The Filmmakers

Originally from Botswana, Thato is a Boston based filmmaker who focuses on issues pertaining to the African Diaspora. Thato won the coveted "Emerging Local Filmmaker Award" at the 2005 Roxbury Film Festival for her film, Don't Tell Me You Love Me. In 2007, Thato produced her third film, The Day Of My Wedding, which was selected for broadcast on BETJ's "Best Shorts" program in November 2007. The film also won "The 2008 Best short Film Award" at the Pan African Film Festival in Cannes, France.

In 2007, Thato created and directed an international TV show, Ya Ma'Afrika. The show chronicles lives of African immigrants in America. Ya Ma'Afrika was broadcast on a satellite TV channel Telesud, which reaches Africa, Europe and America. Thato graduated with a dual degree in TV/Video Production and Marketing/Advertising Communications from Emerson College (2001). In 2004, she attained a Film Directing certificate from New York Film Academy. Thato is on the board of Women In Film/Video New England (WIFVNE), an organization that helps promote women in film and their work.

For over six years, Tara has volunteered with the Sudanese Education Fund (SEF), which supports the resettled southern Sudanese refugees in the Boston Metro area with their educational needs. She has worked with the Sudanese community by providing assistance with course work, financial aid, scholarship and college admission applications, job applications, resume writing, public housing, and health insurance.

In the corporate world, Tara has had extensive experience managing projects and working on budgets. She currently works as a data analyst at the Harvard School of Public Health on an HIV/AIDS project in Nigeria. Tara is also an adjunct professor in the Math Department at Bunker Hill Community College.

Lauren has a lot of experience working in Southern Sudan. In 2008, she was project manager of a secondary school project in Lainya County, Southern Sudan, which opened in May of that year. There she developed and implemented the school farm, hired teachers, recruited students, managed the school site and worked with a small team to develop the school from its infancy.

Lauren can communicate in both Dinka and local Arabic dialect and is familiar with local cultures and Sudanese history. She has also had experience in documentary filmmaking had has presented at film festivals and university forums. Theses films all concentrated around building awareness of the situation in Southern Sudan.

Lauren graduated from the University of Vermont, in political science in 2005. Currently, Lauren is Master's candidate at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and an NYU Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.