DIRECTOR & PRODUCER

Tsanavi is a Northern Arapaho and Northern Paiute nonfiction film director, producer and writer. Her short films have screened on Alaska Airlines, at the National Museum of the American Indian, The Redford Center, art museums and PBS affiliates. Currently, she is in production on her first feature-length film titled HOLDER OF THE SKY. She holds a Master of Journalism degree from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus in documentary film. She was a 2022 Sundance Humanities Sustainability Fellow, First People’s Fund Fellow and SFFilm FilmHouse Resident. Spoonhunter is now a Firelight Media fellow and Woodstock Film Festival Resident.

PRODUCER

Ciara is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) filmmaker, whose work has shown at festivals around the world including Sundance and Berlinale as well as on Netflix, PBS, ABC, Al Jazeera, and the Criterion Collection. In the digital space, she has created content for the Guardian and the Atlantic Online. She was the inaugural Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellow as well as part of the inaugural class of NATIVe Fellows at the European Film Market. Ciara holds a BA in Psychology from Yale University and has given talks at academic institutions across the U.S. She is a 2022 Sundance Momentum Fellow.

PRODUCER

Cristina is an Emmy award-winning director. She directed the Emmy-nominated documentary MUCHO MUCHO AMOR, which premiered at Sundance in 2020. She also directed 2018 Sundance Festival Favorite SCIENCE FAIR. The film won an Emmy, Critics’ Choice Award and is now being adapted into a narrative feature for Universal and a series for NatGeo. Cristina’s first animated film, The New Yorker's THE ORIGINALS, tells the story of her larger-than-life Italian landlords through itty bitty miniatures built by her talented husband and co-director Alfie Koetter. The Wisconsin native is a Yale grad who now lives in California and serves as an EP of HBOMax's MENUDO:FOREVER YOUNG and a partner at Muck Media.

CINEMOTOGRAPHER

Christian is an editor, cinematographer and producer. He received a Master of Journalism degree at UC Berkeley in 2020, reporting on mass incarceration and the pandemic. Since then, he has worked on productions for HBO Max, Netflix and Viceland. His award winning documentary, FITE (2017), is currently screening in prisons across California. He served as a producer on award-winning documentary WHAT THESE WALLS WON'T HOLD. In addition, he is working on Jessie Deeter’s HOOF DREAMS, a feature- length documentary set to premiere in 2024. Collins serves as HOLDER OF THE SKY’s director of photography and a field producer.

CONSULTING PRODUCER

Cassandra is an award winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. Her films have been nominated for three national Emmy awards and have screened at numerous film festivals, including SXSW and Sundance. She directed and produced the Emmy-nominated documentary TULIA, TEXAS, co produced with ITVS and broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens. Some of the issues her work has explored include the legacy of Native American child welfare policies, and the interplay between music and politics. Cassandra teaches visual journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she received her master's degree.

HUMANITIES ADVISOR

Dr. Azocar is a citizen of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe and a Professor of Journalism at San Francisco State University. She serves as the faculty advisor to SKINS (Student Kouncil of Intertribal Nations). Dr. Azocar served as a past president of the Native American Journalists Association, directed the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism, was a former editor of American Indian Issues for the Media Diversity Forum, and was an inaugural board member of the Women’s Media Center. She is the author of News Media and the Indigenous Fight for Federal Recognition, and is currently working on a new book, Decolonizing Media Research.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Laura is an Australian writer, documentary researcher, and publicist based between Brooklyn and Mexico City. She has written for various publications, such as Business Insider, The Long Now Foundation, and VICE World News. Previously, she served as the communications lead for two non-profits: Electronic Frontiers Australia, a digital rights organization, and Unharm, a grassroots movement promoting drug law reform.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Zhiwei is a video producer, journalist, and photographer from Beijing, China. Feng has produced short-form documentaries for Reuters News Agency's Beijing bureau and the short documentary This Earth: Planting China's Great Green Wall. He specializes in archival research, investigation, social media outreach and production assistance. Currently, he is studying towards a master's degree at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, focusing on visual storytelling.