Black, Indigenous, People of Color Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab 2020

Justice for My Sister welcomed the inaugural cohort of the BIPOC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab in 2020. The Lab was created to cultivate Black, Brown, and Asian unity during a time of desperation, and to provide emerging filmmakers with the resources and support needed to enact their radical imagination. Our fellows are paving the way with stories of space/time-travel, magic, superheroes, reclaimed mythology, and ancestral knowledge that leads us into the future.

Interested in applying to an upcoming cohort? Visit the Applications page to get started, or email info@justiceformysister.org for details.

  • Edyka Chilomé is an internationally praised queer Indigenous Mestiza ( Salvadorian / Mexican American ) cultural worker. She has been asked to share her poetry and speak on social justice issues on multiple media platforms and in spaces around the country and Latin America including TEDx, NPR, Remezcla, and The Huffington Post. Edyka has produced and published numerous articles, essays, plays, and poems including a collection of poetry that explores queer indigenous mestizaje in the diaspora entitled "She Speaks | Poetry". Her newest collection, "El Poemario del Colibrí" is an intimate look at healing and movement as political resistance and exemplifies what she calls literary activism. You can follow her on social media @edykachilome or learn more about her work at edykachilome.com.

  • Jarvis Fuller has lived in Los Angeles since 2009 and holds experience in front of and behind the camera. He has worked as a PA for Swirl Films nd UptoParr Productions on feature films like “35 and ticking” starring Megan Good and Kevin Hart as well as Art Department for the BET Awards. He has been a part of several pilots, web series, commercials and branded content. As a writer, he has written and produced several of his own projects. One of which is the work in progress on “Anika.”

  • Gabrielle is an actress, singer, poet, and activist. She is the founder and director of the Joy-Jackson Initiative, a non-profit organization creating actionable tools to build systemic equity in the arts. Her performing credits include: Nala in Disney’s Tale of the Lion King, Celie in The Color Purple, Angela in Parade, Nehebka in Aida and Ti Moune u/s in Once on this Island. Gabrielle is dedicated to work that centers and redefines Black narratives, and creates equitable artistic expression for all. She is a graduate of Saddleback College Applied Vocal Program: Classical emphasis.

  • Olivia Martinez is an improv comedian and abortion access advocate living in Washington, D.C.

  • Carla Belinda Margarita Orendorff is an artist, educator, and documentary filmmaker who weaves her passion for storytelling with her commitment to the transformation of everyday life in the city. Growing up in Los Angeles, she was inspired by the stories of her grandmother who quietly grew gardens from concrete cracks of industrial rivers with her hands. She has taught filmmaking classes with hundreds of young people in collaboration with community organizations throughout Los Angeles and the Bay Area. When not making films, she can be found in her dreams.

  • Syd Stewart is a published performance poet, actor and filmmaker. She is also is a staffed television writer. Notably, Stewart was a featured poet in the documentary Hughes’ Dream Harlem, on BET’s Lyric Café and starred in HBO’s feature film, Everyday People. She is the author of two books of poetry, A Rock and A Hard Place (iUniverse, 2010) and Babylon Graffiti (Zeitgeist Press, 2019). Syd has appeared in The New York Times, Variety, and People Magazine. Stewart’s work was selected by the National Endowment For The Arts’ 50th Anniversary. She is a 2019 Indie Memphis Black Filmmaker Finalist (handpicked by Barry Jenkins), 2017 New York Stage and Film filmmaker fellow, Austin Film Festival Second Rounder and 2016 Universal Pictures Emerging Writers semifinalist.

    Stewart is the founder of Better Youth, Inc., a nonprofit which uses mentoring and media arts to equip foster and homeless youth with creative confidence. She is a proud member of the service-oriented sorority Delta Sigma Theta.

  • Emaryne Watt is a Marriage and Family Therapist Associate, photographer, cinematographer, and writer. She completed her Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and will be pursuing her Psy.D in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is the creator of B.I.B (Black is Beautiful), a women empowerment Vlog on YouTube that explores topics to bridge the gap between women from different ethnicities. She is currently writing 6 scripts consecutively. Emaryne's passion is to intertwine Psycho-Ed and mental health with film. She believes storytelling is a powerful means to reach people battling mental illness. Emaryne was commissioned by PBS SoCal's To Foster Change social impact initiative to write and produce her short documentary titled "Foster Care was like Track". She also worked as an office PA for HBO's "Ballers" thanks to a job placement program with Justice for My Sister.

  • Ron Clark is an energetic and detail oriented young professional. Ron was born and raised in Los Angeles and is currently pursuing a BS in Audio Production at Full Sail University. As a multimedia artist, Ronnie has shown at various galleries in the Los Angeles area including: Bergamot Station, Hive Gallery, and Gallery Skart.

