Picture Farm offers a Commercial Director Mentorship Program in connection to the Picture Farm Film Festival. Initiated in 2018, the program awards a year long collaborative mentorship in commercial filmmaking to a particularly promising filmmaker. With an open application for any filmmaker with a film in the fest, it is designed to help emerging voices navigate the vocabulary and ingrained habits of the advertising industry and prepare their own process for the particular demands of brand content creation.
MARIAH BARRERA
2023 RECIPIENT
Mariah Barrera is a Mexican-American filmmaker and writer born and raised in Michigan. She is based part-time in New York City as a first-generation student at Columbia University. Her films have been shown at festivals such as HBO-founded Urbanworld, Cleveland International Film Festival, NFFTY and DOC NYC and highlighted by NowThis, Stylecaster, The Washington Post, and Adobe Gen Create. She has garnered recognition as a YoungArts Alumna, Mitú-Walmart Film Mentee, Made In Her Image Panavision Mentee, Hispanic Heritage Foundation Awardee, & Sotheby's Art Noir Grantee.
Her films aim to amplify themes of social justice and equity, drawing from her family’s experiences in the urban Midwest. Using these stories, she is passionate about bridging the gap between narrative and documentary through poetry. Currently, she is exhibiting her film "Still Here," which follows three brothers affected by violence, poverty, and prison. She is also working on her second documentary as a Still I Rise Films Fellow.
GRACE KIM
Grace Kim is a Korean-American filmmaker interested in uncovering “humanity” at its core—what is the human “essence” that remains when one peels aways the superficial layers of race, gender, class, and circumstance. How is her translation of this universal humanity overtly or covertly feminine, Asian-American, or heteronormative? These are the questions she wrestles with through her filmmaking.
Her film, Loveseat, captivated the jury and audience alike with its humor and insight and Grace’s vision, ambitions and experience helped her capture the mentorship, which will be tailored to her availability and goals.
In 2019 Grace’s short, An Interloper’s Kiss, premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and Loveseat screened at Revolution Me Film Festival. Grace was selected as a participant for Viacom’s Emerging Director Program, in which she will spend time on set in both Atlanta and Los Angeles shadowing directors of up-and-coming TV programming
LORENA ALVARADO
Lorena Alvarado is a Venezuelan director and editor who is passionate about character-driven documentary and creating socially-conscious film work. After being selected as the recipient of Picture Farm’s Commercial Director Mentorship its inaugural year, Lorena has joined the PF77 Artist Roster and gone on to produce commercial work for brands like Planned Parenthood, Art21, Benetton, and the United Nations.
Lorena’s documentary work garnered acclaim across notable publications and festivals. Her short documentary Beatrice premiered on as part of PBS’s POV documentary series, was selected for programming in 12 film festivals, including DOC NYC, Big Sky Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, and won Best Documentary at NYC Shorts. It was also awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Her other short, Me in the Mirror was featured on Girls in Film and was also awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick. Most recently, Me in the Mirror was shortlisted in the Special Selection - New Talent category for Ciclope International Film Festival in Berlin.