Kristal Sotomayor

Kristal Sotomayor (they/she) is a bilingual Latinx documentary filmmaker, festival programmer, awards manager, and journalist based in Philadelphia. Drawing inspiration from their Peruvian heritage, Kristal's community-based work practice focuses on Latinidad, immigration, and belonging. They practice transformative filmmaking that humanizes and validates the lived experiences of underrepresented communities.

Currently, Kristal is in production on EXPANDING SANCTUARY, an independent short documentary about the historic end to police surveillance organized by nonprofit Juntos and the Latinx immigrant community in South Philadelphia. The documentary began through the Film Scholars Fellowship with Scribe Video Center, co-sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. They are also in development on a animated short docu-fiction film called ALX THROUGH THE LABYRINTH that take a dive into the nonbinary Latinx Alice In Wonderland-like reality of contracting COVID-19; from the symptoms of vertigo to sensory loss and the labyrinth of seeking treatment.

Kristal's work has been supported by the If/Then North Shorts Residency, MDOCS Storytellers' Institute Visiting Fellowship, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab, Justice For My Sister Sci-Fi TV Screenwriting Lab, BAVC Serial Storytellers Lab, Good Pitch Local: Philadelphia Lab, and NeXtDoc Fellowship. They are an organizer for The Video Consortium: Philadelphia and a member of the filmmaking collectives SIFT Media 215 and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

They serve as the Programming Director of the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival (PHLAFF) and the Awards Competition Manager for the IDA Documentary Awards, the world's most prestigious event dedicated to the documentary genre.