Melissa Beatriz

Melissa Beatriz⠀is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and researcher whose work focuses on the intersection of social justice, media arts/culture, and policy based in Philadelphia. She participates in collaborations with artists and grassroots organizations, in which she has focused on storytelling, resource mobilization, and communications. Her media work has been supported by Independence Public Media Foundation, Velocity Fund, Doc Society Good Pitch Local Philadelphia, Leeway Foundation, Double Exposure Scholars program, Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Philadelphia Day Lab intensive, and the Public VR Lab. Melissa is a co-founder of ¡Presente! Media, a Philadelphia-based collective that produces bilingual journalistic articles and documentaries. Melissa is a 2019 Leeway Transformation Awardee and a 2020 Fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Leadership Institute. She is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia and SIFTMedia 215.