Our Team
Jalena Keane-Lee
Jalena Keane-Lee (Director, Cinematographer, Producer) is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens. She was named one of DOC NYC’s 2024 40 Under 40 Filmmakers to Watch, a 2023 Adobe x Sundance Woman to Watch, and co-founded Breaktide, an all-women-of-color video production company. Jalena is the winner of Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020 and DocPitch 2022. Her short films have streamed on POV and Criterion Collection, played at over 50 film festivals, and won best short at LA Asian Film Festival in 2020 and the Jury Award at Sundance in 2023. Jalena’s directing style is guided by a politic that is rooted in the liberation of all people, and radical hope that a better world is not only possible but up to all of us to create. Jalena’s first feature-length documentary STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS premiered at HotDocs in 2024 where it won Best Social Impact Documentary.
Amber Espinosa-Jones
Amber Espinosa-Jones (Producer) is an award winning producer and equity strategist from Oakland, CA. She is a 2024 Rockwood Leadership Fellow, 2024 ArtEquity BIPOC Leader, 2022 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, and recently produced the feature film STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS following Native-Hawaiian mother daughter activists executive produced by Multitude Films. Amber currently serves as Senior Manager of Artist + Audience Impact at Sundance Institute overseeing strategy and granting programs for marginalized artists and audiences. With a diverse background in theatre and film, Amber is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Dramatic Arts and Media Arts + Practice programs with an interest in social change and collaborative community building.
Erin Lau
Native Hawaiian filmmaker Erin Lau (Producer) has dedicated her life to creating empathy-forward stories for her community. Her work stretches across mediums — ranging from documentaries to branded content and scripted films. After completing her Bachelors at the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Erin went on to receive her MFA in directing from Chapman University. Since graduating, Erin has signed with the United Talent Agency (UTA) and continued her growth with the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, Nia Tero, Points North Institute, Tribeca Studios, NBC, MTV, and more. Over the past decade, her projects have screened across the world in over 50 film festivals, while her work for Jubilee Media has accumulated over 130 million online views.
Pua Case
Pua Case (Co-Producer, Cultural Advisor) was born and raised on the Island of Hawai’i surrounded by the high mountains of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Kohala. She is a Kumu Hula, a teacher of traditional dance and chant, and a teacher of the ways, culture and traditions of the kanaka maoli or native peoples of Hawai’i. With a degree in Hawaiian Language and culture, and a teaching degree in Social Studies, interwoven with the traditional teachings, philosophies and expectations from her kupuna or elders, Pua has integrated ‘Ike Hawai’i or Hawaiian knowledge and lessons into the public school system for over 30 years. Pua sits on various educational and cultural boards including the Waimea Hawaiian Civic Club, Waimea Community Education Hui, and MKEA, Mauna Kea Education and Awareness. Pua and her family are petitioners in the Contested Case hearing filed on behalf of Mauna Kea Mountain. As a representative of the Mauna Kea ‘Ohana Na Kia’I Mauna, Idle No More Hawai’i Warriors Rising and Idle No More Mauna Kea she and her family have traveled throughout the continent, to Europe and various places across the Pacific to network, support and address the issues and challenges facing sacred places and life ways of the people of Hawaiʻi.
Diana Diroy
Diana Diroy (Editor) is a documentary filmmaker, editor, and cinematographer. Diroy, a Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab Fellow (2022), is currently editing the feature documentary, Standing Above the Clouds. In 2019, she edited the short version of the film, which won Best Documentary Short at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. She also recently edited the feature documentary, Fire Through Dry Grass, a film about a group of disabled artists living on a small island in NYC, fighting COVID and the city to protect the lives of 500 vulnerable nursing home residents. Diroy was selected for 2021-22 Sundance Art of Editing Fellowship and the Karen Schmeer Diversity in the Edit Room Program in 2018. Her work reflects her interests in social and environmental justice, activism, immigration, gender and identity. Diroy is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and continuously strives to collaborate and make magic with other creatives locally and remotely.
Executive Producers
JESS DEVANEY, ANYA ROUS, RUTH ANN HARNISCH
Consulting Producers
BHAWIN SUCHAK, CIARA LACY, ALEX BLEDSOE
Original Score
T.J. KEANU TARIO
Sound Design and Mix
MICAH GARRIDO
Cultural Consultants
PUA CASE, E. KALANI FLORES, HĀWANE RIOS