Amanda Matles is a third year doctoral student in the Earth and Environmental Science Department, Geography specialization at the CUNY Graduate Center. As a central component to her research practice, Amanda uses video based methods to develop research about the everyday intersections of law and social control, and to document the complex makings of human geographies. She recently worked with the Paper Tiger Video Collective producing a feature length documentary called Rerooting the Motor City : Notes on a City in Transformation in 2013. Highlighting the voices of veteran labor activists, local historians, rappers, and urban gardeners, Rerooting explores the potential for radical social and ecological regeneration in post industrial urban geographies. The film has been shown in numerous cities across the US and Europe since its debut. Amanda’s ten years of video work ranges from a feature length documentary and video essays to experimental multi channel projections. Her work has been exhibited in New York, London, Washington DC, New Brunswick, Detroit, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. Amanda earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD in 2004 and was a 2010 fellow of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York, NY. She is currently at work on a participatory video research project with youth researchers in Bushwick, Brooklyn called Being Policed. Together they are producing a series of video shorts visualizing statistical data and archiving interviews with youth about Stop and Frisk policing and aspects of harsh Zero Tolerance policies in schools. Amanda is committed to making compelling research contributions to public discourses through engagement with social movements for economic and social justice in her writing, teaching, and visual research.

Stephanie M. Anderson is a doctoral candidate in the Social Personality Psychology Program. She earned her Master’s degrees in Psychology and Philosophy from the Graduate Center and Bachelor’s degrees in Religion and Psychology from Kalamazoo College. Within her academic pursuits, Stephanie has been interested in using film throughout the research process and in particular as a means to engage in public discourse. She recently completed a Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies at The New School and her final documentary short, Purple Shoelaces, premiered at the HBO Theatre in May, 2012. The film is a portrait of the Women’s Division of the New York City Gay Basketball League and explores experiences of gender, sexuality, and camaraderie on and off the court. The film has screened at academic conferences internationally. She is currently working on expanding the film and plans to release final short in Spring, 2014. Stephanie’s dissertation research examines the role of gender (non)conformity in experiences of antigay discrimination against sexual-minorities.

David Viola is a Doctoral candidate in history.  He earned a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s degree in English from SUNY Binghamton.  David has a long career in documentary and narrative filmmaking. His documentary credits as Producer include TRUMBO, a film about the life and trials of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted and imprisoned for his political beliefs during the McCarthyism era. TRUMBO premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically across the United States and the world in 2008. That film won a National Board of Review award, and was also broadcast on the “American Masters” series on PBS and released on DVD. He also produced DOWNTOWN CALLING, a documentary about the New York music and art scene during the 1970’s and 1980’s. DOWNTOWN CALLING screened at film festivals around the world including HBO’s New York Latino Film Festival and the London East End Film Festival.  In 2005, a narrative picture David produced, Runaway, starring Aaron Stanford, Robin Tunney, and Academy Award winner Mellissa Leo, screened at the TriBeca Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival, and won Best Picture at the Austin Film Festival, before being released commercially.  David has also worked in feature film development with Artisan Entertainment (BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB), and Julia Robert’s production company (MONA LISA SMILE, etc).  He recently completed a documentary film for Search for Common Ground funded by the U.S. State Department, Fire Lines,  exploring Israeli-Palestinian cooperation during a historic 2010 natural disaster.