Sabrina Avilés is an award-winning independent filmmaker, educator and the Founder/Executive Director of CineFest Latino Boston and most recently was awarded a Brother Thomas Fellowship in 2023.
Her credits include a short documentary called “Raising the Floor” about a basic income pilot implemented in Chelsea, MA during the pandemic, and series such as the Peabody award-winning PBS Series “Latino Americans.”
Born in NYC, and as a first-generation daughter of Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants, she sees her life reflected in the stories she documents about Latinx communities. A graduate of Boston University’s film program, her goal as a documentary filmmaker is to tell in-depth stories, documented over a period of time, that require longer substantive conversations with the community, and that move beyond the headlines. By drawing attention to the issues Latinx communities face, she hopes her films will shift perspectives and foster a deeper understanding of the human experience.
She is currently co-directing and co-producing the feature film, Chelsea, which explores the challenges and resiliency of the city of Chelsea, MA through the stories of three of its leaders.
Nikki Bramley is a Director of Photography based in Boston. Her work ranges from independent documentaries to high-end commercial projects.
Recent camera credits include: “Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space” (American Experience 2023), “Runner” (Festivals, 2020), “Trial 4” (Netflix, 2020), “Councilwoman” (America Re-Framed, PBS, 2019), “Flint’s Deadly Water” (Frontline, 2019), “Jason Aldean” (Breaking Big, PBS 2018), “Seeing Eyes/Feeling Heart” (American Masters, 2018), “Addiction” (NOVA, 2018). Her documentary and nonprofit cinematography work has taken her across the U.S., and to Thailand, Ireland and South Sudan.
Nikki graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University in 2002 with a B.S. in Television, Radio and Film Production. Nikki is the Director of Photography for ActiveVista Media’s documentaries Chelsea and Searching for Flora.
Cecilia Préstamo is an award-winning documentary editor with extensive experience in verité filmmaking. A bilingual Cuban-born exile, she currently balances independent film editing with her work as a staff editor for WORLD at GBH in Boston. Recent projects at WORLD include The Cost of Inheritance, a PBS|World production that premiered at Doc NYC, and co-editing Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, alongside Director Joy Elaine Davenport. This profile of the civil rights icon, produced by Hamer’s niece Monica Land, was awarded Best TV Feature Documentary or Mini-Series at the 38th IDA Documentary Awards.
Her training as a classical musician informs her role as a sound designer and music editor for her projects, including the feature documentary Dreams of Chonta, a profile of an Afro-Colombian undocumented musician and his battle to survive New York’s underground Latin American music scene.
Cecilia is currently editing a series of historical features commissioned by the City Of Las Vegas documenting the first 100 years of the famed city. Cecilia is the editor, and consultant since early stages of production, of ActiveVista Media’s feature documentary, Chelsea.