Meet the Season 4 Film Makers

Episode 401

Conjunto Universal – Directors George V. Lopez & Michael J.L. Mechoso

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | George V. Lopez & Michael J. L. Mechoso | film-maker

Interview with filmmakers George V. Lopez and Michael J. L. Mechoso. Their film, “Conjunto Universal,” focuses on a time when Cuban exiles were seeking refuge in Miami due to the new Castro regime, a talented group of musicians formed a band to keep their musical heritage alive by playing for fellow exiles through dark times as they started a new life in the United States.

Episode 402

Wade in the Water: Drowning in Racism – Director Cathleen Dean
Femme – Director Carla Forte

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Cathleen Dean | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Cathleen Dean. Her featured film is titled, “Wade in the Water: Drowning in Racism.” From seaweed to lost beach balls, sun-seekers bump into all sorts of surprises swimming along Florida’s iconic beaches. For Black swimmers however, there’s a complex history floating off Florida’s blue waters – one of segregation and violence, but also one of protest and resistance. “Wade in The Water: Drowning in Racism” dives deep into Black Florida’s fight for the right to swim, the film brings to life the 1960s Civil Rights protests that desegregated the state’s beaches and swimming pools.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Carla Forte | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Carla Forte. Her film, “FEMME,” is focused on and inspired by Latin American women in South Florida who in some way have felt oppressed by their social circumstances.

Episode 403

In a Lifetime – Director Frantzy Moreau
Third Trinity – Director Yara Travieso, Playwright by Teo Castellanos, Produced by Jason Jeffers

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Frantzy Moreau | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Frantzy Moreau. His film, “In a Lifetime,” follows Olly and Ade, two friends who cherish their bond and relationship. However, one strives to leave the environment by any means while the other grows dependent on the friendship.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Yara Travieso & Teo Castellanos | film-maker

Interview with filmmakers Yara Travieso and Teo Castellanos. In their film, “Third Trinity,” a wise Puerto Rican santera bestows a puzzling premonition upon her pregnant daughter, who fears losing her artistic practice to the demands of motherhood.

Episode 404

Peanut Headz George Washington Carver - Director and Animator Jason Fleurant
Superficie - Directors Sandra Portral - Andreu and Mateo Serna Zapata
On the Note of Humanity & Unity – Director Roxana Barba
Mooring - Directors Annik Babinski and Jorge Gonzalez-Graupera
Offline - Director Carla De Jesus Jerez
Mommy, Will You Play With Me? –Director Avram Dodson

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Jason Fleurant | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Jason Fleurant. His featured animated film is, “Peanut Headz: George Washington Carver.” History is always happening and the Treal Toonz’ Peanut Headz have got you covered when it comes to sharing quick bites of Black History in fun and exciting ways! This Peanut Headz episode of Black History Toonz features George Washington Carver and how he saved the South.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Sandra Portal-Andreu & Mateo Serna Zapata | film-maker

Interview with filmmakers Sandra Portal-Andreu and Mateo Serna Zapata. Their film, “Superficie,” is a response to our connections between the natural and man-made world. How do our haptic senses respond to environmental impulses? How does the environment react to our actions? “Superficie” plays with surfaces, touch, textures, movement, and sounds that are both internalized and
externalized.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Roxana Barba | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Roxana Barba. Her film, “On the Note of Humanity & Unity” is a tender ode to the inner world that fuels our strength and the caring hand we all need during turbulent times.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Annik Babinski & Jorge Gonzalez Graupera | film-maker

Interview with filmmakers Annik Babinski and Jorge Gonzalez Graupera. Their film, “Mooring,” features a unique local community. For more than 30 years, people have been living on their boats in the mooring field off Dinner Key Marina. Some choose a life on the water. For others, it’s a calling. In “Mooring,” Mike reflects on life on his boat and the winding channels that brought him to the
water.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Carla de Jesus Jerez | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Carla de Jesus Jerez. Her film, “Offline,” is a thoughtful meditation. When your relationship to the internet changes, from a place of exploration and opportunity to a place of collective action and reaction, it can become challenging to locate the Self. I sit with plants and allow them to show me who they are and how I should engage with them without a single word. It is within
them that I find the blueprint of life on this confusing planet – it is within them that I feel most my Self.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Avram Dodson | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Avram Dodson. His film, “Mommy, Will You Play With Me?,” an uncanny child wrests Mother's attention from a Zoom meeting.

Episode 305

Sunnyside – Directed by Miguel Angel Tamayo, Assistant Director Catherine Mairena
Fairchild –Director Kali Kahn

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Miguel Angel Tamayo & Catherine Mairena | film-maker

Interview with filmmakers Miguel Angel Tamayo and Catherine Mairena. In their film, “Sunnyside,” thirteen-year-old Lola has grown up fast with her boozer father as they live and work at a gritty motel – the Sunnyside. Lola dreams of finding her absent mother but things turn from bad to worse when she learns she is pregnant. When a young drifter checks in, Lola sees a new opportunity to finally escape the Sunnyside for good.

9 Questions in 90 Seconds | Kali Kahn | film-maker

Interview with filmmaker Kali Kahn. Her film, “Fairchild,” is an impressionistic journey into the internal world of Joey, 15, through a seemingly mundane day at summer camp in the Florida Everglades as she sinks dangerously deep into the mire of social pressures around her.