ABOUT CITIZEN FILM
Citizen Film is a not-for-profit production company dedicated to crafting documentaries with care and dignity. We collaborate with cultural institutions, communities and civic organizations to create documentary media that fosters active engagement in cultural and civic life.
STAFF
Sam Ball
Co-Founder
Sam Ball has produced and directed many documentaries and site-specific multimedia installations for Citizen Film, since 2002. These projects range from public television documentaries to sculptural multimedia installations in public space – all designed to deepen civic awareness and participation. Most recently, he directed the PBS Special American Creed which has been viewed by more than 1 million people.
Sophie Constantinou
Co-Founder
Sophie Constantinou’s storytelling and placemaking has earned international acclaim for tackling difficult topics with artistry and sensitivity. Her work is guided by the belief that community engaged storytelling is a powerful tool for catalyzing place-based change and creating healthy, sustainable communities. In collaboration with local initiatives, her work focuses on illuminating challenges and opportunities, disrupting conventional thinking and creating new landscapes that improve sustainability and environmental health. Sophie leads Citizen Film’s work with the Western Addition community and SFRPD to build equity into the planning and redesign of the Buchanan Street Mall. Sophie also is the Public Works Street Park Steward of the Bernal Cut, a mile long corridor being transformed with dense native habitat, murals and interpretive signage.
Kate Stilley Steiner
Co-Founder
With 30+ years in documentary filmmaking, Kate has directed, produced, and edited many award winning documentaries designed to engage communities and mobilize change. She co-produced the PBS Special American Creed, which has been viewed by over 1 million people since it premiered in 2018, and has directed and produced Stories from the Encore Movement since 2012. She co-directed PROGNOSIS – notes on living (2021) with Academy Award winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, which played to great acclaim at film festivals around the world. With Chasnoff’s passing in 2017, Citizen Film became the new home for the Debra Chasnoff / GroundSpark Film Catalog, with Kate at the helm. Most recently, Kate wrote and directed the live multimedia storytelling project Songs of Truth: A Holocaust Awareness Concert & Conversation Project in collaboration with the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.
Tamara Walker
Outreach Director
An experienced and creative impact producer and community engagement specialist, Tamara Walker learned her vocation from her grandfather who brought diverse communities together for the betterment of San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood, where Tamara was born and raised. His diligence and devotion to community taught Tamara the value of planning, preparation and deep investment in relationships to build consensus and effect change. Tamara honed her organizing skills when she faced her own tragedy. In 2000, she co-founded the organization “Mothers Against Guns” alongside other survivors of gun violence. Tamara has been full-time at Citizen Film since 2015 as a producer of short films about community organizers, and as an organizer of community engagement partnerships and activities.
Manish Khanal
Associate Producer
Manish is a reporter, documentary filmmaker, and Citizen Film’s Associate Producer. He holds a master’s degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where he co-directed and produced his debut film Carl Runs the Paper. Prior to filmmaking, Manish reported on housing and city politics in the Bay Area and worked in marketing.
Sarah Scannell
Communications and Development Manager
Sarah Scannell manages communications and development activities for the entire Citizen Film production pipeline. In addition to managing Citizen Film’s website and social media accounts, she oversees outreach to partners and audiences for all our documentary and creative placemaking projects including Buchanan Mall / Buchanan Change. Sarah has a B.A. in Cognitive Science from University of California, Berkeley.
Grace Galletti
Associate Producer / Associate Editor
Grace Galletti is a journalist and documentary filmmaker with a passion for mental health. She uses her trauma informed lens and experience as a domestic violence support line counselor to tell underreported stories with empathy and compassion.
Galletti was born and raised in France and graduated in 2023 from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism in the shortform video track. She also holds a degree in environmental engineering from Brown University.
Garland McLaurin
Cinematographer
Garland McLaurin co-directed the recent PBS-NC mini-series Family Pictures USA combining family storytelling with innovative audience engagement. Garland won a Peabody Award for the PBS program 180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School; and his groundbreaking PBS Digital series Pops, about African American men and fatherhood, is supported by Black Public Media, CPB and ITVS. Garland’s cinematography work exploring how to bridge divides includes American Creed, directed by Sam Ball; The New Black (about Black / LGBT+ relationships), directed by Yoruba Richen; and Coming Back (addressing civilian-military divides) with Wes Moore. Garland is a 2018 PBS/ITVS Wyncote Fellowship recipient. He’s currently co-directing a documentary on structural racism in America’s courts, for the BBC.
Sadiq Norris
Documentary Film & Outreach Assistant
An avid photographer and videographer, Sadiq Norris has been creating films since 2018, getting his start with New Door. Most recently he has graduated as BAVC (Bay Area Video Coalition) Fellow in 2020, making his directorial debut with the documentary A Window Out, which highlights the effects of artistic and creative expression on mental health. Photography, cinema, music and the exploration of artforms have fueled him as he proceeds on his journey as both a filmmaker and creative. Sadiq continues to explore storytelling in a variety of ways both in and around his position as one of Citizen Film’s Documentary Film & Outreach Assistant.
Zoe Hertz
Post Production Coordinator
Zoe Hertz is a multimedia artist and Citizen Film’s Post Production Coordinator. Originally from Chicago, her background as an assistant dance director, metalsmithing coordinator, and community organizing facilitator has made her passionate about exploring the connections between creative spaces, empathy-building, and broader structural change. Zoe’s photography has been featured at the Art Institute of Chicago, and she has been a resident artist at the Blue Sky Center in New Cuyama, CA and Gate 44 in Milan. She has a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Vanessa Ellis
Communications & Research Assistant
Vanessa Ellis is a communications & research assistant involved with a variety of development and outreach projects at Citizen Film. She primarily handles administrative, project, and partner research, as well as the management and distribution of film and marketing materials. Vanessa is currently an undergraduate student at Smith College, double majoring in English and Film and Media Studies. Her latest short films, “Unboxing” and “The Fool,” are currently screening in film festivals.
Diana De La Riva
Communications Assistant
Diana De La Riva is a communications assistant for Citizen Film. With a background in digital content development, social media, and communications, she has assisted teams from an array of industries (health, education, tech, and non-profit) to produce engaging content and high-performing campaigns. Diana has a B.A. in Film and Media Studies from the University of California, Irvine.
Interested in becoming part of the team? Learn about current job openings and our internship program below.
» Internship Program