Our Team

Meet Our Founder

“ 10 Latinx Filmmakers You Should Know About ”

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2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader

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Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellow

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Film Festival Alliance Film Festival Leadership Lab Fellow

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“ 10 Latinx Filmmakers You Should Know About ” – 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader – Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellow – Film Festival Alliance Film Festival Leadership Lab Fellow –

Kristal Sotomayor is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, and curator. Drawing inspiration from their Peruvian heritage, Kristal’s community-based work practice focuses on Latinidad, immigration, and belonging. They practice transformative filmmaking that humanizes and validates the lived experiences of underrepresented communities. To that end, Kristal founded the queer BIPOC-owned and operated media production company, Sotomayor Productions, which works at the intersection of investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking to advance the portrayals of Latinx and queer communities.

Kristal has been named one of “10 Latinx Filmmakers You Should Know About” by HipLatina, a 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader honoree, and received the prestigious Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellowship. Kristal’s work has been supported by the Sundance Institute’s Cultural Impact Residency, If/Then North Shorts Residency, BlackStar Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, Outfest and Traverse32’s Creative Hope Incubator, MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellowship, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab, Justice For My Sister Sci-Fi TV Screenwriting Lab, BAVC Serial Storytellers Lab, Scribe Video Center Film Scholars Fellowship, Good Pitch Local: Philadelphia Lab, and NeXtDoc Fellowship.
Kristal has served as a curator for acclaimed film festivals across the country including SFFILM (Oscar qualifying festival), True/False Film Fest, Frameline, Tri-Co Film Festival, and were Programming Director of the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival. Formerly, they served as the Awards Competition Manager for the IDA Documentary Awards, the world's most distinguished event dedicated exclusively to the documentary genre. They have assisted with curation for the "Spotlight on Documentaries" at IFP Week, Philadelphia Film Festival, and the award-winning PBS documentary series POV | American Documentary. They have been awarded the Film Festival Alliance Film Festival Leadership Lab Fellowship, NALAC Advocacy Leadership Institute, and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Philadelphia Media Founders Exchange.
They are also the Editor-in-Chief of the cinéSPEAK Journal and Co-Founder of ¡Presente! Media, a collective led by Latinx filmmakers that produces bilingual content focused on social justice. They served on the Board of Director for GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. Kristal’s journalistic background includes having written for ITVS, AL DÍA, WHYY, Autostraddle, Modern Brown Girl, and Documentary Magazine. Kristal’s writing has been supported by the Sundance Institute Press Inclusion Initiative, TIFF Media Inclusion Initiative, IDA Magazine Editorial Fellowship, NBC University Visual Storytelling During Breaking News Program, and Lenfest Constellation News Leadership Initiative. They are a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, CherryPicks Approved Critic, and the TIME’S UP Critical Database.

Meet the Team

Maya Winneg

IMPACT COORDINATOR
Maya Winneg is a filmmaker and producer based in Philadelphia. Their work, be it personal, public access or in support of important projects like Expanding Sanctuary is fueled by their keen interest in the people in their life and community. Recurrent themes include family threads or coping with existential dread, often through a surreal and joyful lens.
Charlie Manrique Douglas

INTERN
Charlie is a Film and Television major with a minor in African American and Black Diaspora Studies at Boston University, specializing in cinematography and camera operation. They hope to mix breathtaking visuals with a focus on social issues such as racism and LGBTQ+ inequality in their future work. They are passionate about uplifting underrepresented communities through visual media, especially film, in order to amplify empathy and education while stimulating social change.
Emma Smola

INTERN
Emma Smola is a student at Emmanuel College in Boston and is studying English and Art History, with a minor in Transcultural Studies. Emma is passionate about the narratives often overlooked in the history of art, and as an aspiring professor, wants to shed light on these stories through her work. Emma hopes to build upon her interest in archival research through this internship at Sotomayor Productions, and is excited to be a part of a team who shares her philosophy.