Barni Axmed Qaasim, Director / Producer
Barni Axmed Qaasim is a filmmaker and writer focused on sharing the stories and experiences of people who are left out of dominant Western media. Her work spans documentary to music videos and is dedicated to documenting resistance from the refugee camp to the streets. Barni works closely with the Somali community in the States and won a Somali Association of Arizona award of recognition for "giving Somali refugees a voice" with her documentary, A Little Rebirth. She has been working with the Oakland-based media organization, Third World Majority, since 2004. Barni holds a BA in a Political Science with a minor in Video Production and a Masters of Arts in Broadcasting.
Jennifer Lucero, Co-Producer
Jennifer Lucero is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso where she received her degree in Electronic Media, focusing on documentary film work and a minor in Women’s Studies. She developed her love affair with story telling at age five and now has created a passion to help produce documentary films that provide diverse and unique perspectives of people's lives. She works with Digital Video Masters, a production company located in El Paso. In her work she seeks to create art to educate the public about various issues. Jennifer directed and produced Under a Cloudless Sky, a short documentary on homeless women in The Opportunity Center in El Paso, Texas. She spent a month with the women in the homeless shelter and her work sought to decriminalize homeless women and to expose the injustices that these women have faced for being homeless and female. Jennifer recently produced, La Lumiére, an experimental short exploring motherhood.
Beto Lopez, Editor
Beto Lopez is a documentary filmmaker and professional editor who has 15 years of experience documenting urban hip hop culture. Well known in the hip hop community for his feature length documentary, The B-boy Connection, Beto directed, produced and edited this piece through his unique position as an insider to break dancing culture. Beto Lopez directed and edited singer Goapele’s first music video Closer which was pivotal in getting her record deal with Sony Records. Beto has been broadcasting daily from Justin.tv for years and is currently a Ford Fiesta Agent, creating online video content for the manufacturer.