Kristine Stolakis (Director/Producer)
Kristine Stolakis is a documentary film director whose work wrestles with politics, prejudice, and power. Her debut feature PRAY AWAY takes you inside the history and continuation of the “pray the gay away” or ex-gay movement, and is a Multitude Films production. It is supported by the Catapult Film Fund, Tribeca Film Institute, Hartley Film Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and SFFilm. Her directorial debut THE TYPIST (Hot Docs 2015) cracks open the untold story of a closeted Korean War veteran tasked with writing the military dishonorable discharges of outed LGBTQ seamen. It was released by KQED and is currently a Vimeo Staff Pick. WHERE WE STAND (DOC NYC 2015) chronicles a group of Mormon women fighting for equal rights inside their church, and was released by The Atlantic and nominated for a Student BAFTA. She also produced ATTLA (Independent Lens 2019), a co-production of ITVS and Vision Maker Media. Her filmmaking approach is shaped by her background in anthropology, journalism, politics, and community art. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film from Stanford University, where she currently lectures, a BA in Cultural Anthropology from New York University, and has received further training at UC Berkley’s Investigative Reporting Program. She proudly hails from North Carolina and central New York. She is the founder of Lamplighter Films.
Jessica Devaney (Producer)
Jessica Devaney is a Brooklyn-based producer and the founder and president of Multitude Films. Her latest films include Netflix Original PRAY AWAY in partnership with Ryan Murphy and Blumhouse, Oscar-shortlisted CALL CENTER BLUES (TOPIC), and APART, an episode of the Sesame Workshop series THROUGH OUR EYES (HBO Max). She also produced Sundance award-winning and IDA-nominated ALWAYS IN SEASON (Independent Lens 2020), Livingston Reporting award-winning THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED (POV 2019) dubbed “a real-world conspiracy thriller” by Variety, and Peabody-nominated ROLL RED ROLL (POV, Netflix 2019). Additional credits include Critic’s Choice-nominated SPEED SISTERS (Netflix), American Psychological Association award-winning LOVE THE SINNER (Amazon), and CALL HER GANDA (POV). Her films have screened at top festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, BlackStar, and Telluride. Jessica founded QueerDoc and the Queer Producers Network and was a Sundance Edit and Story Lab fellow, Women at Sundance fellow, and Sundance Creative Producing Lab advisor. She received DOC NYC and TOPIC’s inaugural 40 Under 40 Award and the 2019 Cinereach Producers Award.
Anya Rous (Producer)
Anya Rous is a Brooklyn-based Producer and Vice President of Production at Multitude Films, an independent production company dedicated to telling stories by and about historically excluded and underrepresented communities. Anya co-produced the following critically-acclaimed films: ALWAYS IN SEASON (Independent Lens), which premiered in competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award for Moral Urgency, THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED (Tribeca 2018, PBS) dubbed “a journalistic thriller” by The New York Times, and NAILA AND THE UPRISING (IDFA 2017, PBS), and co-executive produced CALL HER GANDA (Tribeca 2018, PBS). Anya brings a combined 10 years of experience in funding strategy and impact campaigns for stories that further movements for racial, economic, and gender justice. She formerly served as the Director of Strategic Relationships at Just Vision, as a grantmaker at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the coordinator of a multi-state oral history project at the Bob Bullock State History Museum in Austin, TX. Anya is a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow and an Impact Partners Documentary Producing Fellow. She is also on the board of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
Carla Gutierrez (Editor)
Carla Gutierrez is the editor of the Oscar-nominated film LA CORONA and the Emmy- nominated documentaries REPORTERO, KINGDOM OF SHADOWS and FAREWELL FERRIS WHEEL. Her latest film, RBG, about the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Magnolia Pictures and Participant Media. RBG has become the highest grossing film for Magnolia. Carla’s recent film, CHAVELA, premiered at the 2017 Berlinale Film Festival where it won the 2nd place Audience Award in the Panorama section. CHAVELA went on to win both the Audience and Grand Jury Awards at L.A. Outfest, and the Audience Award at Frameline. The film has had a wide theatrical release in Mexico to rave reviews. She also edited WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE, which won a Special Jury Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and Best Documentary awards at Docufest, Madrid, Mumbai and Shanghai International Film Festivals. WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE was nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Debut Film. Her work has screened at Sundance, Berlinale, IDFA, SXSW, Full Frame, AFI, Los Angeles Film Festival, HotDocs, Ambulante, among other festivals. Her films have broadcast/streamed on HBO, Netflix, Amazon, POV, Independent Lens, the Sundance Channel, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and BBC’s Storyville. Carla has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab, and a mentor for the Firelight Producers’ Lab. She received a Masters in Documentary Film from Stanford University.
