Filmmaker: Elan and Jonathan Bogarin, Arianna LaPenne, Gandja Monteiro
Runtime: ~6 min
Synopsis: Stories of people around the world using Google technology to solve big problems, answer hard questions and take action.
About the Filmmakers
Elan Bogarin
Elan Bogarín’s feature 306 Hollywood, premiered on opening night of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival as the first documentary ever included in the festival’s NEXT section. It played over 65 festivals, won multiple awards, was released theatrically through the Sundance Creative Distribution Fellowship, and appeared on PBS’s POV and Amazon Prime. Elan was chosen for Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film, DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40, and was awarded Emerging International Filmmaker at Hot Docs. Elan co-founded The Wassaic Project and was nominated for the Gotham + Spirit Awards for producing Big Fan which premiered at Sundance. Elan is the co-director of El Tigre Productions where she creates innovative non-fiction films and produces award-winning digital content for the world’s leading museums, platforms, and brands such as Google, MoMA, The Getty, The Whitney, and The New York Times. She has received support from organizations including Sundance, Artemis Rising Foundation, Ford Foundation / Just Films, NYSCA, Latino Public Broadcasting, and IFP.
Jonathan Bogarín
Jonathan Bogarín is a filmmaker, teacher, and visual artist. His debut feature, 306 Hollywood, premiered opening night of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival as the first documentary ever included in the festival’s NEXT section. It played over 65 festivals, won multiple awards, was released theatrically through the Sundance Creative Distribution Fellowship, and appeared on PBS’s POV and Amazon Prime. Jonathan was chosen for Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film, awarded Emerging International Filmmaker at Hot Docs, and has received support from organizations including Sundance, Artemis Rising Foundation, Ford Foundation / Just Films, NYSCA, Latino Public Broadcasting, and IFP. Jonathan is the co-director of El Tigre Productions where he creates innovative non-fiction films and produces award-winning digital content for the world’s leading museums, platforms, and brands.
Arianna Lapenne
Arianna Lapenne is a Director and Cinematographer, born and raised in New York City.
Arianna’s documentary work has taken her to Mongolia, Iceland, Cuba, Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Iraq, throughout Eastern and Southern Africa, South and South East Asia, and Latin America. Her commercial work includes Google’s #ShowUp Campaign, Dannon’s “Inside Stories”, West Elm’s “Design to Impact” campaign in India, a series for Bulleit and a short doc for Ford about the future of cities.
Drawing from her years of experience in the field as a doc filmmaker and DP, her work is characterized by an inspired verité approach and uniquely visual style, while maintaining authenticity. Arianna has also created films for The New York Times, Al Jazeera, Viceland and National Geographic on issues ranging from child marriage, wildlife conservation, gang violence, to political conflict. Her work has been screened at PBS, SXSW, DOCFest, Frameline, OUTfest, DOC NYC, and the One Show, and has been supported by Sundance Labs, ITVS, The Fledgeling Fund, and IFP.
Arianna received a BFA in Film & TV from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, with special program work in Havana, Cuba.
Gandja Monteiro
Gandja Monteiro is a director, writer and producer based in Los Angeles and Mexico City. Raised between New York’s Lower East Side and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she has been making films since she was 17 and traveling the world since she was just three months old. This early exposure to such vast cultures instilled a curiosity that has always inspired and informed her work. The desire to discover new people and places has fueled her love of film and storytelling and has led to countless adventures. She is a graduate of NYU Film School at Tisch School of the Arts and AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women.
It was recently announced that Gandja will direct the Universal Pictures feature TALENT SHOW, written by Lena Waithe and to be produced by State Street Pictures and Hillman Grad. Gandja directed 2 episodes of VIDA Season 2 on Starz which just premiered to rave reviews and just booked an episode of the CW series IN THE DARK, as well as an episode of Showtime’s acclaimed series THE CHI.
Gandja has directed work in more than a dozen countries, four continents and eight languages; and commercials and branded content for industry heavy-hitters such as Nike, Adidas, Google, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Chevrolet and Smirnoff, and music videos for rappers like Pusha-T. BENEATH THE CANOPY, a film she directed for Google Brand Studio, was shortlisted at the 2018 Cannes Lions Festival.
She participated in the 2018 Universal Directors Initiative and the 2018 Fox’s Director’s Lab where she shadowed on Fox’s THE PASSAGE and FX’s LEIGION. She also directed an hour-long episode for HBO’s documentary series YOUTH.
Gandja is currently developing a TV show based on her film BOXLINK.