Now in its 13th Year, Katra is an award-winning international film festival and screenwriting competition dedicated to championing the next generation of emerging filmmakers from around the world. Katra believes in authentic, boundary-pushing, and narrative-defying storytelling that captivates, entertains and inspires audiences, and we promote the filmmakers and talent with the ultimate goal of launching sustainable new careers in the independent film world and beyond.
& FESTIVAL COORDINATOR
Rachel has over a decade of professional experience connecting audiences with storytellers. With a focus on amplifying marginalized voices, she approaches work through a lens that prioritizes access from point of ideation to execution through exhibition.With a love and passion for film, Rachel spent years as a film programmer for festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival and Whistler Film Festival, discovering new voices and sharing important stories.Holding a Master of Arts in Media Studies and a Media Management Certificate from The New School, Rachel has spent the past two years producing short form content. Her experience spans media production, film programming, event coordination, community initiatives and driving social impact and accessibility for arts and non-profit organizations. Rachel’s work aims to promote inclusivity while providing quality deliverables and experiences to audiences.
Valerie Valdez is a filmmaker who recently graduated from Queensborough Community College with a major in Film and Media Production. She grew up in Ecuador and moved to the United States in 2019. In 2021, Valerie moved to New York to pursue her dream of being a filmmaker and working in the industry. She is a MediaMKRS alumni, director of the short film “Maybe This Christmas” and Director of Photography of the short film “Free”. She is currently the Festival Coordinator and Head of Programing for Katra LatinX Festival and World Webfest Mania.
LI LIANG – NFNV HEAD OF PROGRAMMING
Born in China and raised in Brazil, LI grew up with a rich cultural background and listened to many folklores, discovering a passion for travel and storytelling. She has a BA in Tourism from The Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro and worked on academic projects to help community businesses to value and promote their work in tourism with the principles of solidarity economy. Li has also worked at the Christ the Redeemer, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, at the Rock in Rio Music Festival as a PA, in the Operations of a Cruise Terminal, and organizing corporate events for the Hospital Association of Rio de Janeiro. Her interest in Film comes from a childhood dream to make movies and help other children like her to feel less lonely. She found out at an early age the power of storytelling and with her education, she wants to help people to feel seen and heard, as well as raise awareness about current global issues and concerns.
GEOFFREY GUERRERO – FOUNDER & FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
Born and Bred in Brooklyn, NY, Geoffrey Guerrero is a multi-award winning filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is the recipient of the 2019 Prosperity Nation Award, winner of 2020 UREEKA Google PowerUp Grant, winner of 2021 NYC Artists Corps Grant, and Winner of the 2022 Neighborhood Business Grant sponsored by the Citizens Committee for New York City. Guerrero graduated from CUNY’s Brooklyn College with a B.A. in Film Directing and minor in TV and Radio. He cut his teeth in primetime network television. As a filmmaker, Guerrero was selected as a finalist for the 2006 National Film Your Issue Competition for his provocative short “Here to Stay,” where former president Barak Obama, Walter Conkrite, Tom Brokaw, Anderson Cooper, George Clooney, and Philip Seymour Hoffman served as honorary jury members. In 2007 he guest directed a short film called “Rewind” that won the Best Short Film “On The Edge” Award at the 2007 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival. In 2008, his short film “Baile (Dance)” won the Best Short Film at the Vine Shorts Film Festival in Santa Monica, CA and screened at the 2009 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival and 2009 Babelgum International Film Festival. Guerrero’s film “J-1” screened at the Academy-Award Qualifying 18th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, Coney Island Film Festival, Socially Relevant Film Festival, Palm Beach International Film Festival, SAG-AFTRA Foundation Showcase and made its European Premiere at the Let’s All Be Free Film Festival in the UK. Guerrero’s most recent film “Prerequisite” is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and it premiered at the 2017 Lighthouse International Film Festival and screened as an official selection at the SOHO International Film Festival, Coney Island Film Festival, New York Short Film Festival, NYWIFT Film Festival, Williamsburg Film Festival, and New York No Limits Film Series. In June 2012, Guerrero launched the Katra Film Series – a widely hailed international film festival ranked one of the top 100 by Film Freeway out of 12,000+ film festivals including Oscar-qualifying and BAFTA-qualifying festivals, showcasing quality short-form content and feature films by emerging and international Filmmakers. In 2018, with the success of Katra under his belt he went on to launch the acclaimed Bowery Film Festival. He followed the success of the Bowery by launching New Faces New Voices, Katra LatinX Festival, World Webfest Mania, NY Pause Film Festival and Urban Dreams Mental Health Film Festival.
