Marialuisa Ernst is a queer transcultural artist from Chile, Bolivia and the US. Through performance art and filmmaking, she explores the sacred feminine and interconnectedness of humans. She’s a Tribeca Film Institute Alumna. Her work has been exhibited at film festivals internationally. Marialuisa’s approach to documentary filmmaking is informed by her background in performance art. A PLACE OF ABSENCE marks her directorial debut for a feature-length documentary. The film has received funding from Tribeca Gucci, NYFA, and NYC Women's Fund. With this project, Marialuisa has been invited to participate in the TFI Network, IFP Labs (Independent Filmmaker Project), DOC NYC Forum, DCTV Work-in-Progress Lab, the BGDM Feedback Loop, the NALIP Media Summit Fellowship, and the FEMCINE Film Festival Work-in-Progress.

Anita Zelaya is the Founder of COFAMIDE, an NGO in El Salvador that advocates and searches for missing migrants from her country. She became a single mother when the father of her four children migrated to the US and did not return. In 2002, Anita’s youngest child disappeared trying to cross the US border. She has been searching for him for twenty years. Anita credits her Catholic faith with the strength to keep looking for her missing son and fighting for the human rights of all migrants, who suffer at the hands of organized crime, corruption, human trafficking, and the hardships of the environment. She has made 7 trips with the Caravan of Mothers. Anita uses her powerful voice to persuade lawmakers, government workers, and the Mexican people in general to take action around this humanitarian crisis and relieve the mothers’ frozen grief.

Editor María Luisa Santos is a Costa Rican director, editor and writer. She’s interested in stories dealing with place, memory, and personal loss. Her latest short documentary DIRECCIONES won Best Short Documentary at SFFILM 23’ and is available to stream at The New Yorker. She produced and edited the feature film STAY HERE AWHILE which was acquired by PBS as part of the ReelSouth 2023 Series. Her work has been shown in The New Yorker, SXSW, PBS, Slamdance, New Orleans FF, SFFILM, Big Sky and others.  María Luisa is a Karen Schmeer Documentary Editing Fellow 2023-2024

Ricardo Acosta is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and an internationally renowned Film Editor, Story Editor, and Creative/Editorial Consultant. He has been awarded with an Emmy and has been nominated for a Genie, Gemini, CCE, and CS Awards. Ricardo came to Canada from his native Cuba in 1993, where he studied and worked at the world-renowned Cuban Film Institute in Havana. He’s been a fellow of the Sundance Institute (as alumnus, teacher, and adviser) for several years for the Documentary Editing and Story Lab and the Composer and Sound Design Lab. Most recently he was one of the two principal editors on Silence of Others which premiered at Sundance in 2019 and went on to win Spain’s highest film award, the Goya.

Miranda y Tobar is a duo of musicians, composers, and music producers, composed of Chileans José José Miguel Miranda and José Miguel Tobar. Together they have created soundtracks for films such as Nostalgia for the Light, The Nacar Button,(Patricio Guzman) My Best Enemy and Violet Went to the Heaven, obtaining numerous international awards. They have worked for the films of Peter Greenaway and the musical Melancholy of Angelo Badalamenti, in his soundtracks for the filmmaker David Lynch.