Kristine Stolakis is a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker dedicated to creative, complex, and character-driven storytelling. Her films have played at festivals internationally, including Hot Docs International Film Festival, Frameline, and Anthology Film Archives. Her work has also been featured in news outlets including Mother Jones, Buzzfeed, and NPR affiliate KALW in San Francisco. Kristine holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from New York University. Kristine proudly hails from central New York and North Carolina.
Johanna Obenda was born in Cape Town, South Africa and considers Dallas, Texas "home." A senior at the University of Alabama, she is studying History and French with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013, Johanna co-produced her first short documentary film, “Black Noise,” which explores the lives of three deaf, black individuals in Alabama focusing on the concept of identity.
Chris Jones was raised in the rural northern California town of Placerville and credits his upbringing in the Sierra Nevadas for teaching him the importance of environmental stewardship, wilderness preservation and resource conservation. Since receiving his BA in Film Studies from UC Berkeley in 2012, Chris has worked in film production and is currently a graduate student in Film & Television Production at Loyola Marymount University.
Zoe Gieringer is a Portland-based filmmaker with an interest in documentaries that raise awareness of social and environmental issues. Her short documentary on gentrification in Berlin, “Make It Trendy,” premiered at the Rheinische Landes Museum in Bonn and was later shown at the OpenEyes Film Festival in Marburg. Zoe received a BA in Film and Television Production from Loyola Marymount University in 2014.
Carlos Estrada graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree focusing on film production, film history, and poetry. His first documentary, “Undocumented,” a short about the impact Alabama law had upon two illegal immigrants, won ‘Best Student Film’ at Sidewalk Film Festival. He currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama as a videographer and editor for the non-profit organization Impact Alabama.
A native of Ashford, Alabama, Mindy Keeley received her BA in Anthropology at the University of South Florida. Upon graduation, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa developing HIV/AIDS youth education projects in her community. Mindy received an MFA in Documentary Film at Wake Forest University in 2014. Her thesis film, "The Possum Drop," was screened at a variety of film festivals and won second place in the documentary short category at Knoxville’s Film Festival.