The Team

Nausheen Dadabhoy’s (DIRECTOR), work spans fiction and documentary. As a DP she has lensed an Oscar-nominated film and an Emmy-winning documentary. Her films have screened at Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, and have appeared on Netflix, HBO and PBS. Her most recent film AN ACT OF WORSHIP premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast on POV. She received her MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute. She is happiest with a camera on her shoulder.

Heba Elorbany (PRODUCER) is an Egyptian-American journalist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her first documentary film, LIFEHOUSE (2017), earned her a DuPont-Crichton Award. She was a researcher and assistant editor on Oscar-nominated short documentary film ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN and has collaborated with award-winning directors, including Lana Wilson (THE DEPARTURE, AFTER TILLER) and Smriti Mundhra (A SUITABLE GIRL). In addition to making documentary films, she produces audio stories and live shows. She’s worked on productions for the New York Times, Viacom, BBC, Gimlet Media, PRX, Radio Ambulante, Los Angeles Times, and more. Heba earned her master’s degree in 2017 from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and is currently a freelance producer in Los Angeles.

Kristi Jacobson (PRODUCER) is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and storyteller. Some of her recent films include Emmy nominated NO ACCIDENT (HBO), LOUDER: THE SOUNDTRACK FOR CHANGE (HBO), and SOLITARY (HBO), the Outstanding Investigative Documentary Emmy winner and Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award nominee; CARTEL BANK, a one-hour film that aired as part of the Netflix documentary series Dirty Money; TAKE BACK THE HARDBOR (Discovery), co-directed with Roger Ross Williams and produced by Motto Pictures; and A PLACE AT THE TABLE (Magnolia Pictures/Participant Media), winner of IDA’s Pare Lorentz Award, and PGA nominee for best feature.

Sofian Khan (PRODUCER) is the founder of Capital K Pictures, a New York-based production house. His work has appeared on Field of Vision, The Fader, Al Jazeera, PBS, Fusion, NBC and The Atlantic. He is a 2016 MacArthur Documentary Grant recipient for his film THE INTERPRETERS, which was broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens in 2019. His previous film, GAUCHO DEL NORTE (2015), was a Jerome Foundation grant recipient. It aired on PBS’ America ReFramed series. He is a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow (2019) and a DOCNYC “40 Under 40” (2019). He is currently directing his third feature film, KARACHI SKY.

Ben Garchar (EDITOR), is a director and editor who works fluidly between documentary and fiction. He began his career under the mentorship of Oscar winners Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar and has since been fortunate enough to have worked with many of today’s top filmmakers, including Oscar winners Alex Gibney (SINATRA: ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL), Laura Poitras (Field of Vision), Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (AMERICAN FACTORY). Other credits include a New York Times Op-Doc (TO BE QUEEN) and films that have premiered at Sundance (KOMBIT), Tribeca (THIS TIME NEXT YEAR / RADIUM GIRLS), Full Frame (REMOTE AREA MEDICAL), Camden International Film Festival (NOBODY LOVES ME), and BAMcinemaFest (FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY). Most recently he edited AN ACT OF WORSHIP. Acclaimed as “an enthralling recontextualization of the Muslim experience in America,” it premiered at Tribeca and was nationally broadcast on POV.

MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN (COMPOSER) is a composer and documentarian with projects ranging from concert works to multimedia collaborations and film scores. As a first generation Armenian-American and having come from a family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic palette that draws on her heritage, interest in music as documentary, and background in experimental composition to progressively blend the old with the new. She has received commissions from such organizations as the Kronos Quartet, New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alarm Will Sound, Roomful of Teeth, OPERA America, Beth Morrison Projects, and Bang on a Can. Kouyoumdjian is on composition faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, is a lecturer at Columbia University, is a cofounder of the annual new music conference New Music Gathering, and is proud to have her music published on Schott’s PSNY.

ABER KAWAS (IMPACT PRODUCER & PARTICIPANT) Aber Kawas is a Palestinian American community organizer from Brooklyn New York. She has been working with the Arab and Muslim communities in New York City around policy issues such as immigration reform, unlawful policing and surveillance, as well as advocating against Islamophobia. Aber served as the NYC Advocacy Specialist with the Campaign to Take on Hate under the National Network of Arab American communities, transitioning from her position as Advocacy Director at the Arab American Association of NY. She recently received her MA focused on Islamic Liberation Theology in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is currently working at CUNY CLEAR as the Associate Director of Partnerships.