COLECTIVO: A Miranda Family Fellowship & Tribeca Studios Filmmaker Program

MARIA MEALLA was raised in La Paz, Bolivia on a healthy balance of cultural folklore and Catholic superstition. She moved to Austin, TX where she studied Theater Arts before moving to the Bay Area, where she ventured into filmmaking and taught herself the craft through work-trade. She is currently Head of Production at Glass and Marker, a full-service creative studio in Oakland, California. Mealla is a 2022 Sidewalk Narrative Labs Fellow. Her latest project in development, BODY SHOP, was selected as a finalist in the 2023 Tribeca Untold Stories competition and the 2024 NALIP Accelerator program. Her short film LA MACANA, won HBO's 2023 Pa'lante Competition. Most recently, Maria was selected as a Latino Public Broadcasting grantee for her short film JUANA PELOS, which is currently in its festival run screening at festivals across the country.

Edna Diaz is a Mexican-American filmmaker based in Austin, TX. Her work aims to center the experiences of women and highlight the humanity of underserved communities. Most recently, she co-directed the short documentary SANGRE VIOLENTA / SANGRE VIOLETA with Arturo R. Jiménez, which won an audience award at SXSW. Edna produced Kenya Gillespie’s film GIVE and Nicole Chi’s latest project, LOS MOSQUITOS, winners of the Gotham Film & Media Institute’s sixth annual Student Short Film Showcase, in partnership with Focus Features and JetBlue Airlines. Edna is the recipient of the 2023 LPB Latino Emerging Filmmakers Fellowship and a fellow of the 2023 NOFS Southern Producers Lab. Her work has screened at ShortFest, HollyShorts, the Guanajuato International Film Festival, and other prestigious festivals.

Andrew J. Rodriguez is an Afro-Caribbean filmmaker from the Boogie Down Bronx, dedicated to centering the voices of the working-class through character-driven stories. With empathy and curiosity, Andrew crafts narratives that go beyond survival—stories that capture the strength, resilience, and full humanity of people too often defined by their struggles rather than their dreams. He often reimagines the world through the lens of speculative fiction, using it to highlight the complexities of our lives and the shared pursuit of deeper understanding within the community.

Andrew's work has been showcased at Lincoln Center, the Tribeca Film Festival, and NewFest Film Festival. In 2019, His pilot, PLUS, won the Tribeca Sloan Discovery Award, and he was later named the 2020 Valentine and Clark Emerging Filmmaker at the Jacob Burns Creative Culture Fellowship. His recent projects include staff writing for Season 1 of Love in Gravity, which was adapted into a stage play, as well as various narrative short films like PLUS (2019) and CEMENTED ROSES (2020), which tell the story of the Queer+ experience within immigrant communities with nuance and compassion.

Andrew aims to present a more authentic portrayal of his community, offering a transformative, fresh perspective on their lives.

Yuki Maekawa-Ledbetter is a Brooklyn-based, Japanese-born creative producer and filmmaker. She co-owns the production company ML-NEBULA, dedicated to fostering a safe and inclusive space where underrepresented filmmakers can thrive. Her work has been showcased in museums and international film festivals, including the Museum of Pop Culture, Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Austin Film Festival, BFI Flare London, HollyShorts, NewFest, and Urbanworld, among others. Notable producing credits include Alieu The Dreamer, a sci-fi feature for Paramount Players & BET Films; The Black Disquisition, an acclaimed animated experimental short distributed by Black Public Media; Ramadan America, an anthology feature amplifying American Muslim voices; Friends of Sophia, a queer sci-fi short distributed by DUST; and BRAND NEW, an award-winning narrative drama with a limited release on AMC+.

Elvis Nolasco is an award-winning actor, producer, and director who first rose to prominence with his acclaimed role in the ABC anthology series AMERICAN CRIME. Over his career, Nolasco has fruitfully collaborated with esteemed producers and directors, including Spike Lee, for his film debut in CLOCKERS and the most recent Netflix adaptation of SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT. Among his other impressive credits are MGM+'s GODFATHER OF HARLEM, which will release its 4th season this year, and his recent portrayal of Frederick Douglass in the Apple TV+ series MANHUNT.

This past Halloween Elvis starred in the popular and acclaimed Hulu horror flick MR. CROCKET, where he portrays the titular character, further showcasing his versatility. Adding to Nolasco’s television career—which includes roles in TNT’s CLAWS, Tarell McCraney’s OWN series DAVID MAKES MAN, the Greg Berlanti CW series ALL-AMERICAN, USA's QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, and the Queen Latifah-led CBS series THE EQUALIZER—Nolasco will next be seen in the upcoming HBO limited series TASK, appearing in multiple episodes opposite Mark Ruffalo. Other film credits include ROXANNE ROXANNE, THE SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS, OLD BOY, and IN SEARCH OF A DREAM, which remains among the highest-grossing independent Latino films.

Nolasco, born and raised in New York and of Dominican descent, is known for captivating viewers with his magnetic presence, which is contributed by his commitment to prioritizing authenticity in all of his work.

