FOUNDERS

RISHIKA ADVANI is a creative executive and documentary producer whose projects explore a diverse range of issues, from mental health and climate change to human rights and politics. She served as the VP of Documentary Films and Series at Participant, a global media company that pioneered socially conscious storytelling. Prior to Participant, she was the Director of Current Programming at CNN Original Series. Rishika has spent many years as a producer in the unscripted space, and has served on multiple juries and panels.

RISHIKA ADVANI

JULIE MORRIS is a development strategist, film producer, and philanthropist who is committed to creating impactful investments that build a lasting legacy. As a founder of March Fourth Consultants, she connects impact multimedia creators with investors and foundations, fostering partnerships to address society's pressing challenges. In recent years, she has supported several documentary films that have premiered at festivals around the world.

JULIE MORRIS

MAGGIE CONTRERAS is a multiple award-winning documentary filmmaker, with a distinctive ability to connect with anyone in front of her camera with remarkable ease. Her critically-acclaimed feature documentary MAESTRA premiered in competition at Tribeca 2023 where it won an audience award. Executive Produced by David Letterman, the film went on to garner multiple awards on the festival circuit, was nominated by the 2024 IDA Awards for Best Music Documentary and is streaming on Netflix.

MAGGIE CONTRERAS

LAUREN LEXTON is an Emmy-winning producer, who founded Authentic Entertainment, a highly successful non-fiction production company. During Lexton's 18-year tenure at Authentic, she oftentimes had more than 10 series on-air concurrently on networks including Bravo, Food Network, TLC, Sundance, History and Discovery. Currently she is a producer on five documentary films that are winning awards in festivals, being shown in theaters, and are available on streaming platforms.

LAUREN LEXTON

ADVISORS

  • Howard Fischer

    Howard Fischer is the former CEO and Founder of Basso Capital Management a hedge fund company. He is currently the Chief Evangelist of Gratitude Railroad - an impact investment business he co-founded after his two fellowship years (2013&2014) at the Advanced Leadership Initiative of Harvard University. Gratitude Railroad’s mission is to inspire , catalyze and activate allocations of capital into businesses whose product or service benefits the environment and/or social justice issues.

  • Melanie Miller

    Melanie Miller is an Academy Award-winning producer and co-founder of Fishbowl Films. Her films include INVENTING TOMORROW, which was awarded a Peabody, MAESTRA, ON THE DIVIDE, STUTZ and NAVALNY which won the Festival Favorite at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and awarded a DuPont, PGA, BAFTA, and the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Other credits include TRIAL BY MEDIA, EQUAL, MARVEL 616 and THE PROGRAM: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping - which had 7+ million views in its first week on Netflix and launched a Senate Finance Committee investigation.

  • SENAIN KHESHGI

    A Peabody Award-winning director and producer Senain is known for Hulu's Muslim Matchmaker and acclaimed documentaries like ESPN's The Diplomat and Project Kashmir. Kheshgi is a Sundance, Tribeca, and Rockefeller Fellow. She founded MAJORITY, a production company supporting women filmmakers, and VISTA HOUSE, an artist-led nonprofit. Kheshgi also programs for the Indian Film Festival and speaks regularly at major industry events.

  • Alexandra Hannibal

    Alexandra Hannibal (Alex) is a seasoned film executive who most recently served as Senior Creative Executive for the documentary division at A24. Prior to A24, Hannibal had an extensive tenure at CNN Films, where she held various positions, including Vice President. During her time at CNN, she was instrumental in the development and acquisition of over twenty documentary projects, most notably the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning feature Navalny.

  • Deirdre Haj

    Deirdre Haj serves as an independent film producer and consultant to festivals, filmmakers and art houses. Haj currently serves as Vice President of the Art House Convergence was the founding Vice President of the Film Festival Alliance. She was Executive Director at Film Streams Cinemas, and led the acclaimed Full Frame Documentary Film Festival for over a decade.