Creator Meetup: Beyond Representation: Tools for Expanding Trans Awareness in Media

Moi Santos is the Manager for the Equity, Impact, and Belonging Program at Sundance Institute. She is the founder of the Trans Possibilities Intensive, an incubator program that provides a supportive environment for transgender artists of color to work on their projects, sharpen their craft, develop community and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists of color. Moi was one of the curators for the Queer Rhapsody Film Series, a community-led film series celebrating contemporary LGBTQIA+ cinema. She holds a degree in Ethnic Studies with a concentration in visual culture and gender studies from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Sam Feder is a Peabody Award nominated film director. Cited by Indiewire as one of the “exciting trans filmmakers shaking up Hollywood”, Sam’s films explore the intersection of visibility and politics along the lines of race, class, and gender. Sam’s filmmaking practice models inclusion and equity in the industry. Sam’s films have been programmed by Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, CPH:DOX, MOMA PS-1, The British Film Institute, The Hammer Museum, and in hundreds of film festivals around the world. The Netflix Original Documentary, DISCLOSURE (Sundance, 2020) is an unprecedented, eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. KATE BORNSTEIN IS A QUEER AND PLEASANT DANGER (2014), a portrait of trans icon Kate Bornstein, was named one of the best documentaries of 2014 by The Advocate, won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, and multiple best feature film awards. Sam’s work has been supported by Ford/JustFilms, Fork Films, California Humanities, The Jerome Foundation, Perspective Fund, Threshold, IFP Film Week, Good Pitch USA/Doc Society, MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo artist residency.

Tre’vell Anderson (they/them) is an award-winning journalist, social curator, and world changer who always comes to slay! Named to The Root’s 2020 list of the 100 most influential African Americans, they have dedicated their career to centering those in the margins, grey spaces, and at the intersections of life through a pop culture lens. Tre’vell is currently Editor-At-Large for Toronto’s Xtra and co-host of the Maximum Fun podcast, FANTI.

Formerly the Director of Culture and Entertainment at Out magazine, Tre'vell got their start in journalism at the Los Angeles Times where they created the beat of diversity in Hollywood with a focus on Black and queer film. During their four years at The Times, they covered every major red carpet in Hollywood, interviewed everyone from Viola Davis and Ava DuVernay to fashion icon André Leon Talley and spearheaded projects that received industry-wide attention. Over the course of their career, their work has been recognized by the Online News Association, National Association of Black Journalists, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, the Shorty Awards, and the Los Angeles Press Club among others.

A native of Charleston, SC, Tre'vell received their Bachelor's degree in sociology from “the nation's headquarters for Black male excellence,” Morehouse College. A year later, they earned their Master's degree in journalism from Stanford University. In 2018, they received the “Passing the Torch Award” from Better Brothers Los Angeles for their work in media and representing the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, they were recognized as one of Empowerment Congress’s “40 Under 40.”

Tre’vell is the immediate past president of the National Association of Black Journalists of Los Angeles (NABJLA), co-chair of NABJ’s LGBTQ Task Force and the organization’s Region IV Director. A well sought-after moderator and commentator, they’ve made appearances on MSNBC, NPR, Fox Business Network, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, and Entertainment Tonight Live.

Kristal Sotomayor is a bilingual Latinx documentary filmmaker, festival programmer, and freelance journalist based in Philadelphia. Currently, they are in post-production on EXPANDING SANCTUARY, an independent short documentary about the historic end to police surveillance organized by nonprofit Juntos and the Latinx immigrant community in South Philadelphia. They are also in-development on the animated short docufiction film called ALX THROUGH THE LABYRINTH that takes a dive into the Alice In Wonderland-like reality of contracting COVID-19. Kristal is a MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellow, If/Then North Shorts Resident, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab Fellow, Justice For My Sister Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab Fellow, BAVC Serial Storytellers 2.0 Program, Good Pitch Local: Philadelphia Fellow, and NeXtDoc Fellow. They serve as the Awards Competition Manager for the IDA Documentary Awards, Programming Director for the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, Co-Founder/Journalist for ¡Presente! Media, and are on the Editorial Board for the film journal cinéSPEAK. Formerly, Kristal was the Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Scribe Video Center. Kristal’s journalistic background includes having written for ITVS, AL DÍA, WHYY, and Documentary Magazine. They write the Latinx cinema column “Cine alzando voz” for cinéSPEAK. They are a recipient of the Sundance Institute Press Inclusion Initiative, TIFF Media Inclusion Initiative, International Documentary Association (IDA) Magazine Editorial Fellowship, NBC University Visual Storytelling During Breaking News, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and the Lenfest Next Generation Fund.

Alex Schmider is an Emmy®, Peabody, and Critics Choice Award nominated film producer and the Director of Transgender Representation at GLAAD, the nation’s leading LGBTQ media advocacy organization. In his work, he advises media and entertainment industry leaders, and consults with production companies on how best to approach LGBTQ and, specifically, transgender characters and storylines. His producing credits include Changing the Game (Hulu 2021), Disclosure (Netflix 2020), Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber 2022), Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story (Netflix 2022) and upcoming Chasing Chasing Amy (TBA). He currently sits on the Advisory Committee for the Ad Council and is an active member of the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy.