Speakers:

Alex Halkin
Director
Americas Media Initiative

Alexandra founded the Chiapas Media Project in 1998, an award winning bi-national organization that has trained over 200 indigenous men and women in video production in Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico. A Guggenheim Fellowship and Fulbright recipient, Alexandra has produced five documentary shorts in Mexico, many of them award winning and her work has been broadcast and screened at film and video festivals worldwide. In 2010, she founded the Americas Media Initiative (AMI) a non-profit organization that works with Cuban filmmakers living in Cuba. In March 2012, Alexandra collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film on a US documentary shorts program, Closing Distances/Cerrando Distancias that traveled to five towns in Cuba. In February 2013, Ms. Halkin co-organized the New Cuban Shorts Program, part of the Documentary Fortnight Series at the MoMA. In 2014 AMI did the third Closing Distances/Cerrando Distancias  tour with the PBS documentary series, POV and the Executive Producer, Simon Kilmurry. Alexandra is currently developing the Cuban Documentary Film Fund that will support Cuban documentary filmmakers in Cuba as part of the on-going work of AMI.

Saul R. Newsome
Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P., Baton Rouge, LA

Saul Reinaldo practices in the areas of international trade, foreign direct investment, and business transactions. Saul has advised clients on importing and exporting, and has assisted clients in implementing policies and training. Saul has advised on international trade regulations in the United States, including export and anti-boycott regulations (EAR), international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR), anti-bribery (FCPA), asset control regulations (OFAC) and food and drug regulations (FDA). Saul has also successfully released assets and transactions that were blocked under the Cuban Assets Control Regulation (CACR). 

Saul earned his Juris Doctor of Civil Law from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. Saul spent a semester studying international business law at the University of los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. During that time, he worked at the law firm Francisco Reyes & Asociados, where he focused on foreign direct investment transactions and international comparative corporate law. Saul also spent a semester studying at La Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba, before graduating from the Virginia Military Institute. Saul commissioned in the United States Marine Corps and completed two deployments to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as deployments to Africa and Latin America. Saul is currently a member of the International Trade Committee and Latin America Committee of the International Section of the American Bar Association.

Daniel Mancebo
Executive Producer
ÑOOO Productions

Daniel Mancebo of ÑOOo Productions is a graduate of the FAMCA/ISA (National Art School’s Film Department). In 2013, he joined ÑOOo Productions as Producer and Executive Producer.

Ermitis Blanco
Founder & Head Animator

ÑOOO Productions

Ermitis Blanco is the Founder and head animator of ÑOOo Productions based in Havana. Ermitis is an award winning animator and illustrator who has worked at the Animation Studios of ICAIC (Cuban Film Institute), and the Animation Studios of ICRT (Cuban National TV).

Harold (El Muke) Diaz-Guzman Casanas
Founder & Animator
Onirama

Beavan Blocker
Senior Animator
Moonbot Studios

Bio coming soon.