Justine Sweetman is a creative producer and filmmaker based in NYC. Her work has been featured on NOWNESS, Short of the Week, and Vimeo Staff Picks, and has shown at festivals including HollyShorts, BFI Flare, Atlanta, and Outfest. She has produced projects for Paramount, Substack, Vimeo, and Vespa, among others.

Her work supporting emerging artists in their breakout films includes How To Raise A Black Boy by Justice Jamal Jones (Emerging Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award at Newfest, Filmmaker to Watch Award at Atlanta Film Festival) and As You Are by Daisy Friedman (Collin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grant at Frameline, NYWIFT Emerging Filmmaker Award at Newfest).

She recently produced a film series for Bon Iver and director Erinn Springer, and unit production managed the feature film In Transit by Jaclyn Bethany.

Amalia Bradstreet has produced projects for Hulu, ESPN, Adidas, Google and Apple. Her work has screened at Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Matthew D'Amato is a founding partner and executive producer at Valiant Pictures, fusing over 15 years of production experience and a passion for empowering new voices to craft memorable stories that connect and inspire.

Matthew's award-winning films have screened at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the DGA, NBC Universal, The New York Times, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and MoMa. Across all branded content and productions, his work is frequently seen in major advertising and creative outlets including Ad Age, Shoot, The Drum, Shots, Muse by CLIO, and beyond. He is most recently on the judging committee for the Shots Awards and the Telly Awards.

His top-tier commercial clients include Pepsi, Little Caesars, Mountain Dew, Snickers, Busch Light, McDonald's, Google, and CarMax, among many others.

Vincent Lin is a writer, director, and co-founder of Valiant Pictures. As a director and producer he has won some of advertising’s top awards including Cannes Lions, Clios, Tellys, and made Taiwanese American’s “Best of 2020” List.

His short films have also been awarded the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant, MNET Grand Jury Award, and NBC Universal Short Film Festival Best Director and Audience Awards (Love, NY). His work has been licensed to HBO, Time Warner, Hulu, and Comcast. He is a member of The Producers Guild of America (PGA), a former board member for Taiwanese American Professionals (501c3), on the judging committee for NYU’s The Purple List, the Shots Awards, and an Outstanding 50 Honoree by the Asian American Business Development Center. He is currently working on his debut feature film, Chopin, which was a Top 50 semi-finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship.

Joel Perez is a Puerto Rican director, writer, and actor living in NYC. He wrote and directed the short film The Upper Room (2024). He wrote and stars in Beautiful, FL which premiered on Disney+ in 2023. Other writing includes Stir at the Old Globe Theater which was developed at The Huntington Theatre and received an Elliot Norton Award for Best New Script and Lost City Radio (NYSAF, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat). He is the winner of the 2021 Miranda Family Voces Latinx National Playwriting Competition for his play From the Fountain and a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Playwriting from NYFA. His acting work includes Fun Home (Broadway), Kiss My Aztec! (Hartford Stage), The Tempest (The Public Theater), and Sweet Charity (New Group; Lortel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical). Film work includes tick, tick... Boom! (Netflix). TV work includes Jesus Christ Superstar Live! (NBC), Person of Interest (CBS) and Odd Mom Out (Bravo).

Sol Marina Crespo was raised in Puerto Rico, grew up in NY and is based in LA. Sol is a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Screenwriting for her feature film She’s With Me, and a semi-finalist for the Sundance Episodic Lab with her pilot Sunset Inc. Her web series, Public Service, is available to watch at PitchHer Productions. Stage and screen credits include: HBO; Hulu; Amazon; CBS; AMC; NBC; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Atlantic Theatre; Classic Stage Co; The Public Theater; among others. She has led performance/writing workshops at Pittsburgh University, Lehman College and Teatro Breve in Puerto Rico. She currently teaches scene study at Crash Acting and is an audition coach at Coach With Sol.

From the South Coast of Brazil and based in Los Angeles, Helena Sardinha is a creative producer with her work recognized at festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW and DOC NYC. In 2018, she co-founded Driven Equation, a boutique production company bridging Los Angeles and São Paulo, alongside Rafael Thomaseto. Helena's work has garnered awards at the Humanitas Prize, Outfest, the Imagen Awards, and the Unesco Award for Awareness and Sustainability. A Sundance Producing Lab and Film Independent fellow, Helena continues to push boundaries with projects like Piratas, supported by the SFFILM Rainin Grant and Angel in Retrograde, a finalist in the AT&T Untold Stories at Tribeca. She is in post-production with the Ukrainian novel adaptation The Eternity Man, a Ukrainian-Canadian-Finish co-production and preparing to go into production on Jill Takes a Break, directed by Liz Cardenas, which participated in the Austin Film Society Artist Intensive. Her latest feature Satisfaction, just premiered at SXSW and showcases a stellar cast including Cannes winner Zar Amir, BIFA nominee Fionn Whitehead, British model Adwoa Aboah, and Scottish actress Emma Laird.