Dirty Days in Fun City
Dirty Days in Fun City unearths the overlooked 1968 New York sanitation strike, and its little-known connection to the Black-led labor action in Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated demanding dignity for workers. Through explorations of labor and waste, the film examines what, and who, society deems valuable or disposable.
Elana Meyers
Elana Meyers is a documentary filmmaker/editor from New York City. She co-directed and edited the short documentary, Survival Without Rent, which was supported by Chicken & Egg Films, American Documentary, New York State Council on the Arts, and Untitled Filmmakers Org, and premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. She also edited the feature, No One Asked You, which premiered at DOC NYC, and was an editor on the PBS/Amazon Prime series, Citizen Nation, which was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy for Best Editing. She has also showcased work at the Camden International Film Festival, the Brooklyn Museum, Ji.hlava DFF, and the Feminist Institute. Elana is drawn to political stories that are overlooked by mainstream media. Her work spotlights personal narratives to convey how societal structures intersect with human experience.
Katie Heiserman
Katie Heiserman is a filmmaker and public historian passionate about preserving and publicizing overlooked histories. In her media-making practice, she uses archival material to examine collective memory and urban histories of resistance. She is the co-director and archival producer of Survival Without Rent, which is slated to screen at festivals worldwide this year, and was a finalist for Best Short Documentary at the 2025 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. She has worked as an archival producer on several films and podcasts, and currently serves as Assistant Curator at an American history archive. She graduated from NYU’s Master’s program in Archives & Public History in 2023.
The Sixth Boro Film
The Sixth Boro is a documentary exploring how climate change, overdevelopment, and systemic neglect are reshaping New York City’s coastal communities beginning with the Rockaways. Told through the eyes of Elijah Norwood, a Rockaway native, the film blends poetic storytelling and cinematic realism to reveal how rising tides and displacement threaten both land and legacy.
Through an Afro-Indigenous ecological lens, the film connects the environmental crisis to cultural memory, spirituality, and ancestral knowledge. Featuring marine scientists, grassroots organizers, and diasporic spiritual historians, The Sixth Boro reframes the shoreline as a site of both loss and reclamation.
Ultimately, The Sixth Boro is a love letter to resilience. A cinematic call to action that bridges art, ecology, and community, urging New Yorkers to see the fight for climate justice as a fight for home.
Lowel Alomar
Lowel Alomar is a Brooklyn-born, Queens-raised filmmaker and cinematographer whose work centers community, environment, and identity. Drawing inspiration from his New York upbringing and his Afro-Latin roots, Alomar captures the resilience and creativity of underrepresented voices through a lens that is both cinematic and grounded in truth. His experience spans documentary, music video, and narrative film, with collaborations including Complex, CUNY, and Queens Public Library. Honored by the 31st New York City Council District for his leadership in community arts and youth engagement, Alomar continues to use film as a tool for education and empowerment, helping young creatives find their voice behind the camera. Through his films, he explores the intersection of storytelling and social impact, revealing how environmental change mirrors the struggles and strength of everyday people.
Destinie Adélakun
Destinie Adélakun is a Nigerian-Indian multidisciplinary artist, writer-director, and producer exploring the intersections of ecology, ancestry, and spirit through visual storytelling. A two-time award-winning artist and alumni of the Black Women Film Canada Producers Residency, Adélakun’s current work centers on ocean health and Afro-Indigenous ecological systems. Her films and installations examine humanity’s relationship with water, land, and ancestral knowledge, merging art, ritual, and environmental consciousness. She has exhibited and screened her work at institutions including the Brooklyn Museum, Toronto History Museums, Nuit Blanche, and Toronto Union Station. Through film, Adélakun bridges cultural memory and climate justice, inviting audiences to see nature as both an archive and living ancestor.
MIND BODY SOUL
MIND BODY SOUL is a 90-minute documentary that follows breakdancer Sunny Choi as she becomes the first American woman to compete at the Olympics in breaking. With breaking’s legacy on her shoulders, this top New York b-girl battles her way to breaking’s biggest stage at the Paris 2024 Games. But at age 35 and grappling with her mental health, she must decide what’s more important, winning or her inner joy.
Brian Redondo
Brian Redondo is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. His work as director, cinematographer, and editor has screened at Sundance, Blackstar, Full Frame, and DOC NYC film festivals and has been broadcast on Max, Netflix, CNN and PBS. His recent credits include editing the feature docs DEATH & TAXES from director Justin Schein and BRIEF TENDER LIGHT from director Arthur Musah. He also produced and edited the Max food doc series TAKE OUT WITH LISA LING. He directed the award-winning short doc KEEP SARAY HOME (Best Doc Short at Newburyport, Seattle Asian American, and Philadelphia Asian American Film Festivals) as well as multiple Vimeo Staff Picked shorts including JES FAN IN FLUX and AZIKIWE MOHAMMED IS A GUY WHO MAKES STUFF. He was formerly the Senior Editor at The New Yorker magazine, where he was a producer on the Emmy-award winning interactive doc RE-EDUCATED.
