As Everette returns home from college he finds his childhood park caged up, locked up with chain link fencing. Curious as to why, he begins to unravel and discover the history of his neighborhood, which sets him on a path of enlightenment, and leaves him with a hunger for justice.
Randall Dottin: Writer, Producer
The Chair of New York Film Academy’s Screenwriting department in NYC, Dottin is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. He received his MFA at the Columbia University School of the Arts Graduate Film Division. His thesis film, “A-Alike,” was licensed for a two-year broadcast run by HBO and won numerous awards including a Director’s Guild of America Award for Best African American Student Filmmaker and a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards for Best Narrative Film.
He is the writer, director, and producer of “The House I Never Knew” a six-part documentary series that was accepted into IFP Week’s Spotlight on Documentaries and was a recipient of the Documentary Fund and Stories of Change grant from the Sundance Institute.
Everette Hamlette: Director, Cinematographer, Editor
Everette S. Hamlette’s work focuses on the beauty and resilience of people living in the Bronx. In 2016, after graduating with a journalism degree from the State University of New York at Albany, Everette returned home to work as a documentary journalist at BronxNet TV. There, he produced short form content about the daily lives of people in his neighborhood. In 2017, Everette founded his own production company, Stylish Ev Productions, and began work on his first feature documentary, “75 Park: e pluribus unum” about his changing neighborhood park. An early trailer of the film was screened at City Hall to raise awareness about the racial inequities in the NYC parks system. It was a revelation and Everette is now a speaker throughout the city on the topic. Everette is also a member of the national film collective the Filmshop and recently 75 Park was honored to be chosen for the intensive Filmshop Studio program.
Craig Williams: Writer, Editor
Craig T. Williams is a writer/producer/editor at Red Wall Productions which he runs with his wife and partner, Rosalyn Coleman Williams. He was recently accepted into the WarnerMedia Access Writers Programs (formerly known as HBO All Access.) Craig’s original TV pilot “How Ya Like Me Now,” about the 80’s rap rivalry between Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J has won numerous screenwriting awards and was a finalist for the Sundance 2019 Episodic Lab. “Hanging By A Thread” was a finalist in the 2018 Sundance Screenwriters Lab and is in active pre-production, Executive Produced by Academy Award Winner Viola Davis and her husband Julius Tennon.
Craig serves on the Board of Directors of the Filmshop, a media producers and independent filmmakers collective. He is also a member of the Harlem Dramatic TV Writers Workshop and the Black TV and Film Collective. Craig is a writing mentor for numerous non-profits including Reel Works in Brooklyn.
Graham Meriwether: Writer, Producer, Executive Producer
Through Leave It Better Foundation, Graham has been working as a gardener, educator and activist in the Bronx since 2009. Together with students, parents, educators and citizens, he cleaned up an abandoned plot of land and converted it into a community garden: the Leave It Better Kids Garden.
As a documentarian, Graham has directed two features about farming and is the co-founder of the independent filmmakers collective, the Filmshop. He is focused on creating healthy air, water and soil for everyone.
Anthony Johnson: Composer
Anthony is an emerging composer and orchestrator for film, games, and theater. Writing in a broad range of musical styles and genres, he enjoys working closely with filmmakers to create original music that illuminates the narrative with sensitivity and layered emotion. He has scored numerous student films and independent shorts that have been recognized at film festivals. His style is influenced by jazz standards, classical works, and the funk, soul, and hip-hop mixes of the b-boy crew community he was a part of in his youth. Originally from Baltimore City, Anthony studies film scoring, music for interactive media, and musical theater writing at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Ruth Mendelson: Supervising Composer
A New York Times Critics' Pick and Emmy nominee, composer/producer/arranger Ruth Mendelson has been writing award-winning scores for documentaries, HBO, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Disney, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, A&E, PBS, CBS, and NBC (among others), as well as creating innovative multi-media "surround-scapes" for over 25 years.
An active humanitarian dedicated to education, Ruth was the first woman at Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) to teach in the Film Scoring Department, where she designs and teaches master classes in documentary and dramatic scoring.
Samhita Madduru: Composer
Samhita is a film & media composer and arranger based out of Chicago. Her most recent work includes the original score for the independent short film, "Heart Square" and the short film "All The While" released in June 2023. She is currently finishing her degree in Film Scoring with a minor in Recording and Production at Berklee College of Music.
Through film scoring, Samhita hopes to bridge Eastern and Western musical styles and create a multi-national, genre-bending blend of music. Her influences include Hildur Guðnadóttir, Nicholas Britell, Thomas Newman, Theodore Shapiro, and many other composers that combine classical and contemporary techniques.
Thomas Rivera Montes: Editor, Writer
Thomas Rivera Montes is a Spanish Director and Editor, born and raised in Switzerland and now based in New York City. His editing work includes 'Swarm Season' (Grasshopper Film), '7 Days Out' (Netflix), 'Bronx Gothic' (Grasshopper Film) and 'The Gospel According to Andre' (Magnolia Pictures), a documentary feature about Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley. These works have been exhibited at the Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, CPH: DOX, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Art of the Real, Maryland, Film Festival, Sheffield Doc Fest, Maysles Cinema and the Chicago Museum of Art among others.
He is also the director, writer and editor of two short films, 'Act Zero', a coming-of-age story and 'Dare and Truth', an LGBTQ+ drama, which have screened at dozens of festivals including the Palm Springs International Shortfest, Outfest LA and Wicked Queer. He holds a BFA in Film Production from Brooklyn College.
Micah Pilarca: Composer
Micah is a Chamorro and Filipino composer, multi-instrumentalist, and conductor from the island of Guam. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in Film and Media Scoring with a minor in Game and Interactive Media Scoring, summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music. His music has been featured at events such as the 2022 Ocean Sciences Meeting and the 2024 Emerson Film Festival. Micah’s primary goal with his work is to help elevate and empower progressive projects to open the eyes and hearts of those who need it most, for the sake of everyone.
Theresa Loong: Producer
Theresa Loong is an artist and interactive media professional who creates intergenerational storytelling experiences focused on memory, identity and immigration through the use of film, games and apps.
She is an award-winning multimedia artist whose work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Art, Sala de Exposiciones, Teriennale di Milano and Círculo de Bellas Artes. As a documentary director, Theresa Loong directed “Every Day is a Holiday” a personal documentary about her father’s experience as a POW during WWII. The film received a national broadcast on PBS. She is currently directing “Game On” a biopic about video game luminary Brenda Romero. She received two NEA Arts in Media grants and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island National Monuments.