Members & Affiliates

Tatiana Bacchus

Tatiana Bacchus, Owner/Senior Producer of Teaspoon & Pound Media, is an emerging independent film and media maker who curates and amplifies the ancestral wisdom of subjects and characters rendered virtually invisible in mainstream media.

Melissa Beatriz

Dai Belquer

Dai Belquer is a Latin American Award Winning Filmmaker, an Actor and a Writer now based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, I started acting when I was just 2 years old in my hometown in Brazil and received my degree in theater in Rio de Janeiro.

Destiny Boynton

Destiny Boynton, Philadelphia-based independent film-maker, voice actor and screenwriter, creates content for underrepresented demographics with a heightened focus in psychological horror. Graduating from Rutgers University, Boynton utilizes her studies of the Black psyche and politics to create films that challenge social norms and racial boundaries. Destiny uses her voice to break into animation, breathing life into characters that reflect diverse communities and stories.

Martha Richards Conley, Esq.

Martha Richards Conley’s passions have propelled her into the realms of both law and cinema.  The first Black female graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the first Black woman admitted to practice law in Allegheny County. Employed by The United States Steel Corp. for 27 years, Martha retired as the firm’s Senior General Attorney.

In 2007, she was honored to escort Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu to visit Mumia Abu-Jamal on death row. A longtime opponent of the death penalty and co-chair of Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty–Pittsburgh, Martha had been visiting death row inmates for nearly 20 years as an Official Visitor of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Martha met Nadine through the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia, and together, along with Tatiana, Yolonda and Stephanie cofounded SIFT 215. Additionally, Martha served as Assistant Director on Nadine’s 2012 film Tango Macbeth. Martha also co-produced the 45 minute film Lost in the Hype, a documentary about Pittsburgh’s sporting legacy and the impact of stadium financing, particularly on communities of color.

Adrienne Dolberry

Jos Duncan

M. Asli Dukan

M. Asli Dukan is a producer, director and editor with over 20 years of professional experience in independent film and video production in the U.S. and around the world. She has screened her films at numerous festivals, including the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia and T.O. Webfest in Toronto, Canada.

Bettina Escauriza

Bettina Escauriza is a filmmaker, writer, artist, and actor living in Philadelphia, originally from Asunción, Paraguay. She is a natural storyteller from a family of frustrated mystics, spectacular liars, ill-fated thieves, and awful politicians. Her work deals with Indigenous knowledge, colonization, immigration, and exile.

Nikki Harmon

Nikki Harmon is a filmmaker, author, educator and the Program Director for SIFTMedia 215. She has written, produced, directed, and crewed in various technical positions on several documentaries, short narratives, educational and industrial films, music videos and feature-length films.

Erica Hawkins

Erica Hawkins is an emerging filmmaker and educator. Much of Erica’s work and teachings center around history, particularly African Diaspora histories and experiences. Erica is currently working to preserve these experiences and stories via film and multi-media projects.

Charlese Hawkins-Hatton

I live by faith. For two years I studied at NYU Tisch School of the Arts campus in Singapore. After graduating, I built my own production company, Prime Act Media, to create stories about and opportunities for individuals over the age of 40.

Yolonda Johnson-Young

Philadelphia native Yolonda Johnson-Young is an emerging filmmaker with support from Scribe Video Center, Leeway Foundation, Doc Society, Good Pitch Local, IPMF, WHYY, and Working Films. Her first film, an award-winning short documentary, Finding Elijah creates conversation about mental health and suicide prevention in the Black community and beyond.

Danielle Lewis

Danielle M. Lewis, Chief Experience Officer of The Dunamis Group, is a production and audio professional that supports creatives in various sectors of the arts. These include but are not limited to music, filmmakers, theatre, dance, etc. She is also an educator with a passion for exposing women to the world of production.

LeAnne Lindsay

LeAnne is the Social Media Manager for SIFTMedia 215. “My site Tinsel & Tine provides year-round free promotion, sparking conversations and awareness, celebration and reviews of the movie industry from local to international Film/Filmmakers to studio driven Movies/Moviemakers. Mixed with a spotlight on Philly Happenings.”

Stephanie Malson

Lois Moses

Lois Moses, M.F.A., J.D., M.A., is an Actress, Poet, Clinician, Filmmaker, Director, and Playwright. She earned her Master’s in Fine arts in Acting at UCLA. She is an award-winning filmmaker for her short film titled, “And They Jumped into the Water…Some”.

Iliana Pagán-Teitelbaum

Iliana Pagán-Teitelbaum is a Puerto Rican filmmaker based in West Philadelphia. She directed and edited Twin Tongues: Learning English in América, a nonfiction film about the politics of bilingualism and identity in the Hispanic community of Philadelphia.

Nadine Patterson

She is the Resource Strategist and co-founder of SIFTMedia 215. Nadine made independent films for over 30 years with artists such as Toni Cade Bambara, Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Marlene Patterson, Warren Oree, Lenny Seidman and Brian Anthony Wilson. She serves as a Consulting Program Officer at the Philadelphia Foundation. Her latest project, The Unknown Tales of Lewis & Mary Latimer is in pre-production. Her current favorite motto is:  “Share knowledge and share resources. Hoarding makes everyone poorer in truth and spirit”.

Shameka Sawyer

Kristal Sotomayor

Kristal Sotomayor is a bilingual Latinx festival programmer, documentary filmmaker, and journalist.  They serve as the Awards Competition Manager for the International Documentary Association,  and Co-Founder/Journalist for ¡Presente! Media. Kristal ended their four year run (2019 – 2022) as Programming Director for the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival.

Gabriela Watson-Burkett

Eboni Zamani

Eboni Zamani is a filmmaker, photographer and writer. She most recently worked crew for HBO’s Mare of Easttown. And is currently writing and producing films and various media projects via her production company, Pearl’s Girl Productions.