OUR TEAM

Katja Esson  ( Director/Producer )

is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker based in Miami. She is known for her character-driven documentaries tackling race, class, and gender. Her documentary short Ferry Tales garnered awards at international film festivals, was nominated for an Oscar and premiered on HBO in 2004. Other notable films include: Hole in the Sky - The Scars of 9/11; Skydancer; and Poetry of Resilience (Cinema for Peace Award Nomination). She was awarded the Simons Public Humanities Fellowship at Kansas University and her films have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, American Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ann Bennet  ( Producer )

is an Emmy nominated documentary filmmaker and multimedia producer. She produced the NAACP Image Award-winning PBS documentary, ‘Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People,’ as well as the multi-platform community engagement initiative, ‘Digital Diaspora Family Reunion (DDFR).’ Bennett’s credits include; Citizen King and Fisk Jubilee Singers for the PBS series “American Experience,” Hymn for Alvin Ailey for “Dance in America,” and the award-winning PBS mini-series Africans in America and America’s War on Poverty. She was a consulting producer on “Always in Season” (directed by Jacqueline Olive) 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Bennett is a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Harvard College.

Corinna Sager  ( Producer )

is an international, award-winning director/producer. She produced Katja Esson’s Academy Award nominated short documentary “Ferry Tales”, which was broadcast on HBO and ARTE, and “Poetry of Resilience”, which received support from the National Foundation for the Arts and was nominated for the Cinema for Peace Award at the Berlinale. Corinna founded and led “Stories from the Field”, the United Nations Documentary Film Festival focused on the Millennium Development Goals in partnership with the UN Department of Public Information and The New School. Since 2010 Corinna has also taught and developed courses at Pace University’s Digital Media and Communications Master’s Program. Most recently she created “Let’s Be Frank”, a discussion series focused on the challenges of America’s ‘melting pot’, which she is currently developing to become a regular series.

Ronald Baez ( Producer - Miami )

is a Caribbean-American screenwriter, director, and award-winning immersive media artist from Miami, FL. His most recent film project, SCENES FROM OUR YOUNG MARRIAGE, premiered at the Borscht and Miami Film Festivals, before being distributed PBS Broadcasting and Seed&Spark Online SVOD. Baez was awarded the Fledgling Fund's Rapid Deployment Grant in 2018 for his doc series about global warming and sea level rise in Miami, KING TIDE. Hew also received the NAB Futures Innovator's Award in 2019 for his ongoing immersive reality projects produced in collaboration with the University of Florida's MET Lab. He also serves as the Artistic Director of the After School Film Institute, a nonprofit organization mentoring at risk, inner-city students in South Florida.

Hector David Rosales ( Cinematographer )

is a Cuban cinematographer based in Miami. His work has been showcased at the Sundance Lab Miami, Clermont Ferrand, Vancouver Film Festival, Documenta Madrid, Havana Film Festival. In 2014 he won the special Jury Price at the 'Feria Internacional Cubadisco' for his work as director/DP at the documentary “De Que Van...Van”. In 2017 he won Best Photography at the Festival 'Muestra Joven ICAIC' in Havana for his work on the documentary “Bateria” (Director: Damian Sainz).  He recently filmed the award-winning narrative short “Me 3.769” (Director: Elaine del Valle) which premiered at the Miami Film Festival and aired on HBO in 2019; as well as “Hapi Berdey Yusimi In Yur Dey“ (Director: Ana Alpizar), a short film commissioned by Borscht, Miami.

Flávia de Souza ( Editor )

edited AFTERSHOCK, winner of the Impact for Change Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022. She was also the editor of the Academy Award-nominated short documentary OPEN HEART, and the Emmy Award-winning film ARMED WITH FAITH. Her work also includes BOYCOTT, NAILA AND THE UPRISING and SONG OF LAHORE. Flávia has been a mentor for the Karen Schmeer Diversity Program and an advisor for the Brown Girls Doc Mafia's Feedback Loop. She received a MFA in Photography and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts.

Gary Gunn ( Composer )

is an acclaimed composer who has collaborated on countless award-winning projects across film and multimedia, including cutting edge exhibitions at the Smithsonian, Palais De Tokyo, LACMA, TED, & SXSW. He is the composer of the Peabody Award winning TV series David Makes Man (HBO Max) and has scored several Grand Jury Prize winning documentaries including SXSW's 2022 winner, Master of Light. His singular artistic perspective has garnered attention from leading luminaries, including being selected for Oprah's Super Soul 100 list.

Shannon Sea ( Additional Music )

Born and raised in Miami, Shannon Sea is a Bahamian-American composer, sound artist, and sonic activist.  Her compositions are deeply influenced by the avant-garde aesthetic, electronic music, Taoism, and her Afro-Caribbean roots.  Sea's works explore themes of nature, spirituality, Afro-futurism, and self-exploration.  In her music, she seeks to create sound worlds that fuse together acoustic and electronic means of expression.  Sea has composed music for theatre, dance, and ensembles.  Most recently, she composed the score for the theater play Lauf und bring uns dein nacktes Leben in Darmstadt, Germany. 

Inez Barlatier ( Singer / Writer Credit Song )

is an international touring musician, actress and teaching artist of Ayisyen (Haitian) descent. Songwriting and performing since the age of 10 years old, she produces memorable and dynamic experiences. Inez’s work has been featured in television, radio, news publications, independent films and notable performance conferences. Her most cherished work is an interactive children’s show entitled Ayiti: Stories & Songs from Haiti, co-produced by Dandelion Artists. Inez’s music is inspired by restorative justice, spirituality and a life-long passion for multicultural music, wisdom and history.

Executive Producers

Grace Lay and Sumalee Montano

Sally Joe Fifer and Lois Vossen

Sheri Sobrato and Lisa and Matthew Sonsini

Anja Murmann and Sabine Schenk

Leslie Fields-Cruz

Jody Allen

Megan Gelstein

Contributing Producers

Robina Riccitiello

Blaine and Esther Vess

Fork Films

Supervising Producer ITVS

Shana Swanson

Line Producer

Sabine Schenk

Supervising Editor

Toby Shimin

Miami Producer

Ronald Baez

Consulting Producers

Kareem Tabsch

Alex Fumero

Impact Producer

Julia Steele Allen

Editors

Susanne Schiebler

Leigh Johnson

Additional Editor

Amina Megalli

Associate Editor

Hector David Rosales

Additional Music

Matthias Falkenau

Consulting Editors

Sam Pollard

Shelly Westerman

Jean Tsien

Sandra Chris'e

Florencia Portieri

Story Editor

Ricardo Acosta

Graphic Design and Animation

Caresse Haaser

Additional Camera

Jose Luis Ocejo

1st Assistant Editor

Evan Mills

Assistant Editor

Francesca Sharper

Lead Story Editor

Sabine Hoffman