2012 Tribeca Film Fellows

Click on a photo to learn more about the Fellow.

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  Nia Ashley

  • Brooklyn, 17

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: Fiorello H. LaGuardia Arts High School

    Nia’s narrative will explore the in 1920’s underground culture in order to offer a unique look at the way in which underground culture influenced African American civil rights struggles.
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  Julianna Calderon

  • Brooklyn, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Sunset Park High School

    Julianna wants to share of her experience growing up struggling to communicate and connect two different communities in her life: being a regular teenager with having deaf parents.
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  Emily Cohn

  • Manhattan, 17

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Trevor Day School

    Emily’s narrative is about a young woman, Zelia, who decides to try a social experiment of dressing like a different persona every day for a month. The film follows Zelia’s experiences with new forms of dress and the ridicule she endures from her peers as she takes on these different personas.
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  Enrique Fernandez

  • Bronx, 18

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: High School of Art & Design

    Enrique’s narrative offers a new portrait of America’s shrinking middle class. It focuses on the story of the nation’s economic downfall, and what the future holds for the rapidly increasing lower class.
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  Tatiyana Jenkins

  • Harlem, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Eleanor Roosevelt High School

    Tatiyana’s documentary explores the mental health issues of homeless men and women in New York City. Using a combination of verite and interviews, her documentary offers a new look at the causes and effects of homelessness.
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  Irene Lazaridis

  • Queens, 18

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: Fiorello H. LaGuardia Arts High School

    Irene’s narrative features two pen pals, one in London and the other in New York City and explores profound relationship through their letters. The film explores their intertwined lives and how their connection affects their individual lives, despite their distance.
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  Josue Loayza

  • Queens, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: The Renaissance Charter School

    Josue’s documentary centers on a family that has been involved in gold mining in the small Ecuadorian town of Portovelo for decades. His film chronicles the life of miners, their families, and the business of extracting gold from Ecuador from multiple perspectives within the mining community.
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  Erika Martinez

  • Queens, 17

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: Fiorello H. LaGuardia Arts High School

    Erika’s film is about a Latino family of seven who moves to a predominately white neighborhood in search of better opportunities for their children. The film explores their struggles with race, class, and space as they navigate their new lives and new opportunities..
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  Roxanne Mauras

  • Bronx, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: High School of American Studies

    Roxanne’s film follows three homeless subjects during their daily routines in order to find out more about the challenges they face on the streets of New York City. Her film supplements this verite with in-depth interviews that explore their life stories in order to offer a new portrait of homelessness.
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  Eliza Mitnick

  • Manhattan, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Stuyvesant High School

    Eliza’s narrative is about two young people, Rosemary and Jeremy, who become unlikely friends when Rosemary asks Jeremy to join her speech team. The film chronicles the developing relationship between them as he helps the team win a competition by bringing his own brand of spoken word-rap to the group.
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  Sophia Mitropoulos

  • Douglaston, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

    Sophia‘s narrative follows one person listening to various conversations on the subways of New York City. Throughout the film, the viewer follows along while the rider crafts stories out of the snippets of conversations he hears while overhearing the conversations of other riders.
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  Frank Olea

  • Bronx, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Hyde Leadership Charter School

    Frank plans to expand on a short film he made about child labor in a small Dominican Republic village of Batey 7. For many of these young people, this work is not considered exploitive, but rather part of their responsibility to their family and community. His film reveals the culture behind child labor in the Village and offers an opportunity for the children to voice their own opinions about their condition.
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  Omari Omoy

  • Harlem, 17

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: High School of Art & Design

    Omari’s documentary film sheds light on the internal politics and corruption involved in the manufacturing of tech gadgets, like smart phones, in countries like the Congo. By exploring this issue from the perspective of factory workers in other countries, Omari’s film offers a new look at people behind the technology we all use every day.
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  Mercedes Esmeralda Ortiz

  • Manhattan, 17

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: High School of Economics and Finance

    Mercedes’ documentary offers a new look at the Occupy Movement, examining the young people who are involved and showing how young adults view the economy, the country, and civil activism today.
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  Jessica Palenzuela

  • Queens, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: High School of Art & Design

    Jessica’s narrative follows a daughter who visits her father in jail to inquire about his life story and learn why he left her family. As the story of her father’s life unfolds using live theater and video clips, the various scenes of his life come alive on the screen behind the daughter and father speaking in the jailhouse.
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  Marieme Sall

  • Manhattan, 17

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: Baruch College Campus High School

    Marieme wants to shoot a documentary that illustrates the extreme tolls that academic pressures take on students’ health.
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  Langston Sanchez

  • Harlem, 17

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: Urban Academy

    Langston is interested in filming a documentary about what is it like to spread one’s roots amongst different communities rather than existing solely in one community or culture. As a result, his film asks viewers to think about a society in which these diverse roots eliminate race and economic hierarchies within societies.
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  Matthew Seife

  • Scarsdale, 17

    Grade: 12th (Senior); School: Edgemont High School

    Matthew’s documentary explores the life of a high school student as he makes his way through the trials and challenges of growing up as a teen. His film showcases the different experiences of present day teenagers in their quest to understand life, adulthood, and community.
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  Tyler Strachan

  • Bronx, 16

    Grade: 11th (Junior); School: High School of Art & Design

    Tyler wants to work on a documentary film about young graffiti writers in the Bronx. While these artists usually stereotyped as criminals, Tyler’s film shows that many of these films are normal teenagers searching for new outlets for their artistic talents.