Oriana Bolden, Director

As founder and Lead Director and Communications Strategist of proj-ectPRO:JECT, an Oakland, CA- based new media institute and production house, Oriana Bolden has written, directed, edited and produced several short documentaries, from Los Angeles to the Darien Gap (jungle) of Panama, highlighting community organizing efforts to bring about justice. She has taught three (3)-day to 24-week workshops during which young women of color learn production skills through making their own movies.

Oriana honed her grassroots activism and media production skills working as a Correspondent and Producer for Free Speech TV (FSTV, DISH network Channel 9415); serving as Executive Director of the Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD); and as Coordinator of the Community Technology and Resources Center for Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP).

Oriana Bolden Filmography:
Youth Manifesto and About-Face: Take Action
Director | Producer | D.P. | Editor
7 minutes each 2009

Inside Out: the Story of Freeplay Dance Crew
Director | Writer | Producer | D.P. | Editor
30 minutes total of video segmented for play throughout 2-night run of 70-minute dance/video live performance for National Queer Arts Festival 2008

sins invalid: beautifully visible 1-6
Director | Writer | Producer | D.P. | Editor
Six 6-minute shorts representing differently abled bodies in expressions of sexuality and art; an invitation to an unshamed claim to beauty in the face of invisibility.
36 minutes 2007

contra-tiempo: against time
Director | Writer | D.P. | Editor
20 minutes 2007

Sunshine Boutique
Associate Producer | Editor
26 minutes 2007

Echoes of the Future
Director | Writer | D.P. | Editor
19 min 2006

goodnight, liberation
Director | Writer | Producer | D.P. | Editor
7min 2003

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Brittany Ballard, Producer

Brittany Ballard is an emerging independent filmmaker and producer. Before forming Little Plow Films with partner Jamil Smith to pursue the development of independent projects, Brittany was Head of Acquisitions at Newmarket Films, where she was instrumental in the acquisition of several indie favorites. Brittany served as Programmer at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for two years, and is currently in her fourth year as Head Programmer of Urbanworld Film Festival in NYC. She is the assistant to acclaimed Swedish director Bjorne Larson and she also teaches the power of film to inner-city teen girls as an instructor in the Film Production Program at Gertz-Ressler Charter High School through the Step Up Women’s Network.

In addition to In Justice, Brittany is in pre -production on a feature narrative to be directed by Jamil Smith, MAKE A MOVIE LIKE SPIKE, set to shoot in Los Angeles in Summer 2009. In addition, Brittany is currently developing a narrative film based on the novel, DAUGHTER’S KEEPER, written by former criminal defense attorney, and Bay Area resident, Ayelet Waldman. The narrative screenplay is set for pre-production in Spring 2010.

Of recent particular note, a short film about Oriana and Brittany’s work as a media production facilitators recently won two (2) 2008 Telly Awards in the categories of Social Issues and Charitable/Not-for-Profit (September 2008).

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Raashan Ahmad, Composer
Raashan Ahmad’s professional career as a Hip Hop M.C. and Producer jumped off with his first band/incarnation, Mission, and their first album’s release in 1999. He is currently front man for the group Crown City Rockers who released the album Earthtones in 2004, which garnered critical acclaim from press (Urb Next 100, San Francisco Weekly “Best of the Bay,” Jam Base) and Body Rock (released November 11, 2008).

Raashan also unleashed his debut solo record in Fall of 2008. Raashan has devoted hundreds of hours to grassroots community organizing through performing for free, mentoring young hip hop artists, lending his voice to projects rooted in social justice causes in Oakland, and collaborating with other bay area artists for fundraising events. Incarcerated youth, gang violence, overcrowded prisons, poverty, addiction, and racism are recurrent themes in his music as they are born directly from his personal life.

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Director of Photography, TBD
Editor, TBD
Additional Cameras:

• • Students from proj-ectPRO:JECT/ Step Up Women’s Network after school documentary program.
• • Each of the women featured in documentary- we plan to outfit them when/where possible with their own cameras.