OUR TEAM

Alex Albers is an experienced documentary editor whose work has premiered on PBS, Fox Sports, Netflix, Amazon Prime as well as film festivals across the country and around the world.  Their passion is character driven documentary filmmaking rooted in social change.  They currently live in Philadelphia.

They have collaborated on a variety of documentary projects including the 10-part Netflix crime series MAKING A MURDERER: Season 1 (2015),  Academy Award Winner, RESTREPO (2010), Emmy-nominated & Seattle International Film Festival Audience Award winner, Q BALL (2019), and the 2019 Oscar shortlisted and Emmy-Winning Netflix film FIRE IN PARADISE (2019).  They cut PERFECT SWEAT, a documentary travel series about bathing culture around the world, TRASH & BURN, a short documentary about the impacts of environmental racism on the community of Chester, PA, and they are currently preparing for the release of COMPLICATED, a documentary feature they cut about children with the complex and underdiagnosed illness, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, who are struggling to navigate a broken medical system.

In addition to longer form documentary work, Alex specializes in short form video content, specifically short documentary, promotional videos, event highlight reels, and music videos.

They are an alumni of Sarah Lawrence College, where in 2008 they received their BA in Liberal Arts with an area of focus in film production. 

Stephanie Bursese has worked as a collaborator, strategist, designer, organizer and project manager with numerous national and local foundations, institutions, funders, and international artists for the last 20 years. She has extensive experience working between academic, institutional, and non-profit systems. Her collaborative approach centers on relationship building and advocacy for proper compensation, uplifting all forms of labor and experience. Bursese is also a multidisciplinary visual artist exploring how psychological systems effect behavioral patterns. She received her B.F.A from the University of Florida in Photography/Art History and an M.F.A. in Photography from Syracuse University.

Kami is a multi-disciplinary artist, visual designer, and neurodivergent community organizer. They are  passionate about making art and creative experiences accessible to all, and love fostering community connections through storytelling and collaborative projects. Outside of work, you can often find them dabbling in ceramics, obsessing over pink things, or exploring new ways to engage with their community.

Ashley Darrisaw is a freelance graphic designer and UX designer with a B.A. in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University. She has created many publications, brand identities, and poster designs. Her passion lies in designing promotional material for various creative mediums. In addition to being a designer, she is a massive independent music and film fan and collector.

Bedatri studied literature and cinema in New Delhi and attended graduate school at Tisch School of the Arts. She has worked extensively with documentary films, particularly in the areas of program management and commissioning. She was most recently the Managing Editor of Documentary magazine, and is a programmer with DOCNYC and SFFILM. An alumna of the NYFF Critics Academy, Sundance and SXSW Press Inclusion Initiatives, the National Critics’ Institute, and Berlinale Talents, she shuttles between New York City and Philadelphia, and can often be heard on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. She is presently The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Arts and Entertainment Editor.

Erick Barragán Ramírez is an immigration specialist at Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia, PA. In addition to being an avid cinephile he serves as a board member for the Association of Mexican Business Owners of Philadelphia. With a background in law studies in Mexico, he came to the US in 2017 and actively volunteers at various organizations supporting immigrants in Philadelphia, including the Welcoming Center, the Consulate of Mexico, and the online radio Philatinos

Ireashia Bennett is a Philadelphia-based filmmaker and writer whose work takes the form of new media and multimedia essays. They are currently pursuing an MFA in Film and Media Arts at Temple University.

Kristal Sotomayor is a bilingual Latinx documentary filmmaker, festival programmer, and

freelance journalist based in Philadelphia. Currently, they are in post-production on Expanding

Sanctuary, an independent short documentary about the historic end to police surveillance

organized by nonprofit Juntos and the Latinx immigrant community in South Philadelphia. 

Kristal is a 2020 DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab, 2020 IF/Then North Shorts Resident and Grantee, 2020 Justice For My Sister Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab Fellow, 2019 Good Pitch Local:

Philadelphia grantee, 2018 Leeway Foundation Art & Change grantee, and 2017 NeXtDoc

Fellow. They serve as the Programming Director of the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival and are

a Co-Founder of ¡Presente! Media.

Formerly, Kristal was the Communications and Outreach

Coordinator at Scribe Video Center. Kristal’s journalistic background includes having written for ITVS, AL DÍA, WHYY, and Documentary Magazine. They are a recipient of the Sundance

Institute Press Inclusion Initiative, TIFF Media Inclusion Initiative, the inaugural International

Documentary Association (IDA) Magazine Editorial Fellowship, AARP Freelance Fellowship at

NLGJA | The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, and the Lenfest Next Generation Fund.

LaDonna is a horror and science fiction nerd with a love for food, art, and social justice. Originally born and raised in Dallas, Texas, they’ve called Philly home for over a decade. They have a B.A. in Religious Studies from Penn, and plans to start a Masters of Education program soon.

Larisa Kingston Mann is a researcher, writer, teacher and DJ for 25 years.

Her research investigates illegal cultural practices, questions of surveillance and intimacy especially in relation to culture, copyright law and colonial ideas of ownership and power, and sound system epistemologies.

She is an Assistant Professor at Temple University (Klein College of Media & Communication), and a cofounder of SubversionPHL, member of 24hrPHL.

Based in the dynamic city of Philadelphia for over 29 years, Oskar Castro is a magnetic people & culture professional and personal growth coach with over 30 years of experience guiding individuals of all ages through their career and personal life journeys. Hailing from South Jersey, Oskar’s Puerto Rican heritage profoundly influences his identity and connection to his cultural roots. In addition to his HR expertise, Oskar’s passion for public speaking is complemented by his love for art and various creative forms of communication. As an artist utilizing diverse mediums, he brings his vibrant personality to his work.