Melissa Langer (Director of Photography)
Melissa Langer is a Philadelphia-based artist and Director of Photography. She recently served as Co-Director of Photography for CHEER, a Netflix docuseries which follows the Navarro College cheerleading team as they prepare to compete in a national championship. She currently serves as Director of Photography for PRAY AWAY, and was also a Producer and Cinematographer for ATTLA, a 2019 co-production of Vision Maker Media and ITVS. Her own art practice in experimental/found video and installation work informs her role as a DP, and she will oftentimes use archival cameras alongside her primary camera. She is a Cinema Eye Honors Nominee in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking and her films, including MY ALEPPO, have premiered and won awards at festivals internationally, including Telluride Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival (New Visions Award), IDFA (ARRI IDFA Best Student Doc), ZagrebDox (Movies that Matter Award), and MoMA’s Doc Fortnight. She is a member of Vox Populi, an artist collective in Philadelphia, as well as SAL Film Group, a small group of filmmakers who contribute time and resources to fellow makers in early stages of development and ideation. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film & Video from Stanford University and a BA in History from Carleton College.
Laura Karpman (Composer)
Laura Karpman is an award-winning composer and a tireless champion for women in music. With a doctorate from Juilliard, she brings a uniquely vivid, conceptual voice to her body of work that spans film, television, concert halls, theater and video games. The four-time EmmyÒ winner’s previous film and television credits include the Netflix fan-favorite romantic comedy, SET IT UP, Eleanor Coppola’s PARIS CAN WAIT, Francis Ford Coppola’s THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE, Fox Searchlight’s STEP and BLACK NATIVITY, WGN America’s award-winning historical drama series UNDERGROUND, PBS’ Peabody award-winning series CRAFT IN AMERICA, and HBO’s REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG. Across concert halls, Karpman is best known for her GRAMMY Award-winning album, Ask Your Mama, a multimedia opera based on an iconic cycle of poems by Langston Hughes, commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Karpman collaborated with The Roots and opera singer Jessye Norman on the piece. Karpman’s concert music has been commissioned and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Concordia, the American Composers’ Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, Northwest Sinfonia, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, as well as the Detroit, Houston, National, New York Youth, Richmond, and El Paso Symphonies. In 2014, Karpman founded The Alliance for Women Film Composers; in 2015, she became the third woman inducted into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and one year later, Karpman was elected the first female governor of the music branch.
Myles Markham (Consulting Producer & Impact Producer)
Myles Markham (he/him or they/them) has worked for almost a decade in grassroots Christian organizing to advance LGBTQ inclusion and racial justice in evangelical and or conservative churches. Myles is based in Atlanta, Georgia where they are pursuing a Master of Arts in Practical Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary and exploring the role of religion and faith within queer and trans communities of color. Myles loves liberation and postcolonial theologies, exploring their Japanese American/Native Hawai’ian identity, and their most recent work has been helping to coordinate the screening campaign for FLINT: THE POISONING OF AN AMERICAN CITY, a documentary that explores the topic of environmental racism and the critical question of how community poisoning happens in American cities.
CO-PRODUCER
Lisa Valencia-Svensson
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Jason Blum
Jeremy Gold
Marci Wiseman
Mary Lisio
Amanda Spain
Daniel Chalfen
Jim Butterworth
Katy Drake Bettner
Johnny Symons
Julie Parker Benello
Patty Quillin
Nion McEvoy
Leslie Berriman
Regina K. Scully
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
David Lee
Janet Tittiger
Jenn Lee Smith
Geralyn White Dreyfous
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Colleen Cassingham
Paulette Marte
Ryan White
ARCHIVAL PRODUCER
Erin Chisholm
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Grace Mendenhall
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Alexa Ard
Ariell Lawrence
Weston McFarlin
Jot Sahi
Sasha Taher
SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR
Bob Edwards
GRAPHICS
Mike Nicholson
COLORIST
SJ Smith