Kristal Sotomayor is a nonbinary bilingual Latinx documentary filmmaker, journalist, and curator based in Philadelphia. Drawing inspiration from their Peruvian heritage, Kristal’s community-based work practice focuses on Latinidad, immigration, and belonging. They practice transformative filmmaking that humanizes and validates the lived experiences of underrepresented communities. To that end, Kristal founded the queer BIPOC-owned and operated media production company, Sotomayor Productions, that works at the intersection of investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking to advance the portrayals of Latinx and queer communities. 

Kristal has been named one of “10 Latinx Filmmakers You Should Know About” by HipLatina. They have been distinguished as a 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader and received the prestigious Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellowship. Kristal’s short documentary “Expanding Sanctuary”, about the historic end to police surveillance organized by the Philadelphia Latinx immigrant community, will premiere in November 2023 at St. Louis Film Festival. They are in post-production of “Don’t Cry For Me All You Drag Queens” about a legendary drag queen funded by the Creative Hope Initiative, presented by Outfest and TRAVERSE32. Kristal is in-development on an animated short docu-fiction film called “Alx Through The Labyrinth” that take a dive into the nonbinary Latinx Alice In Wonderland-like reality of contracting COVID-19; from the symptoms of vertigo to sensory loss and the labyrinth of seeking treatment. Kristal’s work has been supported by the If/Then North Shorts Residency, MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellowship, DCTV Docu Work-In-Progress Lab, Justice For My Sister Sci-Fi TV Screenwriting Lab, BAVC Serial Storytellers Lab, Scribe Video Center Film Scholars Fellowship, Good Pitch Local: Philadelphia Lab, and NeXtDoc Fellowship. 

Kristal has served as a curator for acclaimed film festivals across the country including True/False Film Fest, SFFILM, Frameline and Tri-Co Film Festival. Formerly, they served as the Awards Competition Manager for the IDA Documentary Awards, the world’s most distinguished event dedicated exclusively to the documentary genre. They were a union organizer for Documentary Workers United (DWU), the union that represents IDA bargaining unit employees, and were working to secure the first collective bargaining agreement. In the past they were the Programming Director of the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival (PHLAFF) and Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Scribe Video Center. They have assisted with curation for the “Spotlight on Documentaries” at IFP Week, Philadelphia Film Festival and the award-winning PBS documentary series POV | American Documentary. They have been awarded the Film Festival Alliance Film Festival Leadership Lab Fellowship, NALAC Advocacy Leadership Institute, and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Philadelphia Media Founders Exchange. 

They are also the Editor in Chief of the cinéSPEAK Journal and Co-Founder/Journalist of ¡Presente! Media, a collective led by Latinx filmmakers that produce bilingual content focused on social justice. They serve as the Treasurer on the Board of Director for GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. Kristal’s journalistic background includes having written for ITVS, AL DÍA, WHYY, Autostraddle, Modern Brown Girl and Documentary Magazine. They wrote the Latinx cinema column “Cine alzando voz” and served on the Editorial Collective for the cinéSPEAK Journal. Kristal’s writing has been supported by the Sundance Institute Press Inclusion Initiative, TIFF Media Inclusion Initiative, IDA Magazine Editorial Fellowship, NBC University Visual Storytelling During Breaking News Program, and Lenfest Constellation News Leadership Initiative. They are a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, CherryPicks Approved Critic, and the TIME’S UP Critical Database.