(1954-2023)

Robert Cargni specialized in technical expertise, programming, and logistics for free standing venues and festivals across North America.

Over the years, Robert worked for and alongside numerous legendary moving image institution projects—including overseeing the build-out of the cinema at the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem in New York City, NY.

For nearly 30 years, Robert served as the film programmer, projectionist, and theater and gallery manager for International House Philadelphia (which closed its doors in December 2019).

Robert created film programming for the University of Pennsylvania Museum with its accompanying exhibitions. In the last year, Robert programmed Unfinished Business: Unseen Films, Unheard Stories A Film Series for the Penn-Cinema & Media-Studies. The first two evenings were presented in-venue, and later the remaining three programs were online presentations engaging guests and graduate students from the School of Arts and Science.

Check out this wonderful remembrance of our dear friend

Sarabella Rocha was born and raised in Philadelphia where they went on to get an Associates Degree in Fashion Design from F.I.D.M. Los Angeles. After building experience there for six and half years in costume for films and events, ballroom gowns, and Sumahrie Collections fashion she moved to Brooklyn, NY to further study tailoring at Martin Greenfield Clothiers. She apprenticed at Joseph Genuardi’s Hoboken tailor shop for two years and worked as a tailor at American Thread Dry Cleaners in Tribeca. After three years in NYC she then finished a fourth year of apprenticeship with Frank Shattuck in Upstate NY. In the year 2020 during the pandemic the artist came back to her hometown to re-engage in tailoring with their acquired experiences. The artist currently has a painting/tailor shop at the Mt. Airy Art Garage.

Sarah Mueller is a cinephile, a life-long learner and (very proud) 22 year community-rooted resident of Philadelphia. Since achieving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production from the University of the Arts in 2006, she has been deeply immersed in her art and social change practice of raising up the next generation of producing People-centered cinema. 

Sarah has had the great honor of working for and serving alongside some of Philadelphia’s most esteemed independent media institutions including (but not limited to)—Scribe Video Center, BlackStar Film Festival (for 6 years), Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and PhillyCAM.

Intrinsic to her life-long work is the notion that having the ability and access to create and experience deep and diverse depictions of one’s various identities on-screen is a basic human right. She supports the abolition of police, prisons and ICE and believes that film is an effective instrument for the dismantling of white supremacy and creating a wholly-equitable society, where empathy and tolerance flourish.

She proudly calls West Philly home.

Sophia Abraham-Raveson graduated with a B.A. in English and Africana Studies from Haverford College in 2018. She is passionate about showcasing diverse narratives in both literature and film. Sophia has worked with BlackStar Film Festival and directed the Tri-Co Film Festival, and she is excited to be working on the cinéSPEAK journal. In addition to her film festival and editing work, Sophia is committed to learning about and practicing restorative and transformative justice. In her free time, she writes essays and stories, dances, and plays with her kitten (Babka).

Vernon Jordan, III is a Philly-born ‘n raised writer, filmmaker, and poet. As an Afrofuturist, he reflects and expands upon African American memories, dreams, hauntings, queer kinship, and intimate fluidity; his priority is the merging of the visual and the musical: a Visual Lyricist, as it were. A graduate of Muhlenberg College (’16), with a B.A. in a self-designed major called Black Voice & Cultural Studies, his thesis film See My Dreams Come True has played at over five US-national and international festivals, including Blackstar Film Festival.

In 2019, Vernon completed a Screenwriting MFA from Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema; and in addition to advancing to a final consideration round at Sundance New Voices Youtube Episodic Lab, he has acted in short films hosted on HBO/Tribeca + Hulu,  served as a panel moderator on Black film curation and preservation at New York’s Upside Film Festival, based in Harlem, and co-wrote/directed a short film called DEEP CUTS (in post-production).  In 2020, his feature film script IGBO LANDING advanced to Semi-Finalist at Screencraft Scifi & Fantasy Screenplay competition. 

Vernon has led screenwriting workshops, masterclasses, staged readings, and  lectures at colleges and universities across the East Coast, and has since returned home to Philly as a Teaching Artist. His film work lives on Vimeo, while his short stories, prose and poetry have found homes with Black Youth Project, Huffington Post, The Establishment, Linden Avenue Literary Journal, and Catapult Community. 

He models with WeSpeak Models, and  is in Pre-Production for a short film, ii. ONE MAGENTA AFTERNOON.

Wazhmah Osman is an assistant professor in Temple University’s Department of Media Studies and Production and a faculty member in both the Master of Science in Globalization and Development Communication program and the PhD program in Media and Communication.  She is a faculty affiliate of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) program, as well as the South Asia Center at University of Pennsylvania.

Osman earned her PhD in 2012 from New York University, where she studied Media, Culture and Communication. She is also a graduate of the Culture and Media program in Anthropology.

She is currently writing a book that analyzes the impact of international funding and cross-border media flows on the national politics of Afghanistan, the region and beyond. Osman is also researching how new technologies of war, violence and representation, predicated on old colonial tropes, are being repackaged and deployed during “the war on terror.” Her critically acclaimed documentary, Postcards from Tora Bora, has been shown in festivals around the world.

Her research and teaching are rooted in feminist media ethnographies that focus on the political economy of global media industries and the regimes of representation and visual culture they produce.