ROXANNE GRIFFITH | producer
Roxanne graduated from the University of Toronto in 2016 with an Honors Bachelor of Science. In school, she was the producer of the student-run theatre company, the Victoria College Drama Society. Roxanne moved to Los Angeles and graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2021 with an MFA in producing. Roxanne has extensive production experience, having produced multiple short films in and out of AFI and is currently working on multiple projects.
JORGE G. CAMARENA | co-writer/director
Jorge G. Camarena is a writer/director born in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he majored in Communication Sciences. He is currently finishing an MFA as a Directing Fellow in the AFI Conservatory, class of 2021. His work has been reviewed by recognized media such as Rolling Stone, Directors Notes, Remezcla, Billboard and VICE. He has been nominated for several awards including a nomination for Best Video at the Latin Grammy Awards, 4 nominations for the MTV Video Awards and Best Video IMAS. He is in development on his debut narrative feature.
VICTOR GABRIEL | co-writer
Growing up in poverty, Victor Gabriel realized that water in cornflakes doesn't taste as bad as you think it would. He wandered without a home before eventually ending up in Compton CA. Now as a black male writer/director and recent MFA graduate of AFI Conservatory, he has turned to filmmaking as way for him to wrestle with his own suffering as well as the suffering of others. He holds an MA in Clinical Psychology and has been working as a Marriage and Family Therapist with survivors of trauma in Compton/Watts/South Central for the past several years. His short film Black Boys Can’t Cry, is currently being shown in festivals. His favorite movie is Richard Donner’s Superman. He likes Red Vines and thinks Twizzlers are trash. Big years.
KADRI KOOP | cinematographer
Kadri is an Estonian DP sharing her time between LA, NYC & EU. She has a background in documentary filmmaking and loves to work in the intersection of documentary and fiction, often fusing the two sensibilities in her approach to cinematography. Kadri thrives in foreign production climates and her work has taken her all over from the US to Europe and Asia. Kadri holds a graduate degree from Stanford University in documentary film and from the American Film Institute in cinematography.
ESMÉ CRUZ JACKSON | production designer
Esmé Cruz Jackson received her bachelor's in Industrial Design from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. She fulfilled her liberal arts credits at Columbia University in New York, where she studied film and anthropology. Post graduation Esmé worked as a project manager for a set shop specializing in televised events. She worked on everything from TEEN MOM to the VMA’s. Eventually getting the narrative bug she started designing her own shorts; FELL and CASUALTIES are currently touring the east coast festival circuit. Prior to AFI Esmé spent a season on the Art Department for ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. She now works on FOR ALL MANKIND for Apple TV+.
MENGYAO MIA ZHANG | editor
Mengyao Mia Zhang is a graduate of the American Film Institute with an MFA in editing. After working on some projects in China, she moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Film Institute, where she was mentored by the great editor Anne Goursaud. Her editing work has played numerous film festivals, including LA Shorts International Film Festival, USA FIlm Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, among many others. Mia thinks of movies as a medium to speak for society, and she takes pride in assisting aspiring directors to achieve that.
KASE PEÑA| story editor
Kase is an award-winning New York City born filmmaker. She’s a trans woman of color, the offspring of working class parents from the Dominican Republic. She’s the first Trans Latinx Woman to join the Writers Guild of America. Kase is a current Netflix/LALIFF Directing Fellow and is in pre-production on her feature Trans Los Angeles, starring legendary trans icon Carmen Carrera and Stephanie Beatriz of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Her feature screenplay I Love Hate is the recipient of The Sundance Institute Launch Grant. HBO has picked up distribution rights to two short films written and directed by Kase: Full Beat and Trabajo. Lastly, Kase has been the recipient of some of the most acclaimed Fellowships in the industry, including The Latino Lens Narrative Shorts Incubator, Film Independent Project Involve, Women-In-Film, the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative, among others. Sony Pictures Entertainment named Kase their Diversity Fellow for 2019.
DIEGO RANGEL | composer
Diego is a multi-instrumentalist composer, producer, solo artist and one of the founding members of the Mexican popular indie rock band Porter. He has played large festivals like Coachella and Vive Latino. Porter has been nominated to multiple Latin Grammy’s and is one of the leading bands in the latin indie music scene. Diego is currently touring the world with Porter and are finishing their next album. He is also working on his solo project and producing other indie artists.