  • Kryzz Gautier is a queer, Afro-Latina writer/director born and raised in the Dominican Republic. Since transitioning from undocumented to documented, she's landed on The Black List 2021, been a writer on an HBO series, on 2K Games’ BioShock 4, and has sold shows and features to studios, some of which have her attached as director. Kryzz has also been a fellow in prestigious programs like Ryan Murphy's "Half Initiative", Joey Soloway's "Disruptors", the Sundance Institute, and The Academy's Nicholl Fellowship among others.

  • Emilio Kobak is an aspiring writer and part-time educator. He was born and raised in the Bay Area but was displaced from his community at a young age when his parents were deported under the Bush Administration in 2006. Since then, he has traveled in and out of national borders in the pursuit of happiness and prosperity for his family. He eventually remained on the northern side of the U.S. - Mexico border to further his studies. He dropped out of high school at the age of 15, but was regrettably reinserted into the prison system that is American Schooling and forced to serve out the rest of his sentence called "Youth." He attended the University of California Satan Crux where he studied Latin American and Latinx Studies as well as Film and Digital Media. He wrote, directed, and produced a handful of short films and documentaries during this time primarily focused on highlighting stories of liberation from the clutches of US Imperialism. His senior thesis film, "Entre Sangre y Fuego", was selected and screened at the EZLN Art Festival CompArte por la Humanidad in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico in the summer of 2017.

    Upon finishing his studies, Emilio took up a job with the Latino Film Institute's Youth Cinema Project where he currently works as a Filmmaking Mentor. Through his work with YCP over the years, he has directly impacted hundreds of young filmmakers at public schools, with students ranging from the grades 4th-8th. He empowers the youth to elevate their creative skills to industry standards through project-based learning in the 3 stages of film production; Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production.

    His ultimate goal is to produce stories of cultural empowerment to foster societal change. He wants to live in a world without borders, and he knows that there is a lot of work needed for that to happen. For him, that work comes in helping others visualize those other possible worlds through storytelling.

  • Vanessa Mercado-Taylor is an Indigenous-Xicana-Colombiana educator, theater director, performer, producer and playwright who for more than 15 years has created performances that bridge worlds and create a dialogue about human rights and social justice. She is the Chair of Drama and Humanities at El Centro College where she created the Hip Hop Studies Program and directs the Mexican American Studies Field of Study. Through her training and work with DellArte Int’l, Pangea World Theater and Cara Mia Theater, Vanessa gained experience in physical theater, ensemble writing/collective creation and equity/human rights in the arts. In the community college she addresses structural racism and facilitates transformative personal and institutional growth through decolonizing curriculums, cultural organizing and land work. She completed an internship in Human Rights and the Arts with Pangea World Theater. Currently, her work is focused on bringing together women of color to reimagine the future through Indigenous Futurism.

  • Wil Prada is a cultural activist that captures and creates stories through film. He was born in La Campiña, a suburb of Lima, Peru. Prada is an undocumented immigrant and discovered his love of filmmaking after using it as a tool for advocacy. After obtaining his BA in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, he became more involved in the grassroots immigrant rights movement, where he became a skilled media communicator after seeing the need to amplify marginalized undocumented voices. Through years of experience in the non-profit and labor union sectors, involvement in science programs throughout his life, and a dedication for the craft of film, Prada has developed a unique lens.

    He’s traveled throughout the US filming and screening his films. His work has screened at NASA, the Houston Natural Science Museum, CultureStrike, San Francisco MoMA, LALIFF. Prada is a cinematographer and filmmaker.

  • Dreamer. Writer. Believer. Business Builder.

    In her life, Raechel has set the pricing strategies for Fortune 500 companies, she has invented and built innovative digital start-ups. Raechel has managed teams and million-dollar budgets. She has been a freelance writer, working on books and articles for others to publish under their names while being too intimidated to start or put out any of her own. Then, she dipped her toes into the water - sharing her own songs, poems, stories and articles. Now, she is working on getting the right foundation and momentum to hopefully turn creativity into a career.

  • Annette Zaragoza-Bilow, M.Ed.(UCLA), is a first-generation daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Mexico who has been working to destroy the stigma of mental illness as founder of AHLA (Alternative Healing Los Angeles), a directory of holistic healers of color in the L.A. area for those that are underrepresented; and Casa de Ama, an abolitionist community art project that is focused on healing and liberation through subversive joy. Annette has spoken locally and nationally at various mental health conferences and most recently has been in conversation with Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and Measure R, at the Proximity Greenhouse Art Space where they discussed the need for mental health and prison reform. Her altar for her brothers and father entitled "Stigma = Muerte" was selected as part of the Ancestral Lights Exhibition at Self Help Graphics (2019). Her writings and illustrations have been published in Latina Magazine and VLY Girl. You can follow her on social media @wishingyouthebestalways.

  • Ang Cruz is a women, queer, and gender studies major at Cal State Fullerton. They've won numerous awards for their work in college journalism and has been honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Los Angeles Film Critics Association. They have been a consulting intern for the advocacy group, Young Invincibles; 2019 OutSet fellow; and Outreach Intern for 2019's Outfest LA. They also work as a contributor to numerous digital publications while being an advocate for AAPI and LBGTQ+ representation in media.