In 2022 Guerrero was invited to speak on a panel hosted by the New York State Multicultural Creativity Summit hosted by HBO’s NY Latino Film Festival. He was also invited to speak to the film and media arts students at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale and talk about his 20+ years experience in the industry. In 2023, Guerrero was invited to speak on a festival panel discussion entitled “Creating a Better World: Fostering Conscious and Ethical Storytelling.” He is currently developing 5 feature films and a semi-autobiographical episodic series about his upbringing in the 90s in the rough-and-tumble Coney Island section of Brooklyn NY.
FORMER SEMI-ANNUAL ROUND JUDGES
Shortly after receiving his B.A. in English from Franklin and Marshall College, Randy’s lifelong dream to play professional baseball was shattered after a significant injury. Under these tragic circumstances, he discovered a new passion: filmmaking. Befriending legendary filmmaker Spike Lee and by the director’s urging, Randy enrolled in NYU’s esteemed Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program where he earned a chair’s fellowship and a Masters of Fine Arts in 2009. As a finalist in the ABFF/HBO Short Film Contest, Randy’s NYU thesis film, “Osvaldo’s,” earned an exclusive license agreement with HBO for broadcast as well as numerous awards and festival screenings. Professionally, Randy has been raised through the legendary Forty Acres and A Mule Filmworks beginning as an editorial intern on “Inside Man.” Randy has recently served as Lead Editor on Lee’s joints including “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus,” “Jesus Shuttlesworth” for ESPN, “The Greatest Catch” for ESPN, “Katt Williams Priceless” for HBO, “What Is The Triangle? A Spike Lee Orange and Blue Skies Joint” for the MSG Network, Andra Day’s debut music video “Forever Mine” and “2 Fists Up” for ESPN. In addition to his editing work, Randy earned two Emmys for his cinematography on the FOX 59 Promo “Indiana Made” and PIX 11 Promo “Lionel.” As a director, Randy has enjoyed success with his award winning digital series “Docket 32357.” Wilkins is currently in post production for Season Two of Docket, while in development for his first feature script “Pray for A Little More Spring.” Randy’s latest directorial effort is the ESPN 30 for 30/Lil’ Spike Joint “86-32” chronicling the controversial decision between Roy Jones Jr. and Park Si-Hun in the Light Middle Heavyweight gold medal match at the 1988 Summer Olympics.SANDY GARFUNKEL has been active in production for 25 years in New York City where she owns and operates a communications company.
The short films she’s written and directed have garnered numerous awards, including a BAFTA New Talent, and screened at festivals across the world, including the Edinburgh International Film Festival, BIFAN (the largest fantastic festival in Asia), Dances With Films, and SciFi London.
Her most recent script, “Unflushable,” an offbeat feature comedy, was a Second Rounder at Austin Film Festival, in the Top 6% at Shore Scripts, and nominated as one of the Top 12 for the Scriptapalooza Fellowship, making her a “Scriptapalooza Recommended Writer.”
Currently, Sandy is budgeting and scheduling “Unflushable,” which she plans to direct, and is hard at work penning a dramatic feature currently titled, “The Timeline of Dandelions.”
CURTIS JOHN is a media-maker and writer operating out of New York City with a specialty in discovering and bringing needed attention to the work of talented filmmakers and artists of color. He believes in cinema as the most powerful means of sharing life’s stories and furthering people’s understanding of one another.Most recently, Curtis was the Festival Director of ActNow Foundation’s New Voices in Black Cinema, a film festival he helped create that takes place annually at BAMcinématek in Brooklyn. He has helped bring audiences the NYC premieres of such films as Neil Drumming’s Big Words and Alain Gomis’ Tey, among other highly notable works. Curtis is also the Film Editor for the culture website Bold As Love Magazine, a contributor to Shadow And Act, and Limité Magazine.As a filmmaker, his work has been shown internationally at film festivals as well as on various internet channels including iTunes.
2020 HOST COMMITTEE
JOHN CAMPBELL – COMMITTEE CHAIR
Born in Paddington, London England, John’s career first started in the music industry. With significant opportunities to work with some of music’s most prolific artists in the industry, including Whitney Houston, Elton John, George Michael, Boy George, Jon Secada, Zucchero, Nu Colors, Brand New Heavies, and Eurythmics, and contracts signed with Warner Bros. and A&M records. He went on, and moved his career into the financial industry, with 17 years of experience, and working in many global divisions including, Citi Private Bank, and then landing an opportunity as Chief of Staff for Citigroup’s Global Digital Strategy.
