islander men into the NFL, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS’ 2016 Independent Lens series. Her work has been supported by IFP, the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Institute, Hot Docs, Sheffield, ITVS, Women in Film, BAVC and the CPB Producer’s Academy among others. In 2013, Erika founded Idle Wild Films, Inc., which has released three feature documentaries and produced numerous branded content and commercial spots, including Gatorade’s Win from Within series, for which she received a 2016 Webby award nomination. Erika is also an avid photographer and served as a U.S. Ambassadorial Film Scholar to Israel/Palestine. 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

Neyda Martinez (Producer) is the communications strategist for public television’s documentary series, America Reframed. For 7 years, Neyda worked at POV supporting campaigns of over 65 acclaimed films. She earned an MPA from Columbia University in 2008. She was Director of National Engagement for PBS’ documentary, and she produced the documentary film… Show more Lucky. As a consultant, she’s served Hachette Book Group USA, NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Adult Education, and WNYC and NPR’s The Takeaway. She is on the board of directors of The Association of American Cultures, Women Make Movies and Bronx-based dance company, Pepatian. Prior board service includes of Third World Newsreel and NALIP/National Association of Latino Independent Producers. Show less

Danielle Varga is a creative producer in nonfiction and documentary film based in Brooklyn. She co-produced Kirsten Johnson's award-winning film Cameraperson which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and was released by Janus Films/The Criterion Collection. She most recently produced the short documentary Watched, which premiered at… Show more the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017. She was associate producer on Johanna Hamilton's documentary 1971 which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014, won an IDA award for archival footage, and was broadcasted on PBS's Independent Lens in 2015. She was archival producer on Matt Wolf's Teenage which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and distributed by Oscilloscope. Varga was a 2016-2017 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow. Show less

Loira Limbal (Director/Producer) is an Afro-Latinx filmmaker interested in creating nuanced and revelatory portraits of the lives of working class women of color. Her first film, Estilo Hip Hop, was a co-production of ITVS and aired on PBS in 2009. She is currently the Vice President and Documentary Lab Director at Firelight Media. Firelight is… Show more committed to making films about pivotal movements and people in American history. Recent productions include: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Freedom Summer, and Freedom Riders. Firelight's flagship program - the Documentary Lab - is a fellowship that provides mentorship, funding, and access to emerging filmmakers of color. Limbal is currently directing Through the Night, a feature documentary about a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, NY. Additionally, she co-produces and helms the popular monthly #APartyCalledRosiePerez. For over fifteen years, Limbal has worked in the non-profit sector with a focus on cultural production, access, and representation. 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 lives in the Bronx with her two children. Show less