  • Melanie Ho is a Vietnamese American filmmaker and writer. She's currently finishing an experimental documentary that explores the Vietnamese community in New Orleans and the relationship between land and labor, seen through their foodways. Within the BIPOC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab, Mel is excited to expand on thoughts of magical realism, familial relationships, and queer ecologies. You can catch her most nights thinking about her nonexistent love life and fish sauce.

  • Evelyn is a writer/producer based out of Los Angeles. She is currently in post-production for “Joyride,” a Latino Public Broadcasting grantee and for “Piano in the Wild,” a music project documenting grand piano endurance concerts to advocate for stewardship and conservation.

    Currently she is developing her projects, “Duendes” a fantasy VR short, “Spoopy Police” a sketch comedy show, and “Luz y Soledad” which will be her directorial debut in 2020.

    Evelyn is a Co-Founder of Cundina Collective, a production company passionate about telling stories with corazón. She was also part of the team at Lawrence Bender Productions, Quebrada Entertainment and NALIP.

  • Alicia Vargas is a Xicana journalist with over a decade of career experience as a reporter and digital content producer. Her news packages and digital content has been published with AJ+, Telesur, Los Angeles Times, The Progressive, KALW, and Pacifica Radio, home of Soul Rebel Radio—a radio program featuring original content and news stories since its inception in 2005.

    Ms. Vargas is currently developing Soul Rebel Radio into an independent digital media company and platform for the next generation of young media makers|content creators to learn radio, podcasting, and videography.

    Ms. Vargas is associate producer for Futbolistas 4 Life, a short sports documentary syndicated with KQED. Futbolistas 4 Life has screened in some of the most competitive film festivals in the country including: SFIFF, LA APFF, HOTDOCS, and SXSW.

    She holds an M.A. in digital media from the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

  • Kristal Sotomayor (they/she) is a bilingual Latinx documentary filmmaker, festival programmer, awards manager, and journalist based in Philadelphia. 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.

    Currently, Kristal is in production on EXPANDING SANCTUARY, an independent short documentary about the historic end to police surveillance organized by nonprofit Juntos and the Latinx immigrant community in South Philadelphia. The documentary began through the Film Scholars Fellowship with Scribe Video Center, co-sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. They are also in development on a animated short docu-fiction film called ALX THROUGH THE LABYRINTH that take a dive into the nonbinary Latinx Alice In Wonderland-like reality of contracting COVID-19; from the symptoms of vertigo to sensory loss and the labyrinth of seeking treatment. Kristal’s work has been supported by the If/Then North Shorts Residency, MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellowship, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab, Justice For My Sister Sci-Fi TV Screenwriting Lab, BAVC Serial Storytellers Lab, Good Pitch Local: Philadelphia Lab, and NeXtDoc Fellowship. They are an organizer for The Video Consortium: Philadelphia and a member of the filmmaking collectives SIFT Media 215 and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

    They serve as the Programming Director of the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival (PHLAFF) and the Awards Competition Manager for the IDA Documentary Awards, the world's most prestigious event dedicated to the documentary genre. Kristal is also a Seasonal Programmer for San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) and was a Curator/Juror for the 2021 Tri-Co Film Festival. Formerly, they were the Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Scribe Video Center. In the past, they have assisted with curation for the "Spotlight on Documentaries" at IFP Week, Camden International Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival and the award-winning PBS documentary series POV | American Documentary. They have received leadership training from the Film Festival Alliance & Full Spectrum Features Film Festival Leadership Lab Fellowship, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Advocacy Leadership Institute and the Arts + Business Council [Virtual] Creative Exchange Program.

    Kristal’s journalistic background includes having written for ITVS, AL DÍA, WHYY, Autostraddle, Modern Brown Girl and Documentary Magazine. They write the Latinx cinema column “Cine alzando voz” and serve on the Editorial Collective for the film journal cinéSPEAK. They are also a Co-Founder/Journalist of ¡Presente! Media, a collective led by Latinx filmmakers that produce bilingual content focused on social justice. 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. Kristal is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, CherryPicks Approved Critic, and the TIME’S UP Critical Database.

  • Rosa Navarrete was born in Bellavista, Callao — a district in Lima, Perú. Her family immigrated and settled in Los Angeles in the early 90’s. Rosa's life journey drives her creative work. She’s a director, performer, filmmaker, writer and teaching artist. Her short play Chabuca, Susana, Mami & Me played at Casa 0101 Theater with Chicanas, Cholas, y Chisme: Womxn in Herstory Theater Festival this year. Her latest film project Matriarchy, co-directed with writer, Patricia Zamorano, was screened at The Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany and CINEARTE: A Latinx Queer Film & Arts Festival (2018). Currently, the film is being showcased at the Mujeres Con Faldas de Serpientes y Talones de Aguila at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) in San Francisco. Education: University of California, Berkeley. Casa 0101 Theater Board Member.