Director/Producer: Esaú Meléndez 

Esaú Meléndez studied filmmaking at Columbia College Chicago and began working with the Spanish Broadcast Network, Telemundo, and WYCC. His first award-winning documentary, "Immigrant Nation!: The Battle for the Dream," was featured on PBS nationwide and was funded by Latino Public Broadcasting in 2010. He was part of the WGHB Producers Academy in 2013, a fellow of Kartemquin Diverse Voices in Docs in 2015, and a classic member of New Day Films. He recently finished editing the eighty episode series The Chair for Spirit Used Media, which targets faith-based audiences and is a history of Catholicism in the United States. He works with WTTW, producing short documentaries about people who make a difference in their communities. His latest documentary, about the history of the mural movement in Chicago, is part of an on-going project funded by the Chicago Public Art Group.

Historian and Writer: Dr. Antonio Delgado 

Dr. Antonio Delgado is an American Immigration Historian with multiple degrees in Latin American Studies, History, and Public Administration as well as Urban Planning and Public Policy Analysis. He has conducted primary data research on the history of Mexican railroad boxcar communities. Antonio is the author of the book, “Taking Off In The City: Mexicans from the Hull House and Pilsen Areas in Chicago's Near West Side, 1910–1960.” Dr. Delgado has over 25 years of experience in writing competitive grants.

Associate Producer: Jesús Mario Contreras 

Jesús Mario Contreras earned his MFA at Columbia College Chicago and teaches film and video classes at Harper College and the College of Dupage. He’s a fellow of Kartemquin Films’ Diverse Voices in Documentary, the National Alliance for Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute, and a participant in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. His short films have received awards from Changing Worlds, EgoFest, and The After Hours Film Society.

Set designer: Rodrigo Lara Zendejas

Born in Mexico in 1981, Rodrigo Lara Zendejas received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2013 and his BFA, Summa Cum Laude, from the Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico in 2003. Lara has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Museo de Arte Moderno in the state of Mexico; Museo de la Ciudad in Querétaro, Mexico; Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago; the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago; C.G. Boerner in New York City; Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramrez in Mexico City; He won the first prize in sculpture at the Premio Nacional de las Artes Visuales in Mexico in 2010. He has received several awards including: Make a Wave Award, 3Art, Chicago; Individual Artists Program Grants, DCASE, Chicago; Proyectos Especiales FONCA (Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes), Mexico City; Emerging Artist Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York City; Jóvenes Creadores, FONCA, Mexico City; Extraordinary Abilities Visa (O-1), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; James Nelson Raymond Fellowship, 2013 SAIC Fellowship Competition; PECDA Estudios en el extranjero, Instituto Queretano de la Cultura y las Artes; International Graduate Scholarship, SAIC; and the John W. Kurtich Travel Scholarship, SAIC, Berlin/Kassel, Germany, among others. Currently, Lara lives and works in Chicago. 

Senior Animator: Gillian Marwood 

Gillian is a queer sculptor, jewelry designer, business owner, and stop motion animator. They grew up living all over the world but were raised mainly in Scotland. They now consider Chicago home. Their work focuses on sex work, trauma, and queerness, which they bring to light through their stop motion films and sculptures. Their work has been featured in Woman Made Gallery, Locus, Elgin fringe festival, The Robin, and Awakenings gallery. When they're not sculpting, they're usually working on their business, GERM selling handmade jewelry.

Their stop motion specialties include facial sculpting, puppet fabrication, and prop making, but they enjoy the whole process of stop motion film making.

Animator: Melissa Brooks 

Melissa Brooks is a genderfluid artist (all pronouns) and a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a major in traditional animation. She specializes in stop motion animation, puppet fabrication, and producing, but also works in 2D animation, digital illustration, traditional painting, multimedia art, and sculpting. They consider themselves a jack of all trades.

Her latest projects have included Producing the 2D short film "Distant Sun", a film about a man living in a post-apocalyptic ice age and his desire to escape the never ending snow and see the sun again. And her senior film, "Message in a Bottle" where she fabricated her own puppet, sets, and props on top of animating the stop motion project.

Sculpture Artist: Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves 

Alfonso Nieves is a sculptor who uses clay and recycled materials to engage the community in social justice and environmental education. His art has been displayed in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, Expo Chicago, Museo MIT in Torino, Italy, the Field Museum, Navy Pier in Chicago, Garfield Park Conservatory, and many others.