Our Team
We are comprised of experts from all the diverse mediums of the film industry with uniquely diverse backgrounds to best address the multicultural students we serve.
Our Co-Founders
Jessica Just, is an actress, producer, and editor. She graduated from NYU-Tisch
School of the Arts, with a degree in Film and TV Production and a minor in producing. In the past Jessica worked for Miramax in post-production and Apostle Films for
pre-production and development. She currently is a Partner at Open
Perspective Media LLC. Since the age of 5, she has been a member of SAG-AFTRA
and has appeared in several international commercials, feature films, and TV shows.
Jessica Just
Hipolito (Polo) was born in Guadalupe Victoria, Mexico in the central
state of Durango. He immigrated to the United States in 1979 at the age
of 11. He attended Queen of Angels High School Seminary, a preparatory
high school nestled in the historic San Fernando Mission. As a
seminarian, he was able to connect with his spirituality and developed a
strong acumen for social justice. He served in the US Navy and after
attended Cal State University at Long Beach. There he received a
Political Science BA focused on International Relations and a minor in
Communications. Immediately after college, he worked in the
Pharmaceutical Industry as a sales representative. With his sales
background he worked with Scholastic Book Fairs in developing the
Latino school market in the Los Angeles area. His first production,
“Flamenco Dreams,” in 2003 was distributed through Universal/Vivendo
in partnership with Miles Copeland’s CIA distribution company. He is the
Co-Founding Partner and Producer at Open Perspective Media, which
produced LA Business Today, a talk show distributed on PBS Affiliate
KLCS TV. He is also publisher of the online magazines, Latino Weekly
Review and Landscape Latino. He serves as Vice President of the Board
of the KLCS Education Foundation and is a Board Member of member of
the Media Educators of Los Angeles. He also serves on the Board of
SEEfest Film Festival.
Polo Munoz
Filmmakers
I am a storyteller, an Anthropologist, and a filmmaker originally from Silicon Valley. I come with an eye inclined toward details, the energetic vibe that I’m known for, and a fundamental desire to tell stories either with my words or with my films.
George Elias
Heather Ann Gottlieb (She/They) is an award winning actor, playwright, and poet. She can be seen in television, commercials, immersive theatre, and slam poetry competitions around Los Angeles. Her feminist comedy podcast, Dirty Girl, was chosen to launch WhoHaha’s podcast network in 2018. In 2015, she received her BA in Theatre Arts from Loyola Marymount University and was awarded the LMU Theatre Department’s “Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting” by her professor, Beth Henley. Heather Ann is represented by Media Artists Group theatrically, Osbrink commercially, and is managed by Brave Artists Management.
Heather Ann Gottlieb
Mateo is a Houston-born LA-based actor who has experience in film, theatre, and voiceover. He loves storytelling and wishes to share this power with the world!
Mateo Mpinduzi-mott
Margarita Reyes was born on March 15, 1977 in
Escondido, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known
for The Sandman (2017) and Manos partidas (2008). Margarita
Graduated from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Lead
actress in Aloe Blacc’s acoustic version of #Wake Me Up (2013). In
October 2013, Blacc released the music video for the track “Wake Me
Up”. Blacc collaborated with the immigrant rights group National Day
Laborer Organizing Network and the ABC* Foundation’s Healing Power
of Music Initiative. Voted Independent Filmmakers Alliance (IFA)
September Actress of the Month (2007).
Margarita Reyes
Vanessa Lua is a bilingual actress and producer best known for her role as Aunt Telma on Shameless season 10. Her production credits include the feature documentary Comedy House, and the stage play American Man Dream, in which she also wrote and performed. She is the creator and host of the YouTube channel whatthehelldidshesay, in which Vanessa interviews celebrities with her iPhone . She is also the voice in Spanish of Coco and Douglas in the soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful.
Vanessa studied improvised comedy at the DCH, IO West and the Groundlings, and completed acting studies at Actors Comedy Studio and with Margie Haber. Vanessa holds an industrial engineering degree from the Universidad Panamericana.
Vanessa Lua
Kassandra Aguilar is from Los Angeles, CA. She received her bachelor’s degree in Film and Digital Media with a concentration in Production from UC Santa Cruz. She’s an aspiring filmmaker and screenwriter and enjoys writing and making short films.
Kassandra Aguilar
Raised in the world of independent film, Oscar Zamora-Rojo has always had both an ear and an eye for gripping stories from the border. He blends elements of Mexican, and American folklore in his stories/projects, representing his own background as the son of two Mexican immigrants. He has worked in film his whole life, acting in his first feature film at the age of 4 years old. He grew up in El Paso, Texas, and obtained his degrees in Film and Education at a nearby university, New Mexico State University. He currently lives in Burbank, California, where he works as a freelance artist for several companies, including Epic Pictures and Lucasfilm.
Oscar Zamora-Rojo
Faith’s journey into professional writing started when she was young, crafting bedtime stories and plays to entertain her three younger siblings. Fueled by a lifelong love of storytelling, she enrolled in the University of Houston’s theatre program, where she studied playwriting and dramaturgy under the tutelage of Theresa Rebeck (Smash, Bernardt/Hamlet, Mauritius). After college, she made the move from Houston to Los Angeles to bring her playwriting skills into the writer’s room.
Faith Tenney
Steven Turk
Jenna Sackett
Newt Arlandiz
Karola Sanchez
Luis Horacio Pineda (Born October 31, 1975) is a
Mexican and American painter, architectural drafter, muralist,
cartoonist, writer, producer and film director. He was born in Nogales,
Arizona and raised in Sonora, Mexico. Pineda attended Universidad de
Sonora at Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico and the University of Arizona at
Tucson, Arizona. Pineda shoots and produces short films, animated
films, TV Spots, documentary films, and music videos.
As a painter and muralist, Pineda began his interest in film in
1999 when he was studying literature in Mexico. Pineda started
drawing, painting, and writing at an early age and these early stages
provided the crucial groundwork that is leading Pineda’s development
as a filmmaker. Pineda not only has the usual credits of writing and
directing his films, he also frequently serves as a storyboard artist,
producer, director of photography, and script editor on his films.
Luis Horacio Pineda
Maria Alanis is a writer, director, and cinematographer from Stockton, California. She graduated in 2017 from the Art Institute of California – Sacramento after having directed and produced two short films, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Film and Video Production. During her time in Sacramento, she worked as a cinematographer for the Women’s March, produced training videos for Outback Steakhouse and was a production assistant on Netflix’s “Jailbirds” and A&E’s “Live Rescue”. Maria also work at ABC10 as a production assistant and editor for the weekend morning news.
Before moving to Southern California, Maria was working as a production coordinator at Futures Explored, in Stockton, California. Here she guided students with developmental disabilities through the pre-production, production, and post-production stages of producing their own films. In addition, she managed and maintained the company’s film studio in which the students were able to shoot their films, as well as facilitated them in obtaining paid jobs from clients.
In early 2020, she volunteered at the Sundance Film Festival based in Park City, Utah. Maria later went on to volunteer at Outfest Fusion as part of the documentary team, which gave her insight into some of the goals she’s like to reach within her own career as a storyteller.
In March, she joined the Creating Creators team as a Film Instructor after previously working with founder and CEO Jessica Just and Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder Hipolito Munoz. She looks ahead to many more exciting opportunities to learn, grow, create, and teach what she’s learned to those coming after her.
Maria Alanis
Lawrence is a director of photography and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. He has filmed for brands including Humana, MassMutual, Cartier, Motorola, GUESS, Jack in the Box, and The Container Store; and lit sets as Gaffer for brands such as Google, Merrell, and Easton. Besides commercial spots, he has also worked on feature-length and short films, web-series’, and music videos. Lawrence and his wife, Georgeanna, recently welcomed their first child, Laura, into the world!
Lawrence Le
Jessica Silvetti is an award-winning writer and director. Originally from Mexico City, she
received a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. To date she has completed several
shorts, web series and a feature film.
Her bilingual web series LOST MEMORIES, a narrative about Alzheimer’s disease, earned
her a Breaking Boundaries – Visionary Women’s Award in 2017.
IN ABSENTIA, an anthology series she wrote and directed with her partner, Ethan Kogan, has
received much acclaim, including three International Academy of Web Television Awards
nominations for Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Drama Series and a Best Writing at
Raindance Film Festival.
Presently she’s developing a one hour TV show with her partner and husband, Kogan, as well
as a feature film she penned and plans to direct.
Jessica Silvetti
Zana is a Bosnian American award-winning actress based in Los Angeles. She was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983, and moved to the United States in 1996. After attending prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, she graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. She holds MA degree in Performing Arts – Acting. She has a successful international acting career both in Europe and the US. Zana is best known for her leading role in Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011). Her most recent motion picture “A Rose in Winter” tells the story of Edith Stein, the saint and the patron of Europe murdered in Auschwitz, and presents research on the life of one of the most interesting women in the history of Judeo-Christians, which was an fearless defender of women’s rights and reconciliation. Zana has produced numerous documentary films, mainly focusing on themes of piece and reconciliation. She is currently writing her first feature film, a comedy “The Uncredited” and is directing her short film “Franny” based on her experiences as a child in her birth country on the verge of war in 1992.
Zana Marjanovic
I am a Bosnian award-winning director based in Los Angeles. I was born in 1988 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a teenager, I strived in the world of film, music and sports, playing ice hockey for the national team, producing rap music and music videos.
I graduated Film and Theatre directing and hold MA degree in Directing. I created socially engaged films, plays, cabarets, web series, hip-hop videos, street performances, comedy and stand-up comedy shows that have received national, and international, acclaim.
I held filmmaking workshops and directed films that screened at various festivals across the world, Istanbul Modern, the State Department, the United Nations Headquarters New York, as well as notable universities as Columbia University, GWU and Pratt Institute. My niche is comedy that seeks to engage people with social justice issues.
Emir Kapetanovic
Meryem Dipdere international producer and curator for films and film Festivals, worked in Amsterdam, London and now based in Los Angeles. Her career grounded in TV/Film development & production and the last 9 years in the planning and execution of a wide range of Film festivals and art exhibitions.
Meryem moved to the US in 2016, Represented the official 90th Oscar-submission ‘The Dark Wind’ by Hussain Hassan. She has been involved as producer or curator for some of the most pioneering art-digital-film festivals in Europe,such as Alpha-Ville London and AFX in Amsterdam. She has also worked for international acclaimed festivals, like IDFA and the East End Film Festival in London.
In recent years Meryem has been organizing exhibitions and art events that bring together art, social commentary and grassroots resistance. She has initiated successful shows with emerging street artists and established names in the London art scene. She has pioneered new formats for art shows and initiates art projects that inspire both audiences and artists to reconsider the relation between the arts and social movements.
Meryem Dipdere
Originally from the south suburbs of Chicago, Elizabeth Tawose is a director, writer, and model based in Los Angeles. As a first-generation Nigerian-American, Tawose has always had a love for television, fantasy, and writing.
Elizabeth has worked on many different productions such as Black-ish, Grown-ish, Netflix’s Shameless and numerous others. Her short film “Sunflower” is set to make its festival debut in 2022. Through her work, she aims to ignite confidence in oneself and encourage individuals to challenge their views of the world, while bringing her Yorùbá culture to the forefront.
Tawose is an alumna of The Ohio State University.
Elizabeth Tawose
Valentina Olarte
Ellie Rabenberg
Teodor Todorov
Born in Milan, Italy, I have been developing and coordinating Film & TV productions since 2016. My credits include top-notch features such as the Oscar nominee The Life Ahead, starring Sophia Loren, and the Berlinale Silver Bear winner Hidden Away. I have supervised the post-production workflow of prime-time TV series and international titles such as The Name of the Rose, starring John Turturro and Rupert Everett. In 2021, the desire to realize my own projects led me to enroll in the Producing Program at UCLA and to move to Los Angeles, where I am currently producing my first feature film.
Viola Calia
If you’re interested in joining our team or are looking to help us by volunteering, Contact us!
