Cai Thomas looks directly at the camera. She has short hair and wears a cap. Portrait in black and white.
Cai Thomas
Photo courtesy Cai Thomas
Director
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Cai Thomas (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker and DP telling vérité stories at the intersection of location, self-determination, and identity about Black youth and elders. She grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood and is deeply interested in stories rooted in place. Her most recent film, Change The Name, supported by P&G and Tribeca Studios through Queen Latifah's Queen Collective had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Festival. Cai’s prior film, Queenie, premiered at NewFest winning the NY Short Grand Jury award, “The jury unanimously felt that the cinematic scope and emotional depth captured in the film’s 19 minutes brought with seeming ease a colossal new figure to the forefront of the cinematic canon.” She is a member of the NeXt Doc collective and is a Sisters In Cinema fellow. Her work has been supported by the Field foundation, Jonathan Logan Family foundation, If/Then shorts, Onward, and others. Cai is an inaugural Mellon Arts Practitioner Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

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Emily Cohen Ibañez looking directly at the camera. She has short grey and dark brown hair and is wearing gold earrings, lipstick, and a striped T-shirt.
Emily Cohen Ibañez
Photo courtesy Emily Cohen Ibañez
Jerry Risius holds a camera on his shoulder and smiles directly at the camera.
Jerry Risius
Photo courtesy Jerry Risius
Beth Levison looks at the camera and smiles.
Beth Levison
Photo courtesy Beth Levison
Leah Galant is smiling at the camera.
Leah Galant
Photo courtesy Leah Galant
Maya Cueva looks at the camera.
Maya Cueva
Photo courtesy Maya Cueva
Ann Kaneko smirks while looking directly at the camera.
Ann Kaneko
Photo courtesy Ann Kaneko
Mia Donovan looks away from the camera. She wears a dark outfit. Portrait in black and white.
Mia Donovan
Photo courtesy Mia Donovan
Ash Goh Hua looking straight ahead. She has shoulder-length dark hair partially tied up in a bun.
Ash Goh Hua
Photo courtesy Ash Goh Hua
A black and white portrait of filmmaker Brooke Pepion Swaney. A young woman with shoulder length dark hair looks intently at the camera. She wears a collared shirt and a crew neck sweater over it.
Brooke Pepion Swaney
Photo courtesy Brooke Pepion Swaney
A black and white portrait of Daniel Nelson. A white man with a beard and mustache is surrounded by film cameras, he looks down to the right through a camera lens he holds.
Daniel A. Nelson
Photo courtesy Daniel Nelson
A woman with shoulder-length dark hair and bangs looks intently to the left with her chin resting lightly on her fingers. Headshot of Natalie Patillo
Natalie Pattillo
Photo courtesy Natalie Patillo
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