Gabriela A.

Meeting A Monster (VR Documentary)

Meeting a Monster examines the memories and motivations of former white supremacist Angela King. Through audio recordings, re-enactments, and present-day footage, the film invites the viewer to experience both the decisions that lured Angela into the white power movement as well as the encounters that led her out. While the monsters Angela encounters and imagines define much of her path towards a mindset of bias and hate, she is unable to discover the path out until she encounters the ultimate monster — herself. The film was created as part of the Oculus VR for Good program and premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. The film has also been shown at Cannes NEXT, Sheffield Documentary Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, and Oculus Connect. It won Best Immersive Storytelling at the North Bend Film Festival. The film has also been used as a resource for civic education in Berlin, been published as a tool for Hacking Racial Bias for Oculus Developers and will be used by city of Los Angeles, the State of California, and DHS to train officers to red flags for white supremacy groups. In addition, the organization Life After Hate will utilize the film to help current white supremacists disengage from hate groups.

• Video Editor - Documentary
• Non-Fiction Film Director

Hopefully

Hopefully is a 3-part study on social justice, mental health, and the times we live in. These short films were made as part of a collaboration with cellist, composer and storyteller, OkCello and the Emory University Arts & Social Justice Fellowship. During his fellowship, OkCello collaborated with Emory professor, Dr. Elizabeth Walker, and her class on “Preventing Mental Health and Behavioral Disorders” in The Rollins School of Public Health.This project is an expression of the conversations they had around racial violence, inequity and discrimination during the fellowship. Their stories, both personal and global, provided the framework for the project, highlighting how mental health and social justice are intertwined and our collective response to that entanglement. This first video draws on the students and artist’s views of this intersection, as well as questions the future of our mental health, as justice for so many appears to be more of an apparition than a reality. The second video highlights the conversations within the classroom, as well as the power of our individual and collective voices. This third video is a reflection of the life of Elijah McClain and all his legacy leaves us. This program was made possible by the Emory Ethics & Arts Program. The music and poetry was created and performed by OkCello and mastered by Julian Tillery.

• Video Editor - Documentary
• Non-Fiction Film Director

Comfort (Short Fiction FIlm)

COMFORT is a film by director Boma Iluma that tells the story of a Nigerian immigrant father who must tell his son why his mother is not coming home after a devastating ICE raid. The film premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival was made through the Indeed Rising Voices program, a partnership with Lena Waithe’s production company Hillman Grad Productions to uncover to invest in and share stories created by BIPOC filmmakers across the US.

• Production Coordinator / Crewing

They Came At Night (Short Non-Fiction Film)

In a desperate attempt to return home, an abducted child soldier risks his life to flee from Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) deep in central Africa after years of being forced to fight. When capture appears imminent, he encounters a stranger who must decide whether to help him – risking his own life, and the respect of his community. “They Came at Night” was shot in Dungu, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in Zande, the local language. The film was shot exclusively with first-time actors affected by the war and is the result of a long-term collaboration with those living in the middle of war, and created for those living in war. This film was toured across three countries in central Africa in 13+ local communities by local organizations and the United Nations. The film has been seen by 50k+ people in East Africa and has had 500k+ online views. The film was shown in conjunction with an in-depth facilitated workshop to prepare communities to peacefully receive LRA escapees who return home. Since the screenings, the UN has seen the defection of 37+ combatants.

• Production Coordinator / Crewing

Traces (Virtual Reality)

Traces is a cinematic virtual reality film exploring the memories of one woman living with Alzheimer's disease. In the film, the main character Willie White, an 88-year old woman living with dementia, recounts her time as a young girl living in the fields near Mason, Tennessee. As her words transport us back in time, traces of memory fall in and out—the old wooden farmhouse where she was raised, the coconut cakes her mom would make on Sunday mornings, her favorite white dress, the hymns she’d sing in the choir at church. Through these vibrant recollections, illustrated through re-enactments, we journey with Willie as she searches for the words to one of her favorite songs and the meaning of memory in this new and fragmented landscape. The film has been recognized by the Alexia Foundation and the Creative Activist Network and has been selected for the VR program at the Kaleidoscope Showcase, New Orleans Film Festival, Indie Memphis Festival, SHIFT, Atlanta Film Festival and the Underground Film Festival. The film lives on JAUNT and Tribeca Film Festival’s app. In addition, the film has been used for training and presentations by local and national Alzheimer’s awareness groups.