THIS FILM KILLS FASCISM:
Filmmaking for Civic Engagement

Maya Cueva is an award-winning director and producer for films and radio. Her work has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, Latino USA, Spotify, The Atlantic, Teen Vogue, and National Geographic and her films have screened at SXSW, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Full Frame Documentary Festival, and DOC NYC. Her short documentary, THE PROVIDER, won an Emmy at the College Television Awards via the Television Academy Foundation in 2015. Maya’s other short animated documentary ONLY THE MOON premiered at Full Frame Documentary Festival in 2019 and won Best Animated film at the Official Latino Film and Arts Festival. Maya was also a recipient of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, part of the Tribeca Film Institute, in 2019. She was a 2019 Sundance Ignite Fellow, a North Star Fellow part of the Points North Institute, a 2019 Film Independent Documentary Lab fellow, and a fellow at the Jacob Burns Film Center. Her first feature documentary, ON THE DIVIDE, was also selected to be part of the
Tribeca Film Institute's StoryLab in 2020. She is currently a 2020 BAVC MediaMaker fellow.

Crystal Kayiza was raised in Oklahoma and is now a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” she is a recipient of the Sundance Ignite Fellowship, Jacob Burns Film Center Woman Filmmaker Fellowship and Points North Institute North Star Fellowship. Her film, EDGECOMBE, which received the 2018 gold plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival, was an official selection of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival where it was acquired for distribution by PBS. Her most recent film, SEE YOU NEXT TIME, which aired on Starz, was an official selection of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released by the new yorker. Crystal received a Heartland Emmy Award in 2012 for her film all that remains, which profiles Boley, Oklahoma, one of the nation's last all-black towns.

Elizabeth Lo is an award-winning filmmaker. She was named one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" by Filmmaker Magazine in 2015 and was featured in the 2015 New Directors Showcase at Cannes Lion. Her work has been broadcast and showcased around the world, including at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, New York Times Op Docs, Hot Docs, DOK Leipzig, PBS’ POV, and BAMCinemafest. Her debut feature documentary is STRAY.

Darcy Heusel is VP of Audience Engagement and Impact at NEON. She also co-heads SUPER LTD, NEON’s boutique distribution division. She has worked on the acquisitions, distribution, and traditional and social impact marketing for independent films across the last decade. Before joining NEON, Darcy was Senior Vice President of Impact at Picture Motion, a marketing and advocacy firm for social issue films. In this role, she built and executed national social action campaigns for narrative and documentary projects including THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE, AMERICA DIVIDED, FED UP, FRUITVALE STATION, and AMERICAN PROMISE. Prior to Picture Motion, Darcy served as the Director of Programming and Marketing at Constellation.tv and the Director of Acquisitions and Marketing at Screen Media Films.

Opal H. Bennett has been a festival Programmer since 2014. She curates for DOC NYC and Athena Film Festival and is Shorts Producer at POV.  Starting out as a festival volunteer for the first Sundance London Film Festival, she now curates film year round. Opal joined Athena Film Festival, where she is Senior Programmer, in 2016 and DOCNYC, as Shorts Programmer, in 2015. In January 2020, she became Shorts Producer at American Documentary's POV and in July 2020, she was named Director of Artist Development at DOC NYC. Opal has also worked with IFP, Aspen ShortsFest, Over-The-Rhine Film Festival and the March on Washington Film Festival. Opal has served on juries for SxSW, HotDocs, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Seattle International Film Festivals and IndieMemphis Film Festival among others. She’s also served on the shorts selection committees for Cinema Eye Honors and the IDA. Opal has participated on various selection committees for film programming and grants.  A Columbia Law grad, Opal holds a Masters in Media Studies from the LSE, and received her B.A. from New York University.

Florencia Varela is the Senior Campaigns Manager at Peace is Loud, a nonprofit organization that advances transformative social justice through storytelling. At Peace is Loud, she manages impact campaigns for documentary films, leading their strategy and implementation efforts. She has worked on campaigns for films such as Knock Down the House, Women War & Peace II, The Bleeding Edge, and The Hunting Ground. WIth over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Florencia honed her partnership, development, and outreach skills at organizations such as PEN America, Nitehawk Cinema, the Rubin Museum of Art, the Poetry Society of America, and the New York Philharmonic. Florencia is also a published poet, and was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina.