About the Film

Yehuda Sharim is a writer, filmmaker, poet and photographer. His work reflects on the relationship between the quotidian and the poetic to explore new potentialities of the imagination. Oscillating between fiction, improvisation, and real-life events, Sharim’s work offers an intimate portrayal of those who refuse to surrender amidst daily devastation and culminating strife, offering a vision for equality and renewed solidarity in a divisive world. He roots his work firmly within the discourse of imagination, immigration, and displacement, shedding light on the changing constructions of home and belonging. Sharim’s films and images incorporate an ongoing exploration of new forms of story telling, performative acts, dreams and the lyrical potential of liberation with a precise aim: social and personal justice. His work also explores site-specificity and engages community members and untrained actors in reimagining new forms of social activism.

Scott Szabo is a film sound designer with over 20 years of experience. In 2015, Scott won Best Original Music Award from the Houston Comedy Film Festival for a feature called “Doll Factory.” In 2009, Szabo won a Telly award for music for the short film “Saving Evan White” and won a Gold Medal in 2005 at the Park City Film Music Festival for his score of “Dancing in Twilight.” Szabo has composed music for over 200 commercials and corporate marketing videos for companies including, Mahindra Tractors, Shell Oil, Enron, Continental Airlines, Joe’s Crab Shack, Applebee’s, and Time Warner.

Taara Clarke is an Afro-Caribbean child therapist and first-time film organizer for Who but When, How. She is committed to social justice and continuous learning, which she brings into her personal life, media interactions, and therapy practice. In her therapeutic work, she views individuals as the experts of their own experiences. At Sharim Studio, she approaches film from a socially just perspective, centering people as experts of their own stories and fostering recognition of self and others. Taara holds a bachelor's in cognitive sciences from Rice University and a master's in social work from the University of Michigan.

Elizabeth Michelle Lopez is a Mexican-American producer whose work highlights her interest in documenting stories and experiences of people of color and women. ​​As the producer for Sharim Studio, she leads and shapes new visions for cinema as a vehicle for empowering marginalized groups and creating unity in a fragmented world. At the moment, she is leading the production of Experiments in Freedom and El Ojo Comienza En La Mano. She holds a BA in Cinematic Arts and Technology from California State University, Monterey Bay.

With her experience and long commitment to social justice, she works with Sharim Studio to produce films for social change, developing projects that bring people who have long been invisible and ignored into the light. She is Chair of the Coalition for Justice, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports and empowers people in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. The work centers on human rights advocacy for people in prison and worker justice. She co-founded the Virginia Prison Justice Network (VAPJN), a network of groups in Virginia committed to ending mass incarceration.  She is the production editor of ‘Unlocked: Art and Experiences From Inside Virginia’s Prisons”, a bi-annual journal of poetry, art, short stories, and reflections.

An advocate and strategist, David fights to change our justice system. An alumnus of Mary Washington College and Concordia Seminary, David served in pastoral ministry until his arrest, where he spent nearly 17 months in solitary confinement- an experience that fueled his fight for comprehensive institutional change. An author, speaker, and faith leader, David led the Virginia Coalition Against Solitary Confinement and was an aide to a senior Virginia Delegate. After facing discrimination because of his record, David launched Inthrive to equip people to turn their passion into policy. To change the false narrative about incarceration survivors, he created the Inthrive Film Festival to inspire incarceration survivors and galvanize communities to remove barriers to reentry. He is Director of SALT (Social Action Linking Together) & Safer Virginia, serves on the Board of Directors for OAR-Richmond & Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and is the Vice Chair of  Richmond, VA’s, Community Criminal Justice Board.