Utilizing management and creative skills and interest, John left the financial industry and went on to become Founder of JCINTIME, LLC, a creative management & production company, where John manages movie, theatrical & television directors, writers and actors, including academy award winning writer Rex Pickett, multi award winning director, writer and actor Skinner Myers, multi award winning writer and director Qasim Basir, and award winning writer and producer Letitia Guillory. John Campbell is also producer of award winning films including the recent, ‘A Boy, A Girl, A Dream’, 6 time Film Festival Award winning feature ‘Destined’ the upcoming feature The Sleeping Negro, and the upcoming Theatrical production of Sideways The Musical. John Campbell is writer and executive producer of the 5 time film festival award winning documentary ‘The Infamous Future’ highlighting the prolific and inspiring Eagle Academy Black and Brown boys, the amazing educators, as well as Eagle Academy Foundation President & CEO – Mr. David C. Banks. John is producer of the 2018 March on Washington Film Festival.
Associations: sustaining Board member of Youth Inc. – Board member of The Shaker Museum, Host Committee member for The Robin Hood Foundation – former voting member and three time award winner of the Grammys Academy – Former Chair of Ailey Ambassadors Committee – Three time Gold Award recipient of President Barack Obama volunteers Award.
ALEX KRUZ
Alex is best known as an actor/producer (SAG/AFTRA) having played the latin lover on several US tv shows, he was chosen to play Zorro by Zorro Productions for live events after Antonio Banderas could no longer do the role, acted opposite Bruce Willis in a staged reading of one of his theater productions (CAA), and can be seen as the bad boyfriend in the upcoming film THE GARDEN LEFT BEHIND (SXSW Audience Award Winner) being theatrically released in the US Post-Quarantine.
Alex is also an EMMY Award Nominee (2018) shared with producer/director Alex Lora (Spain) for a segment on his life and humanitarian work.
As a director/producer – his works have premiered at several prestigious festivals – PARIVARA (CAMBRIDGE 2016), THE GARDEN LEFT BEHIND (SXSW 2018), MADINA’S DREAM (SXSW 2016), GODKA CIRKA (SUNDANE 2014), as well as on Netflix, iTunes, and globally.
As a humanitarian – the work of his NGO has been featured on TED Talks and awarded with the Congressional Award for Humanitarian service in the rescue and aid of trafficked children globally.
As a former service member with several areas of specialty he actively works towards the security of the nation and the protection of its citizens.
CYNTHIA THORNTON
Cynthia Thornton is an entertainment and tech attorney and filmmaker. She has managed legal issues for high profile digital media and streaming services as well as Disney/ABC, NBCUniversal, Warner Media, CBS, and AT&T. She is the Co-Founder and Director of film and television production group Voyaquest, LLC. A native Texan based in Los Angeles, Cynthia works to promote the elevation of female and minority voices in film and television. She is a graduate of Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and the University of Notre Dame Law school.
ILIANA GUIBERT
Actress, writer, producer Iliana Guibert, a native New Yorker and 9/11 widow worked in the corporate sector most of her life but when laid off, reinvented herself in the entertainment industry. She’s been seen on shows like Law & Order:SVU, Quantico, Blue Bloods, Falling Water and Hightown to name a few. She’s appeared on Comedy Central, F/X, countless television commercials, numerous indie films and theatrical productions.
Her writing projects tend to be thought provoking dramas that deal with loss in a compassionate and sometimes playful, heart warming manner. Her producing credits follow a similar through line but also include comedy and horror.
She’s a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. When she’s not working, she devotes time to various charities serving as board member for foundations which help youth in need and children who are chronically or terminally ill.
Iliana has appeared in several 9/11 documentaries and has been featured in numerous magazines and news segments for her humanitarian efforts, philanthropy and inspiration.
ANANTH SUNDARA
Ananth Sundara is a Composer/Songwriter from Toronto, who’s based in the New York City. He has an extensive background in live music, performing throughout the San Francisco Bay area & Greater Toronto area – and ultimately transitioned into extending music to visual content. He manages Sonic Theater which is a independent Composing/Songwriting firm, and has been actively working towards being a resource in the film/brand/content management community (Katra Film Series, World Webfest Mania, Battle of Film Schools, Toll Switch – Thomas Justino, Tejwani Enterprises & more).
Sonic Theater:
With a foundation of more than 10 years in an extensive progression of styles and attributes, Sonic Theater is an all-encompassing Music Composing firm – that crafts a sonic palette to any visual brand or expression.
Dipped in the sophistications of jazz, the relevant rhythms of hip-hop, and the infinite textures of stylistic voicings and phrasings – the value that Sonic theater brings is the consistency of a custom fitted Musical Sonic library to any project.
From songwriting, to orchestrations, to instrumentals, to music catalogs – reach out today to learn more about how your project/story can be enhanced and complimented by the many services that we provide.
Additionally, Ananth is an Account Manager with Adorama Business Solutions – and helps equip creators with bringing their vision to life by supporting their equipment needs. www.adorama.com