María Campaña Ramia is an Ecuadorian film programmer and documentary filmmaker. She holds a M.A. in Documentary Filmmaking from the University of Strasbourg, in France. She was the Artistic Director of the International Documentary Film Festival "Encuentros del Otro Cine - EDOC', in Ecuador, and is now one of their board members. She programs for both Ambulante (Mexico) and EDOC. In 2012 she co-edited the book "El Otro Cine de Eduardo Coutinho" and received a fellowship from the Flaherty Seminar. In 2015 she directed the short film "Derivadas". María has programmed showcases and festivals in Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia, and has served as a juror in film festivals in Latin America and Europe. She lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Loren Hammonds

Tribeca Film Institute, NY / Tribeca Film Festival, NY

Loren Hammonds is a New York City native who has worked in the entertainment industry for more than 15 years. As the Director of downtown venue Tribeca Cinemas, he has consulted on over 20 film festivals, many specializing in International Cinema. Loren is also an Associate Programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival. Since attending the Film Conservatory at SUNY Purchase, Mr. Hammonds has worked in Film/TV production, as well as in various capacities for IFP, GenArt Film Festival, Tribeca All-Access, and Hamptons International Film Festival.

Margherita Tortora

Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale / Yale University, New Haven, CT

Margherita Tortora is a lifelong cinephile. She incorporated films into her courses on Spanish language, literatures, and Latin American Studies when she began teaching in the early 1980s. At Yale, she has been teaching a course on Latin American films and running a film series that features visits from filmmakers for the Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies at the MacMillan Center for the past 18 years. She was a co-founder of the New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema, a non-profit, that ran from 2010 through 2014. In 2015, she founded the Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale (LIFFY), and is preparing to present the third edition of the festival in November. Margherita has a long-standing history with Ecuador, having spent a great deal of time there. She founded a Yale Summer Program in Quito in 2007, and plans to begin a new Yale Summer program at Camilo Luzuriaga's film school, InCine, in the summer of 2018.

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TEAM 2017

Christian Ponce

Festival Director / Co-Founder

Christian Ponce is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Maravilla -a New York-based organization dedicated to raising public awareness of Latin America through film and the arts, Co-founder and Director of the Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York-EFFNY, and the Managing Director of the Venezuelan Film Festival in New York-VEFFNY, and a dedicated arts proponent.

Nandar Godoy

Festival Co-Founder

Nandar Godoy is the Director and Founder of Make NY, and architectural and design platform, Co-Founder of the Ecuadorian Film Festival in New York and Maravilla's Co-Founder and President. Nandar was born in Quito, Ecuador, where she got her degree in architecture at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and in 2006 she relocated to New York City, where she studied Interior Design at NYU and Sustainable Interior Environments at the New York School of Interior Design.

Irene Yibirin

Managing Director

As Founder and Director of the Venezuelan Film Festival (launched in New York City in 2013), Irene Yibirin is a tireless advocate of the arts and their importance in everyday life. Aside from her leadership role at the Venezuelan Film Festival (VEFFNY), where she spearheads the festival’s creative vision and direction, she is also Co-Founder and Director of Development at Maravilla, a New York-based organization dedicated to raising public awareness of South America through film and the arts.

Rafael Barriga

Programming Director

Content curator, film promoter, filmmaker, distributor, critic and author. Directed “Blomberg Secrets” (2014) a documentary feature winner of the DOCTV Latinoamerica Award. Has directed, deviced and programmed several film and music festivals. Co-founded OCHOYMEDIO, an independent and alternative film theatre and cultural center in Quito. He served there, for 12 years, as director of programming. Has written extensively about film, being published in numerous periodicals. Is the author of “Verde, pinton y maduro: los 25 años de El Pobre Diablo” (2016), “De Taitas y de Mamas” (2013), “El tiempo de Alfaro” (2009), “Velasco, retrato de un monarca andino” (2006) and “El ojo del siglo” (1996). Has produced radio programmes for many years.

Carlos Gutiérrez

Public Relations / Consulting

Carlos A. Gutiérrez is the co-founder and executive director of Cinema Tropical, the New York-based media arts non-profit organization that has become the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S. As a guest curator and Co-presenter, Gutiérrez has worked in numerous film/video series at different cultural institutions, including The Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, BAMcinématek, El Museo del Barrio, the IFC Center, The Museum of the Moving Image, Lincoln Center and others.

Carolina Rodas

Community Outreach

Carolina Rodas, Producer, Advertiser, makeup and costume artists. Communications director in Filmarte, producer in "Encuonters with Film" a chain of training, production and distribution of alternative cinema with two feature films, "Santa Elena Bus" and "Here and There" and two documentaries "Sacachún" and "Azuayo". Communications Coordinator and graphic designer of the magazine Okonomia for the AHK Ecuador. Makeup artist and production assistant for the feature film “Santa Elena by Bus.” Web Designer for the Advertising agency Yagé in 2011. Communications analyst and technical multimedia for the National Secretary of Science and Technology (SENECYT) from 2010-2011. Alternative Events organizer for the International Festival for Experimental Theater FITE Q/G in 2009 and camera assistant in 2008. From 2010 to 2013 she was a field producer for “The Band,” the short film that represents Ecuador in the First Feature Film “CELEBRATION DAY” from ALBA.

Melanie Godoy

Guest Coordinator

Melanie is the co-founder and creative director of Agencia Meraki an events and communications agency located in Ecuador. Melanie's work encompasses project management, event production and corporate communications strategy. Melanie is an innovative and results oriented professional with extensive event management experience within highly competitive international markets. Analytical strategist, collaborative communicator and grand expertise on developing and executing PR and communications campaigns.